Steve Jobs was wearing jeans and bare feet when, in 1985, he announced to colleagues that he had been sacked from his own company because he 'did not wear the right pants'. He did not choose to be sacked, but he said in his 2005 Stanford Commencement address that it was the best thing that could have happened to him because it led to one of the most creative periods of his life.
Leaving the 'heaviness' of the pressure to be successful in a large corporation gave Jobs the freedom to rediscover and pursue the work he loved. 'You've got to find what you love,' he told the Stanford students. 'The only way to do great work is to love what you do.'
Perhaps wearing jeans in a corporate environment reflects a corporate death wish. But it was not exactly that. Put simply, he was not afraid of death. At the age of 17, he was struck by a popular quotation that inspired him to 'live each day as if it was [his] last'. That gave him what it took to follow his heart for the rest of his life.
'All external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.'
These words suggest Jobs possessed an inner freedom characteristic of mystics and saints, such as Saint Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits. There are also echoes of Ignatius' Discernment of Spirits in Jobs' advice to clear away the clutter of expectations on the surface before making an important decision:
'Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.'
But it is important not to canonise Jobs just because he is one with the saints in his internal disposition. Ultimately he needs to be judged by his actions. To this end, stage performer and activist Mike Daisey admirably plays the role of devil's advocate.
Daisey, who was in Australia last week, has documented the sub-standard conditions of workers manufacturing Apple products in China. The ABC's Tony Jones asked Daisey on Lateline last Thursday