When Her work is done, she forgets it.
That's why it lasts forever.
(Tao Te Ching)
There was once a body-builder who had won a number of important tournaments and was on the way to make a name for himself. A friend took him out for dinner and had some advice for him. He said, "you know son, you are in a good position to do something with your life. You have a talent, don't squander it. This body of yours will not earn you a living forever. You could open fitness studios in the LA area; you can become a businessman; you can brand your name." The body-builder laughed and said, "I have other plans. I first will become a famous actor and afterwards become a politician. One day I will be the president of the Unites States."
Do you recognize the German accent when you read this story? Yes, this exchange allegedly once took place between Arnold Schwarzenegger and a friend as he was on his was to win the seven Mr. Olympia championships in body-building. This magnificent body of his was the means to reaching for the stars.
We spiritual travelers sometimes look down on any goals that involve our body, yet, as Arnold Schwarzenegger's showed, he used his impressive body to express the longings of his soul. His body was a means to an end, to break into Hollywood and eventually into politics. There are so many others - dancers, performers, athletes - who manage to express themselves with the help of their amazing bodies. What right do we have to say, "you are not your body"? Yet, the spiritual community is right in pointing out out that you if your body ever becomes an end in itself, chances are you will become depressed one day. The giant is within - eventually, not even the most amazing body can represent the Spirit.
The same is true for money. When earning money in a prestigious job is just the reward for putting your heart and soul into a job that you live doing, the money will flow right through you. Perhaps it becomes the means to financing your children's education, or taking your family on some exciting vacations, and providing a beautiful home. Yet, when you enter a competition with your peers in who has the most earnings and buying power then money unfortunately has become an end in itself. It sticks to you and chances are, sooner or later life will send you a message that you are abusing your creative powers.
The message of spirituality is quite a simple one. Grant yourself whatever your heart desires but make sure none of your belongings possess you. Let all of your creations flow right through you. God gave you your creative powers to enrich all of us. And when your work is done, know that it is good and then walk away. This is the difference between a life-giving, flowing brook and a decaying, stagnant puddle.
Don't get us wrong, you have every reason to be proud of your creation just as God is proud of His. Keep them coming, never get entangled with them and never make them an end in themselves. You would only belittle your creative powers that way. Your creations are the means to uniting your Self with God. Enjoy every step of the Way.
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Discover the Dark Power of Money
What is an idol? Do you think you know? For idols are unrecognized as such, and never seen for what they really are. That is the only power that they have.
(A Course in Miracles)
In a psychological study some people were subconsciously exposed to money symbols. Some computers had dollar bills as screen savers, some rooms had monopoly money in the background placed on coffee tables, etc. Everyone was given some mock test to work on. The true experiment happened when someone "accidentally" dropped pencils.
It turned out that all the people who were primed with money symbols were less helpful on average in picking them up. So by being exposed to money symbols you automatically become more selfish!
Isn't that result amazing? Be careful with the interpretation though. If you now close all your bank accounts, distribute your 401(k) money to the poor and withdraw into the Himalayas you are only running away from the problem. Of course money is everywhere, you can't avoid it. What you can do though, you can be aware of the dark cloud that descends as you open up your retirement fund statements and contemplate the supposedly future happy period when you supposedly will finally be safe and free. Deep down inside you equate money with safety, power and happiness. Recognize this link and be aware of it. Money is just another idol, as so many other objects and people are. Recognize them one by one any they will lose their power over you.
(A Course in Miracles)
In a psychological study some people were subconsciously exposed to money symbols. Some computers had dollar bills as screen savers, some rooms had monopoly money in the background placed on coffee tables, etc. Everyone was given some mock test to work on. The true experiment happened when someone "accidentally" dropped pencils.
It turned out that all the people who were primed with money symbols were less helpful on average in picking them up. So by being exposed to money symbols you automatically become more selfish!
