Owning Things

"The inner principle is that we are interdependent energy fields of great potential wisdom and compassion -- expressed in each person as a superb mind, a handsome and complex body, and the almost magical capacity of language. To these potentials and capacities, 'owning things' can add nothing to authenticity."

-- Gary Snyder

Owning things is highly overrated. Sure, there's that initial little thrill when you obtain something you've long desired, be it a shiny new car or a sweater in the perfect shade of green. And the ownership of certain things, like washing machines and laptop computers, can make life easier and more streamlined. But to make the amassing of things the goal of your life is to tragically miss the point. 

Simply stated, stuff is merely a bit player, a minor character, in the overall drama of a life well lived. There are so many more interesting verbs than owning. Seeing, loving, creating, experiencing, and being, for example. 

Better to think in terms of flowing than owning. Things flow into your life, and they flow out again. You use them, you enjoy them, but you neither jones for them, nor frantically cling to them. You live lightly -- both materially and psychologically.

Sharing is more natural than owning. Much more fun, too! Nature doesn't own, nature shares. And one of the best ways to harmonize with nature, as well as with others, is through sharing, cooperating, giving and receiving. 

One of my alternative entrepreneurship fantasies is to live in a big Victorian house full of stuff and have all of it be for sale. Everything. You can buy the TV in the den, the beer steins in the kitchen. You can buy the chair I'm sitting on, hell, you can buy the shirt off my back. All at very reasonable prices, too, of course. A great river of stuff flowing through my life leaving in its wake only the sheer joy of complete non-attachment. 

You see, who we are is not defined by what we have. Our authenticity comes from exploring, expanding and living those marvelous potentials and capacities that reside within us. Along the way stuff comes and goes. Enjoy it, play with it, pass it on. Reside in the underground river, the hidden channel of energy that flows through, over, around and beyond each and every thing. 

Let that river flow through you, too. A natural baptism, a cosmic cleansing, all flow, all letting go, in the water park called Life. Exhilaration! Relaxation! The perpetual pulsing of the yin/yang rhythm. Wheeee -- it's one helluva ride!

Magical Things

"The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper."

-- Eden Phillpotts

What are these magical things? I don't know, my wits aren't sharp enough to perceive them, much less tell you. I just have a feeling that they're out there (and in here)... somewhere. Thank God, they have patience because I may not stumble upon them anytime soon. If you do, please let me know.

Life's Balancing Act

"Look everywhere with your eyes; but with your soul never look at many things, but one."

-- V.V. Rozanov

Be aware of your environment; be in touch with God. It's that simple. Really. Your eyes are your means of being present in the real world -- right here, right now. Your soul is your conduit to the eternal -- always here, always now.

If you feed your eyes with the phantasmagoria of life, but forget to nourish your soul, you will soon be overwhelmed by it all. If you tend to your soul, but ignore the life that blossoms before you and all around you, you will become deeply irrelevant. 

As in all things, the trick is in the balance. The word that comes to mind, when I think of visually partaking in as much of the world as possible, is "wow!" When contemplating the One, the syllable that best captures the process for me is "ah." To balance, to harmonize wow and ah -- that is our challenge.

I hope your day is filled with amazing sights! I hope your soul is engulfed in underlying Unity. Today, and each day, may the dance between the many and the One unfold within you and around you, always in perfect harmony with the Uni-Verse.

The Bitch-Goddess Success

"The moral flabbiness born of the exclusive worship of the bitch-goddess success. That -- with the squalid cash interpretation put on the word success -- is our national disease."

-- William James

William James made this statement over 100 years ago. If he thought the American people were morally flabby back then, just imagine what he'd think of us today! 

And he's right. We've missed the friggin' boat when it comes to seeing and choosing what is really important in life. Instead we've chosen to believe in the myths of perpetual economic growth, happiness through material acquisition, and spending our way to success.

On our refrigerator we have a small, two-panel cartoon. The top panel is entitled "Successful Man" and it depicts a man in his car, stuck in traffic, obviously angry, and snarling into his cell phone. The bottom panel labeled "Unsuccessful Man" shows a guy walking down the street, free and unencumbered, with a smile on his face.  It's a cartoon that I'm sure William James would appreciate. It's a cartoon that I use to remind myself how lucky I am that I don't have to battle freeway traffic, but can instead walk around town each day with  smile on my face. And it shows, quite parsimoniously, our national confusion around the true meaning of success.

But like William James, I'm not sure that success should even be our chief aim. Perhaps authenticity, or fullness, or self-actualization, or joy are more worthy of being linked to our life's purpose. One of the major problems with success is how many other things become merely means to its end, how much happiness we sacrifice on a daily basis to attain some mythical, future goal that we think will make us super-happy. It's another example of the specious belief that the ends (success) justify the means (traveling in hellacious freeway traffic to a job you can't stand in order to live in a McMansion you don't need, etc., etc.).

We all need to wise up and go back to basics. What is really important? What do you really enjoy doing? How do you really want to spend your life? As the old saying goes, "No one on their death bed says, 'I wish I'd spent more time sat the office.'"

So, let the bitch-goddess go! I know she's enticing and promises all sorts of future pleasures, but she's a deceiving liar, and the sooner you find out her true nature the better. Morality doesn't have to be a wrestling match with the devil each day; it is deeply encoded in our genes, in our psyche, in our soul. We just need to remove ourselves from the marketing hype and media hoopla so that we can quiet down long enough to hear our real desires, hear what truly makes us happy. And when enough of us do, the tumbleweeds will outnumber the SUVs on the freeways, and walking will once again be experienced and appreciated as both a sane and happy mode of transport. 

Unreasonable Happiness

"The only happiness you will ever experience is to be happy for no reason at all, because if you depend upon reason, you will never have a reason to be happy."

-- Ananda Abinou

Now, wait a minute, you say. I have lots of reasons to be happy. I have a job, a nice place to live, good friends, and my kids love me, even when they're not acting like it. OK. But then you probably also have lots of reasons to be unhappy, as well -- the economy is in the crapper, you're starting to feel your age, there never seem to be enough hours in the day, and you can't remember the last time you really let go and had BIG, BIG fun. So, it seems, your happiness depends not just on external conditions, but also on which external conditions you choose to focus on.

But what if it didn't have to be that way? What if your happiness was not dependent upon reasons, or events, or causes? What if day after day you were just unreasonably happy?

Sounds almost like a pathological condition, doesn't it? Affective Euphoric Syndrome it might be called in the good ole DSM, the bible of psychological disorders. But even though unreasonable happiness is not the norm, is it truly pathological?

If so, then every mystic from every great spiritual tradition was one sick puppy! Each one of them touted unlimited happiness or joy or bliss as a hallmark of all of their teachings. The Kingdom of Heaven lies within, peace begins within, enlightenment is not based upon external conditions, contentment doesn't come from getting what you want, but from wanting what you get. We're told all of this over and over again in various languages, holy books, and metaphors. And yet, we keep searching outside ourselves for the Holy Grail of happiness.

Let's reboot our psyches and refocus our minds on the true experience of happiness, rather than upon the things we think we need as prerequisites for happiness. Remove the middleman, remove the middle object of our desire. 

The one thing that we all truly desire is happiness. Everything else we want is really what we think we need in order to be happy. Let's give up means and reasons and just be happy! We may discover that the mystics are right -- unreasonable happiness is indeed  our natural state.