Emm.. This may be a slightly weird post... but I guess that is no surprise to anyone who read my previous ones ! lol
The only Financial idea I have to share is my Debt-Free Budget version 3.
Take-home pay (100%)
less Giving (10%)
Leaves 90%.
This 90% is then split in two.
45% to Savings. 45% to Spending including all expenses.
This Budget leaves me with not a LOT of discretionary spending money but with enough maybe. I'm not a Spender by nature and don't generally look for fulfillment that way. This is a new budget plan so we'll see how it goes.
Anyways the more substantial point is that I don't feel an emotional connection to my finances anymore. Or much Ambition. Up to recently I've had a secret desire to build up a large Savings account to build a buffer/cash cushion or whatever.
But now... I don't really care how much money I have in the future as long as I have enough. Now "enough" is of course subjective. To me, it means being able to pay the bills and live a fulfilled life (which, for me, has nothing to do with Porsches or 5-bedroom houses).
I dunno.. I guess I've been watching a lot of Eckhart Tolle and Krishnamurti videos on Youtube and I think I've began to become a tiny bit dislodged from my idea of myself. Not in a mentally unstable way I might add !! Just that I'm no longer the perpetually single little person with little money working in a factory desiring to meet an attractive female, travel the world and make/write some great films or documentaries.
The real me is bigger that all that. And the real you. The real essence of us all, I think, is that we are all expressions of Life exploring or playing with itself. We are all flowers that grow on this round ball in space we call Earth. It's the same Life Force that holds Pluto in it's orbit at the edge of our solar system, that causes a Rose to flower, that powers the whole Universe that is at the centre of all creatures on this planet of which we are one.
I've recently being feeling a lot less detached from other people in that I've realised that our Awareness is the same. The Consciousness behind our thinking minds is basically the same for all humans. The only difference between people is the outer frilly clothes of the Ego, habits, education, culture etc. So I share the same Consciousness with Monica Bellucci, Bill Gates and the homeless guy on the Street. It's just that we're packaged in different bodies and have had a different journey in life - but fundamentally we're all the same variety of flower.
So now I only plan this month's budget and that's it. Financially that's all I can do. I don't want to put Life on hold, squirreling away my money and Life energy for a luxurious retirement at 65. Look at Kris Kristofferson - still touring at 74 !! I think the thing is to do something you'll never want to retire from as opposed to exchanging life, time, youth and good health now for a supposedly great life starting at 65.
Dunno what my point is really. Sorry. Saw an Indian guy on Youtube say that to be really free, you have to give up Desires (or plans for future pleasure) and even give up the Desire to be Free itself. Freedom and Bliss await us now in this Moment. All we have to do is come up for air from repetitive non-important mental merry-go-rounds in our heads.
Emm.. Easier said than done. But apparently you don't have to spend 20 years meditating under a tree to find bliss, you just have to quieten your Mind enough to let Life (and it's plan for you) to flow through you.
The End. Sorry for the rambling and Thanks to anyone who has made it this far ! :-)
Becoming detached from Myself in parts.
August 22nd, 2010 at 09:12 pm
August 22nd, 2010 at 09:42 pm 1282513328
Actually I am on somewhat the same plane...I am trying to not panic over the fact my body has failed me and I am unemployed/disabled at this point totally unexpected to me. We have enough!
August 22nd, 2010 at 09:42 pm 1282513349
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:12 pm 1282518767
August 23rd, 2010 at 04:37 am 1282538227
There's a great little book, which is now out of print, called "That Which You Are Seeking, Is Causing You to Seek." It may resonate very much with your path at the moment.
August 23rd, 2010 at 03:10 pm 1282576217
Siddhartha
Also you might want to try any/all of Daniel Quinn's books starting w/Ishmael.
August 23rd, 2010 at 03:35 pm 1282577740
(I minored in Humanities, so have studied a lot of philosophy).
August 23rd, 2010 at 06:04 pm 1282586678
Yeah.. I dunno (which is probably the truest thing I've ever said). I think there's a link between the Egoic desire for future happiness in the form of possessions,cars and houses and the Self-help/Guru led search to be free/enlightened/blissful.
I mean Life Force/Bliss is within us now. Where else are we to find it ? For millenia people have looked for happiness outside of themselves through material things/possessions/lovers etc and largely failed. So do I need to become an enlightened Buddhist master to be blissful ? No, I don't think so.
But it can't be that easy can it ? Just by turning off or turning down or giving yourself a break from the constant chatter in your Mind, you can achieve Bliss ?
Apparently so !! I must research Meditation as a tool to quieting the Mind.
Not, I think, the sitting cross-legged for an hour meditation but the meditation of walking in a beautiful area, listening to beautiful music, reading a great book, working on a screenplay/poem and just being totally focused on what you're doing. "Flow" I've heard it described as. Which sounds cool.
Thank you all for your comments ! :-)
August 25th, 2010 at 02:08 am 1282702110