Thoughtless

Thought, the ‘me’, the ‘I’, the ego,
is the maker of trouble.
The stirrer of the pot.

Thought is of time,
of the past,
of the future.

What is, is The Timeless.
Where time is,
The Timeless is not.

The ego is always self-projecting.
Grasping, wanting more,
it never stops.

Thought is of memory,
of word,
of desire.
Thought cannot see what is.

Where thought is,
what is is not.

The ‘I’ is always deciding, wanting certainty.
Security in an insecure lot.

Thought is the known, the conclusion,
the striving for result.
What is, is The Unknown.

Where the known is,
The Unknown is not.

The ‘me’ is always comparing, competing.
Measuring.

The Immeasurable is,

Where thinking is not.

You’re It

Try to find It
and It’s lost.

Try to hold It.
It slips through your hands like you’re grasping at air.

Try to see It.
It’s just out of sight.

Try to know It
and you’re stupid!

Talk about It.
You’ll wrap yourself up in knots.

Imagine It
and you’re looking at a dead thing.

Approach it,
it has no tail.

Face it!
It has no face.

Just watch

and,

You’re It.

Christmas Every Day

Ho ho ho, hear me call,
“To those I love, I love you all”.
It happens every day,
If we choose to live our lives that way.

Ho ho ho, hear me roar,
“This is what we came here for”.
To those I love I say,
“May you find Christmas every day”.

Action

What is the point?

“Love.”

How do I get there?

“Not doing,
not thinking …
passive negation.”

Does that mean inaction; death?

“No, and yes.

It means the end of activity;
the end of stories;

and the beginning of Life

in Action.”

The one thing about money

I went to Charlie Davies’ money workshop a couple of days ago … he calls it "The one thing about money" – but for me, it turned out to be more like "The one thing about almost absolutely everything." I may write more about that later.

For now I want to tell something about Charlie’s workshop.

Charlie first encountered these ideas a few years ago whilst attending workshops run by Peter Koenig. Since then Charlie has been shaping this material into a form of his own and this, in turn, is my take.

Everyone has a money practice, a way they relate to money.

Many people’s money practice goes something like "I’ll get more and more of it until … ".

The until varies from person to person but often sounds a bit like this, "I’ll get more and more money until I’m free" or "happy" or "secure" or something. Actually, and this is the point, neither freedom, happiness nor security are inside money waiting to pop out and fix things. Those are self-penned stories we tell ourselves about money. Money is not happiness and happiness is not in money. Money has no characteristics of it’s own – it’s empty. We author our own money stories.

Perhaps then, if happiness is not in money, it won’t help to have more. After all, not all rich people are happy.

Charlie offered an alternative money practice, like this …

By Increasing our awareness of the stories we tell ourselves about money, our relationship with money can improve. We might be more creative with it and more relaxed around it, we might even befriend it.

Charlie gave a very practical demonstration of the way we give meaning to money. He also gave a very clear way of implementing this alternative money practice. You can find out more about Charlie’s workshops by emailing onethingaboutmoney@gmail.com or having a look at The one thing about money Facebook group.

This Land

In this land is killed a king.
“The King is dead!” his subjects cry.
Their ‘love’ had ended, that’s the thing.
Never mended, the king must die.

In this land is killed a queen.
“The Queen is dead!” her subjects roar.
Her ‘love’ was spent in single scene.
Their ‘love’ was spent in little more.

Evidence

I looked for light, ignoring dark

and evidence of light I saw.

But blaze turned fire,
turned flame,
turned spark,

turned ash,
turned dust,
turned nothing more.