Independently Wealthy
Prosperity is the psychology we can’t afford to waste. For me, the path of accumulating luxury started to alter in my late twenties. Having entered a world of excess through the arches of celebrity homes, flamboyant movie sets, and a handful of friends with other friends in very ‘high places’, I was seeing firsthand the appearance of how those loaded with cash didn’t evade mental lunacy. In fact, they were often more prone to its insanity. Our sense of values shouldn’t be coming from the size of our bank accounts or extraneous modes. Rather, affluential capital gains ought not to be taxing us so much as turning us on to striking richness within our self-sufficiency realm of pleasurable health. The art form that strokes us ever so benevolently is being independently wealthy in body, mind, and spirit. Wellness is the missing currency everyone deserves to be individually investing in.
The role of the artist is exactly the same as the role, I think, as of the role of the lover…. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see. ~James Baldwin, “The Black Scholar Interviews James Baldwin”, Conversations with James Baldwin
Wealth as a term invites the bounty of possessing a cornucopia of resources. When we think about what we need that we can’t readily point to we tend to fall short in producing it easily. For the most part, we’re substantially well-off to live with so-called freedoms in the USA. Although, the entire planet is tuned in to the hypocrisy our country has been proclaiming somewhat falsely and a bit too loudly for the tastes of the oppressed to enraged. Myself included, it’s always been grueling grappling to weigh where I want to claim my American roots as home turf. Peace to happiness are barometers I plead with the universe to deliver to my doorstep. Yet, all around me, carried throughout the world actually, is anguish built upon rocky shores. For every ounce of opulence I’ve enjoyed, I’ve worked hard to erect my own mansion of awesome mantras to counter the asymmetry. I love the privilege of treating myself as my greatest expense.
You are the finest affair of your life. But, it’s deplorably unclear what pit of depth it’s going to take for all of humanity to embrace the collectively compassionate notion that honoring the assets of every human is a leap on par with any original feat achieved in history. If we think for even a second that considerable curiosity mixed with the fear of failure (not to mention death) didn’t cross the minds of those who procured imaginative space exploration to sea-faring daring and particularly anyone who’d ever stood up to authorities, tyrants, politicians, neighbors, family or else then we’re far worse off than any of us are imagining. I believe that everything that pains or threatens us stems from stories we’ve cognitively created. We’re brilliant at making stuff up! We don’t have to look far to see or read movies, television, gobs of books, or articles that are full of fiction. Atop this we’ve allowed a pretend reality to seep in, calling it reality tv. It’s crazy to me what we fight to trust what’s actually unreal at the seams.
Yeah, all your saints come marching
Through hell for heaven’s sake ~Old Crow Medicine Show, Pray for America
Getting out from under the throes of torrid times is hinged on a refocus of the way we choose a viewpoint. Same as the manner by which we think our point even applies to any situation. Too many of us belong to an idea that what we suspect personally is all that should matter from our waking to sleeping. That’s a ridiculously egocentric assemblage of community. Hence, why we’re protruding through incoherent peril caught out of decades of one-percenters thriving amidst an ever-escalating destitute to poor to middle classers struggle between. If there’s an allegiance to pledge please let it be devotion for: ideological variety, penetrating insight, voices that carry, truth ~ the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and listening (lord, help us, lots of listening). Often, our agencies are a ruse covering up damage hoping for a hug. When we connect with our wholeness it’s like winning the awareness lottery.
Waking can show up much like dreaming if you’re not paying attention. It can (in)conveniently pass you by without a second thought. All the while, it was waiting to gift you an intuitive revelation. That twinkle of identity that reaches in to grab hold so tightly that you’re no longer able to stifle your squeals of prosperous rhapsody. The profitable people I know live in tiny shacks along impoverished waterways to large acreage in multilayered estates. Their commonality is the streak of autonomous success. They are a scarce breed who fathom it’s the property of a nutritious mindset that shapes a hearty soul. They have names such as my dear friend: Adam Robinson. They support victory in others because they’ve gleaned the cheer of saving ourselves from our foolish selves. It’s of no use to them to prove or fight for a monetary status, as they’re following the lead of an intelligent philosophy raised by wagering the odd side of what it means to be wealthy.
Oh, liberties of gratitude, of thee, let’s sing!