Isn't that result amazing? Be careful with the interpretation though. If you now close all your bank accounts, distribute your 401(k) money to the poor and withdraw into the Himalayas you are only running away from the problem. Of course money is everywhere, you can't avoid it. What you can do though, you can be aware of the dark cloud that descends as you open up your retirement fund statements and contemplate the supposedly future happy period when you supposedly will finally be safe and free. Deep down inside you equate money with safety, power and happiness. Recognize this link and be aware of it. Money is just another idol, as so many other objects and people are. Recognize them one by one any they will lose their power over you.
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Follow the Energy Path
He is in his 80s and remarkably alert for his age. He rose from poverty into wealth with sheer will-power, incredible drive and his appealing personality. He has every reason to be proud of this accomplishment. He his from a poor country and he has seen lots of corruption and crime. He never cut corners whereas many of his business-partners did and certainly has made it now. His children are well-off and live in the US. Despite all that, when you listen to his conversation, money is somehow always part of it. His children tell him politely that they have everything they need, so they don't want to talk about it, but he can't stop himself. He often feels hurt since he thinks his children don't want to associate with him any more. Yet all his children want to tell him is to just step away from the money obsession. It has outlived its usefulness.
The ego versus Soul discussion somehow resonates with everyone. So the True Self knows what you truly want and need while the ego often wants to lead you astray, away from who you are deep down inside. Intellectually this is quite a neat classification, but it is mind driven. And the mind is also in the realm of the ego, so the risk is that you always run after what sounds good spiritually, but you somehow can never follow through because your overall being is not following along. Only years later you find that you have been led by the ego on a merry-go-around in the name of self-improvement.
We certainly don't want to stop you from reflecting on what you think would be wrong or right from a spiritual perspective. Yet, we want to encourage you to analyze the energy environment as well. The energy that is circulating inside of you, the energy that is floating in your environment as you interact with other people. The accidents that happen, the laughter, the frowns, the speed of your conversation, the hesitation in other people's voices. If you analyze your behavior from an energy perspective you will find that there is always a natural path to follow.
In the case of the retired CEO, how can you say that building his business was wrong; it catapulted his family into abundance and "The Land of the Free". Yet all the signals he now receives tell him to just let go. So accumulating money was useful for his Soul development when he was at the peak of his game, but the Tao encourages him now to let go. Following the energy path may involve hard work, but it is well worth the investment. Perhaps you can think of energy as the mirror image of the ego versus Soul approach. Follow the energy - the Tao - and your Soul is blessing the journey all the way
The ego versus Soul discussion somehow resonates with everyone. So the True Self knows what you truly want and need while the ego often wants to lead you astray, away from who you are deep down inside. Intellectually this is quite a neat classification, but it is mind driven. And the mind is also in the realm of the ego, so the risk is that you always run after what sounds good spiritually, but you somehow can never follow through because your overall being is not following along. Only years later you find that you have been led by the ego on a merry-go-around in the name of self-improvement.
We certainly don't want to stop you from reflecting on what you think would be wrong or right from a spiritual perspective. Yet, we want to encourage you to analyze the energy environment as well. The energy that is circulating inside of you, the energy that is floating in your environment as you interact with other people. The accidents that happen, the laughter, the frowns, the speed of your conversation, the hesitation in other people's voices. If you analyze your behavior from an energy perspective you will find that there is always a natural path to follow.
In the case of the retired CEO, how can you say that building his business was wrong; it catapulted his family into abundance and "The Land of the Free". Yet all the signals he now receives tell him to just let go. So accumulating money was useful for his Soul development when he was at the peak of his game, but the Tao encourages him now to let go. Following the energy path may involve hard work, but it is well worth the investment. Perhaps you can think of energy as the mirror image of the ego versus Soul approach. Follow the energy - the Tao - and your Soul is blessing the journey all the way
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Let the Tao Help You Find the Job You Were Born to Do
At the beginning, mankind and the obligation of selfless service were created together."Through selfless service you will always be fruitful and find the fulfillment of your desires", this is the promise of your Creator.
Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita
How do you feel about your work? Why do you work? Do you work to make a living, or do work to express yourself? Do you work to prove yourself or do you work to join the world and share your unique gift with others?
