August, 2017

∞ “Most of us work. Some of us do not do work each day. But nearly all of us understand that we must work to live. There is also the matter of money. We work, we think ‘to earn money’. Because most of us require money to live, be housed, have food, health care, travel and other resources.

All of this is important in the lives of most of us.

However, I realized this morning that I do not really work to earn money. Like many, I need money to survive, pay for rent, electricity, food, and things I may desire or need.

But what I most need and desire is to be a valuable being in the world, to grow the world and give answer to the cruel things that happen in our lives and the world. So the ‘pay’ I really want is to be an ally and companion to some of those who need a good companion, and to the world. I work to learn how to be a true being, to be of aid to others, to bring joy and liberation, health and well-being in the world… to living creatures, living places, and particularly to human beings. This is the ‘pay’ I really desire, and is the only kind of trade my heart and bones recognize.

My heart does not recognize money. My blood and bones do not recognize money. They recognize learning, true relation, wonder, joy, reverence, respect, mutual uplift. They recognize gratitude, they recognize Origin and giving my body and soul to the the history and future of life on Earth. They recognize the sacrifices and suffering endured by all the beings who ever lived or will live here, and they ‘are remunerated’ only when I contribute meaningfully to the basis of life, awareness, being, and true relation.

And I intend to earn that blessing, to become that blessing, and to transmit and remember those sacrifices and dreams. This day, and every day. In every moment of my thought, speech, concern, attention and action.

I also have a job. I also earn money. But this is of little consequence. What is momentous are the matters I have here spoken of. This is my true vocation. This is the vocation I intend to succeed at.”

— an anonymous informant