Life is really so simple.
It appears to be so complicated, but it is really
so simple. In the end, what really matters is love. Your relationships to
other people in love. Your relationship to yourself in love. Your
relationship to life itself in love. This is all that matters. To focus on
these relationships and fill them with love.
Do you think that what matters is the amount of money you have? Or how
slender and gorgeous you are? Or whether you are successful in your job and
get a promotion? Do you think that this is what counts?
It is true that this is what society recognizes and rewards. But it is not
what matters in the end. Obviously not, for all of these things pass away
with the physical life. Your body decays, your money is left to the
government and other people, your precious possessions are eventually sold
off or discarded. A lifetime of accumulation that means nothing, and yet
was the focus of so much anxiety and fear during your life.
You are, of course, concerned not only with accumulation of wealth for
outward success, but also for security. But security needs to be built like
the squirrel builds it, storing away just enough food during the spring and
summer so that there is a comfortable winter ahead. The squirrel knows that
the winter always comes. But he also knows that the spring always follows.
Both are true.
And so, when the nuts are plentiful, he remembers to set some aside for
winter, for winter always comes. But when he has done so, when he has
stored away enough for that one winter, he also remember to enjoy the sunny
day. He needs nuts enough for only one winter, for spring always follows.
But what if you were to find your security within faith? Even the faith
that the spring will come again can be faith enough. Enough to allow you to
relax, to relax and set aside only enough to see you through a tough time.
Only enough to be able to make it through until the thaw. You should be
able to muster faith enough for this.
If you were to have total faith, then you could live even less arduously
than does the squirrel. If you had complete faith, you would know that the
world is a bountiful garden, and that there is always enough for you,
always. Just in time, the source of abundance appears. Just in time, the
universe provides, just enough. But yes, living this way does require faith
indeed. It can be a very exciting way to live, wondering how the universe
plans to pull you out of this one. But you would be amazed how ample the
bounty is, if you were to allow yourself to put yourself in the hands of the
universe. It is a state, however, which demands that you act with complete
faith and without fear, doing things which may appear crazy to other people,
living in a way which society would never advise.
And so it is up to you, whether to accept the model of total freedom through
faith, or whether to follow the squirrel’s approach of providing for one
long winter. But spending your entire life worrying over the accumulation
of more than this, at the risk of the vital relationships in your life, is
foolish.
Look to love. Look to the love which needs to be flowing within your life.
Look at your relationship with yourself, and cease the criticism of yourself
because you are not as successful as you had hoped. The most important thing
is to love and appreciate yourself, not to push yourself on to gain more and
more money and achievement.
And of course, look to your relationships with other people. For when
things are difficult, when winter comes and you are barely scraping by, the
best possible thing you can have is a loving support system, people who will
help you out in your time of need. People you can count on, and who count
on you. This is the most important thing.
When your final days come, the money, the success, will matter for nothing.
All that will matter are your key relationships. How deeply you have come
to love yourself, and the peace which you have built up inside, the faith
which you have built up in your immortal soul, your relationship to your
beliefs, in the continuance of your soul, and the bountiful love of the
universe. And of course, the loving relationships with other people, as
they gather at your bedside, and give you thanks for the love and kindness
you have showered upon them all of your years.
And if this bedside is in a mansion or a hut, it does not matter. All that
matters is the love. All that matters is the love.