We have found that your attitude towards your work already decides the outcome. If you work just to make a living, your attitude is more like work is something you need to tolerate so naturally you won’t enjoy it so much. As a matter of fact, you won't expect much and consequently will find little enjoyment in your occupation. You probably will not invest much of yourself into it and into the relationships at work and will quickly run out of patience when things don't work your way.
If your attitude is to express yourself at work instead and use this opportunity to join the world and connect with people, you will transform your work and you find that your work and the people you connect with transform you in return. You are willing to learn, you devote yourself to your environment and the people, so you will open up to the whole process and your work will literally become a special place that way. That's how energy works, where your attention and your energy flows, magic happens. You will succeed because your attitude manifests success. Your energy creates reality.
Many people work just to make money. They use money to measure how successful they are. That is fine too if it is meaningful to you. Money is a proxy of success and status in our society and it helps you explore what exactly it is that you want to get out of life. But in the end understand that this stage in your life is just there to help you guide to the occupation that is truly meaningful to you. When you have truly found yourself, when you have finally embraced that occupation that shares your unique gift with the world, money will be the last thing you think about. It will flow naturally to you and just as your presence enriches the lives of others, you will have everything that matters to you in your life.
If you want to work to express yourself, you must know who you are and what you want. When you are split in your actions and your cravings - the stuff that you want to get out of your job and others - your effort and attention will only be half-hearted. It is ok to accept that stage but keep on realigning yourself and exploring what you can do differently. Know that the Tao works hard in the background to align your unique gift with your underlying desires. When you are on the top of your game, you get exactly the recognition you want just as your customers and your colleagues get exactly the service from you that they need. Align yourself completely with your environment and find that suddenly " work" becomes your life instead. You express yourself through your work.
Getting to this point is not easy. Unfortunately our expectations, our conflicts with money, our conjectures of what others might think of us often come in the way. Sometimes we also don't trust that we have a gift that is special. The trick is to understand that the Tao has a plan for you already. Everything you do right now is a stepping stone towards sharing your gift with the world. Even if you have to work on something that you do not love wholeheartedly in the beginning stay with it until you find that open door for the occupation of your dreams. Colleagues and customers who annoy you may in fact have a learning opportunity in store for you that brings the gem out of hiding. "No master has ever fallen from the sky", a German proverb says. Step after step everything will become clear to you. The love of your life is waiting for you patiently and when you have finally connected, you will feel fulfilled just as all the people are who are helped by you. Let the Tao help you find the job you were born to do.
By Christian and Su Zhen
Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita
How do you feel about your work? Why do you work? Do you work to make a living, or do work to express yourself? Do you work to prove yourself or do you work to join the world and share your unique gift with others?
We have found that your attitude towards your work already decides the outcome. If you work just to make a living, your attitude is more like work is something you need to tolerate so naturally you won’t enjoy it so much. As a matter of fact, you won't expect much and consequently will find little enjoyment in your occupation. You probably will not invest much of yourself into it and into the relationships at work and will quickly run out of patience when things don't work your way.
If your attitude is to express yourself at work instead and use this opportunity to join the world and connect with people, you will transform your work and you find that your work and the people you connect with transform you in return. You are willing to learn, you devote yourself to your environment and the people, so you will open up to the whole process and your work will literally become a special place that way. That's how energy works, where your attention and your energy flows, magic happens. You will succeed because your attitude manifests success. Your energy creates reality.
Many people work just to make money. They use money to measure how successful they are. That is fine too if it is meaningful to you. Money is a proxy of success and status in our society and it helps you explore what exactly it is that you want to get out of life. But in the end understand that this stage in your life is just there to help you guide to the occupation that is truly meaningful to you. When you have truly found yourself, when you have finally embraced that occupation that shares your unique gift with the world, money will be the last thing you think about. It will flow naturally to you and just as your presence enriches the lives of others, you will have everything that matters to you in your life.
If you want to work to express yourself, you must know who you are and what you want. When you are split in your actions and your cravings - the stuff that you want to get out of your job and others - your effort and attention will only be half-hearted. It is ok to accept that stage but keep on realigning yourself and exploring what you can do differently. Know that the Tao works hard in the background to align your unique gift with your underlying desires. When you are on the top of your game, you get exactly the recognition you want just as your customers and your colleagues get exactly the service from you that they need. Align yourself completely with your environment and find that suddenly " work" becomes your life instead. You express yourself through your work.
