Spiritual movements often disempower people. This whole thing about “Your ego makes you suffer. Don’t be who you think you are and you can be happy. It’s the “only way”.” In my experience, it isn’t that people are egotistical that’s the problem. They aren’t aware of it enough.

Happiness comes from gratitude? Happiness does come from gratitude, including being grateful for being you. Helping animals can make you happy. Helping art can make you happy. Role resistance can make you very unhappy or happy. The role resistance can become a role.

So want to be rich, act rich. Don’t just think rich. Thinking rich just gives you an idea of what to do. You have to act it, and even more, have the hubris to fake it.

How, if you have barely enough to pay the bills? Rich people like money. They like industry and work, working or getting others to work for them, either or, it’s all the same to them. They don’t have the idea of “honest work”. To their thinking all work is honest. They don’t value “hard work”. Work is just work. They do what needs to be done. The rich are fascinated with money making, all sides of it. Is money making that interesting to you? If not, then is your current view of money really making you that unhappy?

But are they happy? Often times, yes, until politics gets in at least. Gates started out a happy little computer geek. Then stayed happy as he had some success. Then got less happy, but was still immersed in his company. Now he doesn’t like being a part of it and has retired. It is a natural cycle. Happiness is not a static.

I don’t think that it’s money that makes you happy, but what you do with it that makes you happy? Money doesn’t make anyone happy. Money is memory. Memory of work makes one happy, and plans for further work make one happy. Money just tracks it if you have understanding and becomes an encumbrance if you don’t, but everything is an encumbrance without understanding. If I could give you an MRI machine, but nothing in your passions would give you cause to have and keep this machine, I would have given you nothing. It would not be in your focus. At the least, it just wouldn’t get in your way. At worst, it would be an encumbrance.

You don’t want “everything”, absolutely no one does. No one wants it all. They can’t include it all in their focus, but you want some things and getting those things is up to you. If you seek to get “things” you will get nothing, because wanting things for the sake of having things is wanting nothing. So you get what you want.

I ask my wife every day what she wants, sometimes repeatedly. I’m not screwing with her head or being naive. I ask her because it gives me a feel for her passion/spirit and that is something I can give too. She is a part of my focus and my friends are another part, and I am whole. We all can be whole, and have to be to grow. You go missing your heart organ and well … the consequences are very predictable.

So all you need is love? Ultimately, all you need, all you even want, is love. Not to be loved. You don’t want to be or “have” a love object. You want the expression of love which is life.

Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.

Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~