Ambition, aspiration, incentive, initiative, etc., are all supposed to be what drives our ability to succeed in our careers, and if we aren’t trying to make it big in the world, what’s the point? The point is to be clear about success from a financial perception being different from success from a spiritual standpoint of knowing who we are and what we are about. This is underscored in two statements of Jesus about money: “The love of money is the root of all evil,” and “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle (A narrow passage way, like an alley in Jerusalem), than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” Statements that the Prosperity Gospel conveniently sidsteps.

So how do we live in light of what matters most when money is the foundation of success in the modern world? The Buddha was a King who ran away from home to sit under the Bodhi Tree. Jesus was a carpenter who lived on help from his followers. How much money is enough is a question no one knows the answer to, but it is clear that wanting is a barrier to doing the right thing in the right way at the right time and in the right place because it tilts the scale toward money as the measure of what is right away from what is called for in each situation as it arises.

We have to limit wanting and its ability to steal the stage, which is personal and individual, and centers on our relationship with emptiness, stillness and silence, and awareness, awareness, awareness.

The essential, primary, value of emptiness, stillness, silence in gaining clarity and realization, enlightenment, awareness, knowledge and understanding regarding what’s what and what is called for here, now, so that twe know the right thing to do when, where and how to do it in each situation as it arises is foundational and absolute throughout our life.

We drop into emptiness, stillness, silence and wait for clarity regarding what is called for and what to do about it, and rise up, enter the field of action in doing what needs to be done. Then we drop into emptiness, stillness, silence…

So that we are living/doing out of emptiness, stillness and silence and doing what is called for over the full course of our life. For the joy of doing it and the satisfaction of having done it over the full course of our life.

What we meet in the silence is our intuitive realization of what’s what and what needs to be done about it, so that we do the right thing, at the right time, in the right way in each situation as it arises. Neither the Buddha nor the Christ could do better than that.

Knowing what is called for, when, where and how it is called for is a matter of seeing what we look at and knowing what we know in each situation as it arises, and that is a is matter of living out of the emptiness, stillness and silence in all times and places. And that is a matter of practice, practice, practice. No?

The Buddha said, “Don’t listen to ME! Listen to YOU!”

Jesus said, “Why don’t you decide for yourselves what is right?” (Luke 12:57)

This leaves us listening to ourselves and doing what we know is called for, and doing what we know needs to be done in each situation as it arises. No?

The cover to my latest eBook on Amazon Kindle. I am having trouble uploading the cover file there, but it is a snap here. Things can be funny that way. And settling into the way things are and doing what is called for even so puts us on the way of redeeming what can be redeemed and doing what can be done, and making what can be made of everything, anywhere, all the time. Why not?

Alan Stacell said, “I paint like a dog wags its tail.” What do we do that way? What is ours to do the way tail wagging is a dog’s to do? My father smoked and drank burbon and Coke. Not quite the idea but, as close as he could come to it. I look out the window, and take what comes with that kind of self-induced trance state. Looking, waiting. It is like fishing in a way, baiting a hook and wating. And knowing a keeper when you see one. I hunch that Alan Stacell knew a keeper when he saw one. And the others he may have viewed as steps along the way. Dogs don’t grade their tail wagging, or get down about theirs not being as good as the dog’s next door. The things that set our tail to wagging are beyond critique. And we have to give ourselves to them because our tail says so–and we could do worse than letting our tail lead the way.

The following is an excerpt from my “Jim Dollar’s Daily Posts” blog on WordPress

If you have been with me for a while, you know that I recognize the importance of talking about two Gods: The God of Theology, the Bible, Christianity, Judaism, etc. And the God before and beyond Theology, which I think of as Psyche and Intuition, and which enjoys a plethora of other names throughout history and is known essentially as a way of knowing that knows what’s what, and what’s happening, and what’s called for, when, where and how, etc. without knowing how it knows, but, it is evidence that we know more than we know we know, or how we know. Which makes knowing what we know a fascinating way to spend some time. And making room for more than one God is also a fascinating way to spend time, with wondering amid amazing possibilities keeping us going.

The entire length of Dugger’s Creek is replete with nondescript falls similar to this one. You can take my word for it or go to the trouble of seeing for yourself, but I wouldn’t do that if I were you, and instead, take up the search for a restaurant that serves Lemon Ice Box Pie. I think that would be well worth your time, but it would be time consuming for sure, and you might be better served to make your own, that way you would at least be guaranteed to enjoy the entire pie in the privacy of your own home in your lifetime, which would be better by far than having them find your body in the bottom on some ravine, having driven off the road in heavy fog in your search for a restaurant serving Lemon Ice Box pie in the wee hours of the morning on some back road tracking down rumors of sources for Lemon Ice Box Pie.

Self-induced trance states are nature’s way of knowing more than reason, logic and thinking know. Entrancement takes us into a zone beyond the ordinary and open us to the realm of poetry, music and dance where we might engage the Muse and benefit from an association with More Than Words Can Say.

Thus, the Native American practice of stomp dancing and sweat lodges, and the Australian Aborigines walk-a-bouts, and self-hypnosis as a medium for deep awareness and knowing more than we know we know.

Hyper-knowing transports us beyond ordinary reality into the world of sensory abundance, realization and artistic inspiration. When we drop out of the ordinary world of reason and logic and into the extraordinary world of sensory perception, we know what the Gnostics knew with their “secret knowledge,” which is the source of artistic creativity worldwide.

Finding how things ought to be and aligning ourselves with it can be difficult from time to time. Wait, what? And now what? Aren’t always clear. Like when Daylight Savings Time goes into effect and you are the only one who doesn’t realize it. What time is it? Can be difficult under those circumstances. Ordinarily, everyone knows what time it is. Occasionally, everyone but you knows what time it is. That can be disconcerting. The world is seemingly out of sync when it is actually only you. Once that becomes clear, everything clicks into place and things are as they should be once more. What’s simple can be amazingly difficult, and then it is simple again. And such a relief. Once we know what’s what, and what’s called for, and how things need to be.

Thinking this image was taken from Clingman’s Dome, when it was actually taken from the Clingman’s Dome parking lot could be a problem if you were tryiing to duplicate the photograph from the wrong view point. Thinking we know what we are doing, and actually knowing what we are doing are quite different things. And how we get the world back under our feet can be simple and amazingly difficult. And quite out of our control until realization dawns and awakening occurs.

Realization is always like that. We don’t know until we know, and then it is so simple, why, of course! And at any point–at every point, actually–a number of people are walking around not knowing what time it is, or where to stand to take the photograph we want to take. Finding how things ought to be and aligning ourselves with it can be difficult from time to time.

We do not need anyone’s permission to be who we are. Our primal allegiance is to ourselves. To be true to ourselves is our ultimate obligation. That means living in devoted service to our intuition–to our sense of what is right for us to do, for whom it is right for us to be–above all other concerns or duties. To deny ourselves is the ultimate betrayal. Thus, our call from birth to death is to be who we are, doing what is ours to do. And our next obligation in line is to help/assist others in being true to themselves, by living in ways that serve and express who they are and doing what is theirs to do.

May we spend what remains of the time left for living in devoted service to these sacred imperatives to the best of our ability in commitment to ourselves and to each other. Amen! May it be so!