Getting to this point is not easy. Unfortunately our expectations, our conflicts with money, our conjectures of what others might think of us often come in the way. Sometimes we also don't trust that we have a gift that is special. The trick is to understand that the Tao has a plan for you already. Everything you do right now is a stepping stone towards sharing your gift with the world. Even if you have to work on something that you do not love wholeheartedly in the beginning stay with it until you find that open door for the occupation of your dreams. Colleagues and customers who annoy you may in fact have a learning opportunity in store for you that brings the gem out of hiding. "No master has ever fallen from the sky", a German proverb says. Step after step everything will become clear to you. The love of your life is waiting for you patiently and when you have finally connected, you will feel fulfilled just as all the people are who are helped by you. Let the Tao help you find the job you were born to do.
By Christian and Su Zhen
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Spirituality as a Service
Have you ever thought about your relationship
with money? Typically money is not appreciated in our spiritual community. Many
see it as an ego symbol, which it certainly is. Still, your daily activities do
involve money, so you have to deal with it one way or another.
When you look down on money, there is still ego involved too. Your ego wants you to be "holier" than other people. Yet, we are all equal, even if we are spiritual path travelers while some others aren't, we are all children of God. We all have different presents to share with the world. We share our presents with each other and get rewards in return. There always is a balance between giving and receiving. By getting your reward you will allow the people who use your service to show their appreciation. Everyone stands on the equal ground after the transaction. If you only want to give and refuse to take, you in fact refuse to stand on equal ground with others and will feel superior consciously or subconsciously.
Your client also has the desire to pay for the service he receives. It might as well be that the customer also feels better about the service if it is priced adequately. We know this sounds weird, but more often than not it holds true. A number of spiritual coaches reported that after they had charged a higher price, the quality and the interest of their audience improved significantly. So please put aside your ego for the benefit of all parties involved; charge your clients with good intentions at heart.
The spiritual community needs a lesson plan in limiting beliefs as well. Living in abundance is not evil; God doesn't mind if you are rich. Envision how you want to live your life and let the Tao show you how to get there. There always is a way.
By Christian and Su Zhen
When you look down on money, there is still ego involved too. Your ego wants you to be "holier" than other people. Yet, we are all equal, even if we are spiritual path travelers while some others aren't, we are all children of God. We all have different presents to share with the world. We share our presents with each other and get rewards in return. There always is a balance between giving and receiving. By getting your reward you will allow the people who use your service to show their appreciation. Everyone stands on the equal ground after the transaction. If you only want to give and refuse to take, you in fact refuse to stand on equal ground with others and will feel superior consciously or subconsciously.
Your client also has the desire to pay for the service he receives. It might as well be that the customer also feels better about the service if it is priced adequately. We know this sounds weird, but more often than not it holds true. A number of spiritual coaches reported that after they had charged a higher price, the quality and the interest of their audience improved significantly. So please put aside your ego for the benefit of all parties involved; charge your clients with good intentions at heart.
The spiritual community needs a lesson plan in limiting beliefs as well. Living in abundance is not evil; God doesn't mind if you are rich. Envision how you want to live your life and let the Tao show you how to get there. There always is a way.
By Christian and Su Zhen
Monday, October 22, 2012
The Journey Home
Buddha once said 'The good stuff, do it and the bad stuff, cut it out!' That's indeed a way to return home, yet, even though religions all over the world have tried hammering these moral standards into people's heads, it seemed to have had little success. The problem is that if a spiritual authority or a cultural norm just tells you how to behave, this voice of reason will become a super ego. No, you have to find a way to experience the two voices in you - ego versus the True Self - for yourself. Once you discover who you actually are and once you see for yourself that you can experience Heaven on earth, the ancient journey is over.
