James called me at 3:30 p.m. and asked how I was doing. I was actually quite bored with my work at Lotus; even though I hadn't gotten in to work until 10:30, my mind had already wandered. His call was an interesting distraction.

"Swami asked to meet you this evening after work, " started James. "Are you available?"

It had been several weeks since my meeting with Ramaswami, and I was quite surprised to hear he wanted to meet with me again. During the first week following the meeting, I thought about it incessantly: what had he meant by my energetic patterns? What did he think about my business idea? Did he think I'd make a good entrepreneur?

The abruptness with which he ended our meeting convinced me that the meeting went poorly, and that he wasn't going to help me get my business started. Given his strange philosophy on what it took to be a successful businessperson, I wasn't completely convinced that I wanted his help yet. But, my own need for approval led me to obsess with whether I "sold" him on my business concept or not. He was the first really experienced entrepreneur I had presented the business idea to.

"Ah, sure, " I answered, after hesitating for a moment, "I can make it. Did he say what it was about?"

"Yes, he's taken a very strong personal interest in you. I don't know what you said but it definitely left him with the impression that you are someone he wants to work with!"

I was a bit surprised. "But, I didn't say anything to him! Half the time he had his eyes closed during our meeting, and when I tried to ask him questions, he cut me off and abruptly ended our conversation - I was sure that we didn't mix well."

"Oh, " James laughed. "Don't worry - that's what he always does - he was using his third eye to look into your past lives and your future selves ... "

"Huh? Past lives and future selves? " Here we go again, I thought. "Say, James, do you really believe in that stuff?"

He suddenly became non-committal. "Well, why don't you ask Ramaswami about that..."

We were to meet at the Christian Science Center in Boston, which is to me one of the more interesting places in the entire city. Built over a hundred years ago, the land that it occupies is now worth a fortune.

It consists of several magnificent (and imposing) church buildings and a large open courtyard.

On one side of the courtyard there is a line of lampposts that look like trees. On the other side, pillars of stone line the side of one of the long buildings, which serves as the administration offices for the center.

The size, scale, and architecture of the place give it a feeling that is somewhere between a gothic medieval church and an ancient Egyptian temple.

In the middle of the courtyard is a long rectangular pool of water that has some unusual characteristics. The pool is actually raised above the ground, and the structure containing the water looks like a large air-mattress, made out of reddish-colored marble. The water spills off of the sides of this stone mattress and disappears into invisible drainage devices located slightly below ground level.

The top of the pool is a smooth surface that gives the appearance that it is not moving, but the water is actually constantly in motion, draining off the sides. The sound of the water, combined with this smooth surface, makes it a very soothing place to go for a walk. That's exactly what Ramaswami had in mind when he asked to meet me there.

"Look around," he instructed me as we started to walk along the length of the pool. He was dressed, as usual in a designer, double-breasted suit. It was sunny that afternoon, and the grayish olive complexion of his suit seemed appropriate. As usual in those days, I was dressed in tennis shoes, khakis, and a T-shirt. The two of us must have looked like an odd pair: a tall skinny white guy dressed immaculately, and a much shorter, brown guy dressed like the computer programmer that I was.

"What catches your eye?" he asked and gestured all around us.

I wasn't sure how to answer. "Well, the water does."

"Yes, what about the water?" he pressed.

"Well, hmm... " I thought about it for a second, trying to think of the kind of answer he would want to hear.

He saw me and interjected. "No, no, don't think about it too much. Use your intuition - what's the first thing that comes to mind...? "

I took a deep breath and said the first thing that came to mind, surprising myself. "It's very strange to be in the middle of a city, on a concrete courtyard, and to have this pool be here ... it's almost futuristic..." I took a another deep breath: "and ancient at the same time."

"Yes, that's good" he smiled. I wondered if he would have said that no matter what my answer is. "Have you seen it before anywhere?"

I wrinkled my forehead and looked down as I tried to remember. Then I looked around ... I had a vague sense of deja vu - as if I had been in a similar place a long, long time ago. But I could not remember a specific time and explained my feeling to him.

He listened to my explanation and nodded his head as we walked. "The past and the future are linked together, sometimes we can remember the future in the same way that we remember the past..." he paused to see if I what he had said had registered.

"But that's of no consequence right now. I'm here to teach you about different kinds of meditation and the path that I believe you will want to follow."

"Wait-a-minute! Hold on!" I had yelled it so loud that the people around us all looked over to see what the commotion was about. I was a little embarrassed, and waited for them to look away before I continued.

