“We are living in a fluid universe in which the art of faith is not in taking one stand, but in learning to swim. You don’t cling to, you don’t try to stand on water by breathing and by a certain relaxation. You learn to trust the water to support you.”
How would your relationship to money, wealth, and play be if you trusted the water to support you? Would your life look different? How so?
I feel like the more I live in fear of “not having” (money, love, friends, or whatever other material items my mind can think to ‘collect’ or ‘possess’) the less of those things I have, because I’m closing myself off… so much of this feels like an ego game to me! It doesn’t feel natural for so many of us to let go and trust, but that really is where the possibilities of a more grounded and peaceful existence can be found… at least that’s my experience. But it’s dang hard!
I think that if you have some strong sense that fundamentally our economy is built upon social principles, and that the only way to create value within it is to genuinely…create value…in an individual’s life…it becomes much easier to “trust the waters” of community, especially in the modern age of affluence. When one does as much, utilitarian/ethical principles become paramount in their conscious attention…to be kind to the beggar is to be kind to some sort of social pocket that is meaningfully yours, that is striving to take the beggar off of the streets… in regards to income, it frees money up to enter the territory… which means across time it could not only put that money back into your pocket, but then some… as you would expect when you invest in putting food into a productive individual’s stomach… the only way to keep this money system afloat is through service to one another…as it was created to attempt to do, or at least ensure, as much…
When you trust the waters, or explain them in nuanced detail and chain the dragon of faith with understanding… either way it amounts to the golden rule at all moments in all things, which also amounts to “follow your bliss”. It turns out that the things we naturally take pleasure in are genuinely the most lucrative to spend mental energy upon…
Trusting the water works only when experiencing the joy of being alive, which means letting go of what should be and embracing what is. This can be very difficult especially when circumstances are less than favorable. Struggle = sinking beneath the waves.
I don’t k ow why but this particular prompt made me think of this: being self conscious is not the same as being self aware