You require a Rosetta Stone, a reference point that provides you with a guide post. Some people have a wake up call when they suddenly run into a wall. They realize the hard way that the voice in their head that they always thought was them is in fact alien and not the friend they thought it was. Others discover the quiet voice inside. The voice that always speaks second, the one that is love and that has a constant connection to God.
I discovered a precious insight along my journey. I found out that ego begets ego and that you can very much experiment with that fact. I discovered that the more you engage in ego activities, the more you drain your energy and your peace of mind. Similarly, you can observe that the more you cut out all the impurities along the way, the clearer your thinking, the higher your energy level and the more synchronized you are with your environment.
Try cutting out the stuff your ego is obsessed about, the body obsessions, fascination with money or status, or having conspiracy thoughts about others. Sure, these thoughts and feelings seem to belong to you, but you can observe that as you manage to turn away from them, they do get weaker over time, just as they get stronger when you put your mind on it. Try it, it works, you can experiment with these concepts very much like a scientist would.
Let me give you a little example. In a psychological experiment, people were exposed to money symbols, such as having a bank note as a screen saver, or having monopoly money lying on a a table. It turned out that the people who were exposed to these subconscious money symbols were less helpful in the experiment when a person who passed by accidentally dropped things. It appears that for us money is a ego symbol, and once you activate this voice in your head you automatically deviate from the True Self.
Life is a journey and it turns out that you can redefine these dark symbols by giving it a new spiritual meaning. Sex can be an expression of love, work an expression of love for what you are doing, for being with other people and an outlet of your creativity. Wealth and status can become an opportunity to reach out and help others. The beauty is you don't really have to do anything, just follow life's invites moment by moment to choose love over everything else. Headed in this direction, your journey will soon be over.
You require a Rosetta Stone, a reference point that provides you with a guide post. Some people have a wake up call when they suddenly run into a wall. They realize the hard way that the voice in their head that they always thought was them is in fact alien and not the friend they thought it was. Others discover the quiet voice inside. The voice that always speaks second, the one that is love and that has a constant connection to God.
I discovered a precious insight along my journey. I found out that ego begets ego and that you can very much experiment with that fact. I discovered that the more you engage in ego activities, the more you drain your energy and your peace of mind. Similarly, you can observe that the more you cut out all the impurities along the way, the clearer your thinking, the higher your energy level and the more synchronized you are with your environment.
Try cutting out the stuff your ego is obsessed about, the body obsessions, fascination with money or status, or having conspiracy thoughts about others. Sure, these thoughts and feelings seem to belong to you, but you can observe that as you manage to turn away from them, they do get weaker over time, just as they get stronger when you put your mind on it. Try it, it works, you can experiment with these concepts very much like a scientist would.
Let me give you a little example. In a psychological experiment, people were exposed to money symbols, such as having a bank note as a screen saver, or having monopoly money lying on a a table. It turned out that the people who were exposed to these subconscious money symbols were less helpful in the experiment when a person who passed by accidentally dropped things. It appears that for us money is a ego symbol, and once you activate this voice in your head you automatically deviate from the True Self.
Life is a journey and it turns out that you can redefine these dark symbols by giving it a new spiritual meaning. Sex can be an expression of love, work an expression of love for what you are doing, for being with other people and an outlet of your creativity. Wealth and status can become an opportunity to reach out and help others. The beauty is you don't really have to do anything, just follow life's invites moment by moment to choose love over everything else. Headed in this direction, your journey will soon be over.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Transcendence
Stingy people will discover at one point in their life that
they only accumulate money because they are afraid of the future. Some people
are sex addicts. They have sex to feel good about themselves but at one point
they realize that they only want to fill a void in them and they discover that
temporary orgasmic highs with strangers cannot replace love. Some people
struggle with money, some with sex and others with power or worries. We all have
a job to to and find out who we really are and what we really want. The answer
to all these problems is transcendence. We can never solve the struggle between
our perceived self and the True Self, but at one point you can just grow out of it. You
literally leave your problem behind by transcending to the next dimension. If
you are at a point, the line will transcend it. And if you are on a line, the
plane will transcend it, and so forth.