We were standing now just beside one of the shorter sides of the rectangular pool. In the ground was a small circle made out of red-colored bricks. It had markings along its perimeter, as if it was a compass, or a clock.

"How is it possible, " I started, standing smack dead in the middle of the circle, " to remember the future? That's just new age mumbo jumbo ... if it hasn't happened yet, how can you remember it? That's impossible!" Now I thought I had caught him.

He was standing at the outer end of the circle and started walking around it clockwise. "Inkling, my friend. Inklings are what we remember. In the business world, the ability to see the future is of paramount importance. Of course, as the future is not set in stone ... like I said last time ... always in motion is the future."

"We all start businesses because we see a certain vision of the future ... of how things are going to be ... But we're not all successful because the future isn't always what we expect it to be!"

He paused as if wondering whether to go on. Then, rapidly: "But that's not what I'm talking about here ... I'm talking about the direct experience of a future or past self " He sighed. "This is a bit difficult to explain in your current state of mind, and even more difficult for you to understand. We'll have to continue this discussion about the past and the future when you are ready."

Secretly, I believed he was copping out. I had heard of past lives - reincarnation was a belief that was held by a large number of people around the world, and though I didn't believe in it, at least it seemed possible. But future selves? That absolutely made no sense. Part of me wanted to get into an argument about the logical inconsistencies in what he was saying.

"This is all I can say now. Do you understand causal links? It goes something like this: A causes B to happen. However, under rigorous mathematical definitions, there is no constraint that says A has to happen in time before B. A can actually happen after B, but still be the cause of B! It doesn't break the causal link." He saw me trying to grasp the concepts and laughed.

"Come on, " he replied, "you're the MIT guy ... just do some research on quantum physics and report back to me when you've had a chance to. For our purposes, let me just say that you are thinking about starting a business around Lotus Notes, right? Now, when was the first time you were intrigued by Lotus Notes? "

I thought about it. A logical answer would have been my current assignment doing work at Lotus. But I had, in fact, been exposed to it much earlier, while still in college. My college roommate and I wrote a business plan for a competition and I had identified Notes as an interesting technology platform that let people work together more effectively. I explained that I had been intrigued by it even then, and when I got the chance to get my current job at Lotus, I jumped at the chance.

"Now, one way to look at it, " he said walking clockwise around the circle. "is that you took this assignment at Lotus partly because you had noticed an interest in Lotus Notes many years before. The cause is what happened to you in college - the result is you taking the contract at Lotus, which is in turn the cause of you starting a business around Lotus Notes, right? "

I agreed that this seemed reasonable.

He stopped his clockwise walk, and then began to walk around the circle in the opposite direction. "Or, it can be said, that the reason you took such an interest in Lotus Notes all those years ago, is because one of your future selves, this one " he pointed at me and touched my shoulder, "was one-day possibly going to start a company in Lotus Notes."

"Now, in strict mathematical terms, you cannot distinguish one from the other. What caused what is up for debate ... it depends on your perspective. "

I found it all more than a little bit confusing, and I was sure that under strict mathematical terms, he was wrong. I could not, however, remember any laws or theorems or equations that I could use to counter his arguments.

He continued. "The key is that you took notice of it back then, just as you took notice when this contract at Lotus was offered to you. Do you remember the feeling when you first noticed Lotus Notes?"

I could not remember what I was feeling at the time, beyond the fact that I was intrigued by it and wanted to learn more about it.

"Well, that feeling of noticing something in your environment is like a message from the hidden worlds. Of course that could mean many things. " He stopped walking around the circle and stepped back.

"Now, it could also be said that the reason this place looks familiar to you - " he pointed out the Christian Science Center complex all around us, "is that you've had some connection to it. Most people in the spiritual community would say that deja vu means that you have had some previous experience here, perhaps even in a past life. But it is just as valid to say that perhaps you will have a future experience here and that little tug you feel in your mind, which you call deja vu - is actually remembering the future. You see?"

I did not know what to say. I didn't agree and went on and on about how the future could not cause the past - it was a logical impossibility, but my arguments fell on deaf ears. I used the improbabilities of time travel to the past as an example. But he stood firm and insisted that I go to the MIT library and see if I can find any strict mathematical or physical constraint that said that A had to happen before B if A was the cause of B."

As I could not convince him otherwise, and he could not convince me of his point, we were silent for a few minutes.

"Have you ever been on a treasure hunt?" He asked, seemingly changing the subject.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"As a kid, do you remember when you were on to something and you had a map to follow or a puzzle to solve?"

I did in fact remember the feeling, as I was an avid solver of puzzles. When I was young, my friends and I would bury something, and then draw a ‘treasure map' that showed its location. It made us feel like adventurers on a quest. I described this feeling to him.

