Dear Beloved Friends,
The other day I looked at some dollar bills. Imagine if you were a martian, or a being from another dimension (which most of us are) and you had a Benjamin Franklin $100 in your hands. Staring down at the $100 bill you'd probably have no idea what it was and probably throw it away or something.
Money is a conventional designation, it is what we use to make business and personal transactions with and it's based on a conventionally perceived or collectively accepted idea. It's an agreement, really, that we have made with each other, those in our country and in the rest of the world. In truth though, it is empty, it has no permanent nature.
What if your notion, your idea of a $100 bill suddenly changed? What if you suddenly awakened to the true nature of money? In your hands it means power, the power to buy and sell. But it would be nothing without you. Money depends on you. The life you have is more precious than anything you can buy. Do you buy that? Do you get that?
Many of us may spend our time fixated on ideas, concepts and conventional understandings or agreements, contracts really. I encourage everyone, including myself, to go a bit deeper. What is your true nature? What power do you really have?
Meditation for this week:
Hold a $ bill in your hand, a euro if you are in EU, or an appropriate amount in your own currency, wherever you live--even Mars. Come in contact with the bill in your hand, smell it if you like, lick it if you like, put it up to your ear and see if it speaks to you. However you wish to really get in touch with this bill. Then spend it. Yes, spend. Buy whatever you want. Give it to charity. Whatever you want to do with it that will fit with its conventional purpose: to buy or sell things with. Even if you “save” money, you are really buying a contract with whatever institution you are putting the money into; you’re buying air, time and the resources it takes to manufacture numbers on a screen. It could be perceived as the same even if you’re investing in your front pockets, the underside of your mattress or the hidden place that no one knows about. Anywhere you put your money you are buying time, you are “buying” something. And when you sell something and receive the cash from it, the monetary gain, it’s only really just an exchange. "More" or "less" money comes from the same place. It is important to look within to see what is available for you and what you are available for right now.
The bill you have in your hand is fleeting. And so is the hand that holds it and the mind and body that perceives it. What will more or less bills offer you if you haven't a body and mind to experience the bills with? Use it as it is meant to be used, use it for awareness. Use it to become aware. Use it, but find freedom within.
Any questions or comments, my contacts are everywhere. I am offering online/over-the-phone home-based meditation retreats starting whenever you would like them to, catered to your personal practice needs. Hit me up for more details. Look forward to meeting you or hearing from you soon.
Much Love, Brian
©2008 Brian Kimmel.