You can transcend by choosing the spiritual route. You fight your stinginess, or lust, power-hunger or fears by appealing to your Tue Self. You can also follow the calling of your desires and learn that way that you are not these desires. Lastly, you can do what most of us spiritual path travelers do, alternate between the perceived self and your anticipated True Self and stumble your way through life this way. There is no right way towards transcendence, there is only your way. No matter what you do, transcending you will, because that is what the world encourages you to do. Some can outgrow their desire within a life-time; others need several.
Never mind your actions. This world that you think you are operating in doesn't exist and it never existed. As the Course in Miracle sums it up so succinctly: Nothing real can be threatened, nothing unreal exists. Herein lies God's peace. The sin against the Holy Ghost is inaction and procrastination. All the problems that come your way were invented to be solved by you. All your desires were created so that you can make your idiosyncratic choices. Deal with them, embrace them and let them define you. See for yourself that the road to transcendence is provided to you by life - the Tao. All you have to do is to show up, day in and day out; that is all you can do anyway.
You can transcend by choosing the spiritual route. You fight your stinginess, or lust, power-hunger or fears by appealing to your Tue Self. You can also follow the calling of your desires and learn that way that you are not these desires. Lastly, you can do what most of us spiritual path travelers do, alternate between the perceived self and your anticipated True Self and stumble your way through life this way. There is no right way towards transcendence, there is only your way. No matter what you do, transcending you will, because that is what the world encourages you to do. Some can outgrow their desire within a life-time; others need several.
Never mind your actions. This world that you think you are operating in doesn't exist and it never existed. As the Course in Miracle sums it up so succinctly: Nothing real can be threatened, nothing unreal exists. Herein lies God's peace. The sin against the Holy Ghost is inaction and procrastination. All the problems that come your way were invented to be solved by you. All your desires were created so that you can make your idiosyncratic choices. Deal with them, embrace them and let them define you. See for yourself that the road to transcendence is provided to you by life - the Tao. All you have to do is to show up, day in and day out; that is all you can do anyway.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Be careful what you wish for
In psychological experiments people were ask to perform some tests. A group of them was exposed to some hidden money symbols, such as monopoly money displayed on a table in the background or bank notes shown as a screen saver on the computer. In the experiment these people were then tested how helpful they would be to a by-passer who 'accidentally' dropped some pencils on the floor and it turned out that the group that was exposed to the money symbol was less helpful on average. Isn't that result amazing? Just thinking about money, even being subconsciously exposed to it, makes you more selfish!
When I saw this result I was wondering what this implies for our mental manifestations crowd. After all, if we try to visualize and 'feel' the wealth, status or whatever it is we want to create, isn't it likely that we will become more egotistic in the process. Don't get me wrong, of course we have to try to express our desires; as we all know, if we repress them, new monsters will come up to the surface. Yet, in real life, the Tao will force you to make choices along the way to express them. This is your opportunity to choose love by saying no to your desire and really meaning it. In contrast, if you mentally visualize your desired goals you risk super-charging your ego very much like in our scientific experiment. How about the following compromise, you manifest the events that you enjoy, but in the bigger scheme of things you feel pretty agnostic about, like hitting a perfect golf shot on a driving range when no one looks. In contrast, all the things that make your blood boil you leave up to life, the Tao, to sort out for you. What do you think?
When I saw this result I was wondering what this implies for our mental manifestations crowd. After all, if we try to visualize and 'feel' the wealth, status or whatever it is we want to create, isn't it likely that we will become more egotistic in the process. Don't get me wrong, of course we have to try to express our desires; as we all know, if we repress them, new monsters will come up to the surface. Yet, in real life, the Tao will force you to make choices along the way to express them. This is your opportunity to choose love by saying no to your desire and really meaning it. In contrast, if you mentally visualize your desired goals you risk super-charging your ego very much like in our scientific experiment. How about the following compromise, you manifest the events that you enjoy, but in the bigger scheme of things you feel pretty agnostic about, like hitting a perfect golf shot on a driving range when no one looks. In contrast, all the things that make your blood boil you leave up to life, the Tao, to sort out for you. What do you think?
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