"Aha. Yes. Well, that's more to the point, then" he said and started walking around the pool again, hiding a smile.

"Oh? Which point is that?" I followed him, completely forgetting about the frustration I was feeling during the past-future conversation.

"Why did you want to meet with me in the first place?" he asked from a few paces in front of me.

"Ah... well ... I thought maybe you could help me start my business."

"Yes, and so far, you're probably wondering why I haven't given you any practical advice?"

"Ah ... well ... yeah, " I said, fumbling for the right words.

"You see, I do teach principles that can be applied to the business world, particularly to the process of starting and growing a company.

"But the most important part of my teaching is that starting a business is not really simply about starting a business, it's about your own unique path in this life.

"I teach about using the business world as a way to learn more about ourselves, and using this knowledge to ultimately be more successful in the business world. Only when we truly know ourselves, when we're aware of our own destinies can we really, truly feel successful in the business world. Otherwise, we'll end up being either unsuccessful, or even worse, unfulfilled."

"What do you mean?" I asked. The concept that someone could be successful but not fulfilled was lost on my young mind.

"Well, the path that I teach is the path of a seeker. If you follow my instructions, I will show you how to bring that feeling of excitement, of adventure, that you had when you were a little kid on a treasure hunt into your daily life. The process of starting a business will become more like a treasure hunt than a risky undertaking."

I was now intrigued by what he was saying.

"What is that I will seek if I follow your instructions?" I asked.

"Oh ... many things. Business success. Success in your meditation. Personal growth. Finding your true self. All of these things and more. You have already taken the first step, by learning to meditate. The second step is to pay attention."

"Pay attention? " I replied, thinking that he was admonishing me for letting my mind wander. "But I am paying attention."

"Not to me! It's important that you learn to pay attention to yourself. To the feelings that you have inside you. Many meditation teachers will tell you to simply meditate and things will get better. In the real world, it's not so simple. In the business world it's not so simple. You have to use meditation as a mirror ... to clear your mind so that you will be able to see the clues that are all around you and more importantly, inside you."

He stepped up on the concrete platform that surrounded the pool and walked on the narrow ledge with his arms extended in different directions, looking very much like a little boy who had found something new to play with. I walked alongside him slowly contemplating what he was telling me.

"To walk this path is to be a treasure hunter. And you are to look for clues. When you find a clue, you should write it down in a diary or a journal. Do you keep a journal?"

I had experimented with keeping a journal at various times of my life, but only inconsistently.

"Good, that's good. Now I want you to start using this journal to find and record clues."

"Clues .. what kinds of clues?" I asked.

"Clues usually start with something in the everyday world around us. But how we notice if something is a clue is by paying attention to how we feel inside. For example, remember the feeling that you had been in this place before ? That's a clue. Write it down. Remember the feeling when you first are intrigued by Lotus Notes back in college...? That's a clue. Write it down."

"What exactly should I write down?" I asked, glad that he had given me a specific task to do that I could get my hands around, but unsure exactly how to accomplish it.

"Write down the event, place, or item, that causes you to have these feelings. Each of these feelings is a clue. And then write down how you feel in response to these external things. It's simple. This is a basic exercise."

"But how do I know if I should write something down or not?" I asked.

"Oh, you'll learn over time. The key is that if you feel something unusual toward a place, person, thing, or even to an event, you should write it down. If it's a feeling that you have all the time, then it's probably not unusual or significant enough to be worthwhile. If, however, it's something unusual, you should write it down. "

"But how will I know if it's significant...? " I asked him.

"At first, you may not, but that will come. Try it out. Write down things that intrigue you, or are out of the ordinary, or even if a coincidence happens that seems a little too ‘coincidental', write it down. Whether it is actually significant or not is something that only hindsight will show you. And even then you might not recognize its significance.

I liked the idea of having something specific to do, but his directions seemed vague and I still wasn't sure if I grasped what he meant.

"Have you ever met someone and felt as if you'd known them for a long time?" I had to admit that I had. "OK, that's something to write down. That's the type of feeling that is a clue from the hidden worlds."

"What am I supposed to do after I start writing these things and feelings down?"

"You're going to look for patterns. For example, the feeling that you have in this place is unusual. Where have you felt it before? When you start to notice and write these feelings down, you will be able to go back into your notebooks and see when you had this type of feeling before."

"Will this help in becoming an entrepreneur? " I asked.

"Oh ... absolutely. Without a doubt. But you are not just becoming an entrepreneur. You will be noticing the messages from the hidden worlds that will give you clues about what important issues you need to deal with during your entrepreneurial journey."

"But why do I need clues? Can't I simply learn about how to start software companies from talking to people who've done it before?" It seemed like a much more reasonable approach than "writing about my feelings."

"Yes, and no. You are not looking to start their businesses, you are looking to start your own business. The lessons that you need are different than the lessons that those folks need. Stating a business is not simply a mechanical thing; it's part of your path of personal growth. The clues that we're seeking are markers along this path."

I wasn't sure if I believed that there was any connection between the Christian Science Center and either my past or my future. But I did agree to start writing down "what he called" clues as best as I could remember them.

"Remember two universal principles that I always insist my students understand: One, that everything that happens in the everyday world has a counterpart in the hidden worlds. Every unusual event probably has a significance in the hidden worlds. A significance that is unique to you. And when something repeats itself, it may be even more important, because these events are linked together in ways that modern science has no way of comprehending.

"These links aren't figments of our imagination, they actually exist in the hidden worlds. This is equally true with clues from the past or clues from the future."

I resumed my argument that it is not possible for something in the future to cause something in the past.

He sighed. "Think of time as a river. It flows in only one direction. But let me ask you, if you are a drop of water in the river, can something that happens downstream affect you even though you haven't gotten there yet?"

"I guess if there was a dam or if something fell in the river that affected its flow, that would affect me" I answered. "However, if I knew that the river was going to be blocked up ahead, I'd find a way around it."

Again, he insisted that though the future wasn't fixed, it was certainly possible to be impacted by it. "Even though the blockage of the river is still in our future (because we haven't reached it yet), it can cause us to do something in the present, namely finding a way around it."

I found his analogy OK, but found that applying what he was saying to time was non-sensical. I made a mental note to look up the mathematical principles that would prove him wrong.

He nodded and then changed the subject again: "I always give movie assignments that start with obvious, non-subtle elements so that my concepts can start to sink in at a subconscious level while suspending your disbelief! That's why I start with science fiction and fantasy, because they are obviously fiction. Right?" He smiled and waited to see if I had gotten his intonation of the word obviously.

"I watched Excalibur," I told him. "I enjoyed the movie, but what does it have to do with starting a business?"

"Fantasy is a good way to start to get a sense of what the hidden worlds are like. Without a mastery of the hidden worlds, you might be successful in your business, but it will be extremely unfulfilling to you, because of your particular energetic patterns. I cannot underestimate the danger of success without purpose for you. You will learn this lesson the hard way, but it would save you a lot of trouble if you just listened to me now. "

I thought I was listening and told him so.

"Is there anything you saw in Excalibur that relates to our discussion of future and past?"

I thought back to the movie. King Arthur. The sword in the stone. The lady of the lake. Sir Lancelot. Then it occurred to me "Yes! Merlin. Merlin travels backward in time - he goes from the future to the past ... right?"

"Yes, that's right" he said, as we resumed our walk around the pool. "Now, if it wasn't possible for something in the future to cause something in the past, how could Merlin travel backwards in time?" he asked.

I frowned and realized that he must be provoking me. "Excalibur, " I started, "is fantasy. It's not real. It's not like the physical world all around us, " I assured him, wondering that I would have to explain this to someone almost twice my age.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "The reason I assign movies is that it makes you aware of things that seem impossible to you; but because they are presented in a movie, you are able to understand the concepts and have a point of reference first, before you are able to accept them as true."

I was about to go off on a diatribe about the fact that simply seeing something in a movie wasn't enough to make me accept it as reality when he started laughing.

"Come, come, let's leave issues of the future and the past to theoreticians for now." He picked up his pace considerably, and I strained to keep up.

"But what about Merlin, how does that relate to success in the business world?"

"It doesn't - at least not yet - I just wanted you to have a point of reference about the flow of time for when you understand the hidden worlds better. "

He saw my disappointment - I had been hoping for something more practical. "The movie assignments are so that you can adopt the proper perspective ... a filmmaker imbues a movie, and certain characters with a particular state of mind. You can tap into those states of mind by watching the movie and focusing in on a certain character or aspect of it."

He made me re-affirm that I would start to seek out clues in the environment and write them down, whenever and wherever they happened. I agreed to do so, even though I wasn't quite sure what constituted a "clue" and what didn't.

We agreed to meet the next week at the same place, "where he wanted to teach me a different meditation technique." This sounded interesting and I got quite excited about it and wanted a preview now.

"Nope. You have to wait. For now, you have to start collecting clues about your future." Our second meeting was over.