Alan Watts talks about money

The following is from another speech given by Alan Watts entitled "From Time and Eternity". I'm not quite sure what I think of it, especially since today I don't have enough money - and he says that money isn't real - and I say - ok.. but having to pay the bills is real... real for me... so - what do you think?



(sorry, looks like this video is no longer available on YouTube
but here's a link to the ones that are: Alan Watts on Money)

*"Do you remember the Great Depression? One day everything was going all right. Everybody was pretty wealthy and had plenty to eat. The next day everybody was in poverty. What had happened? Had the fields disappeared; had the dairy vanished into thin air; had the fish of the sea ceased to exist; had human beings lost their energy; their skills and their brains?

No, but on the morning after the Depression a man came to work building a house and the foreman said to him "Sorry chum you can't work today, there ain't no inches." He said "What do you mean there ain't no inches?" "Yeah" he said, "Yeah, we got lumber, we got metal, we even got tape measures." The foreman said "The trouble with you is you don't understand business. There are no inches. We have been using too many of them and there's not enough to go around."

Because what happened in the Great Depression was a slump in money. Human beings are so unbelievably stupid, that they confused money with wealth. They don't realize that money is a measure of wealth, in exactly the same way that meters are a measure of length. They think it is something that is valuable in and of itself. And as a result of that get into unbelievable trouble, in exactly the same way time is nothing but an abstract measure of motion.

And we keep counting time. We have the sensation time is running out, and we bug ourselves with this as we sit and watch the clock. Supposing you are working, are you watching the clock? If you are, what are you waiting for? Time off? Five o'clock, we can go home and have fun? Yeah, fun. What are you going to do when you get home? Have fun? Or are you going to watch TV, which is an electronic reproduction of life which doesn't even smell of anything and eat a TV dinner which is a kind of a warmed over airline nastiness until you just get tired and have to go to sleep. You know, the great society.

This is our problem you see. We are not alive, we are not awake. We are not living in the present."

*This speech was slightly edited for clarification.

Hey, Come Fill Out My Form!

Hi, I'm working on a website for someone and testing the forms at Google Docs to see how they work. So... I made one for me! Here it is!!



So, that was fun!!
Now I just need some people to try it out for me!

In the money!

Wow! I got my second google check today! $103.80! How cool is that? It took me a year and a half to get the first $100 and just 3 months later here comes the second one.

Not only that, but I got almost double the amount I thought I would get back from the State of Missouri income taxes... That check came today too. A whopping $27!! I rock!

What will I do with all this money??? Gosh! I might be able to afford a trip to the laundromat! Then I can wear clean clothes again. I'm sure everyone I know will appreciate that! Alternatively, I could put gas in my car and go get a pump for my washing machine so I can take the dang thing apart and fix it.

Choices choices... all these choices. And you know what? I really am grateful. I really am. Money coming in the mail. Now that's cool!

Sixty Eight Seconds of Pure Thought

Yowsers! I wonder how hard could that possibly be? I think I'm going to try it.... but first I have to think of something inconsequential that I'd like to manifest... hmmm...

Here's a better idea! How about YOU, whoever you are, reading this... Why don't you spend 68 seconds thinking of something inconsequential to YOU... say for example... shirleytwofeathers gets a check for $1000.00 in the mail! Think about how fun that would be for ME, how interesting and cool it would be for ME, and easy it is for YOU to think positively about ME getting it!!

And in return, just as soon as I receive my $1000.00 check... I'll do the same for you.
LOL

Ok... no, I'm just kidding. Tell you what, I'll spend 68 seconds visualizing that each person who reads this post receives a nice fat check in the mail... and you guys reading this do the same for me. And we'll see how it works? OK? Have we got a deal?

I'm in the money!

Here's something cool! My very first check from Google is winging its way to me. It took me 1 year and 4 months to make $103.00 with Google Adsense. But get this !! Already, just in the months of February and March - that's only a month and a half - I have accumulated $42.00. WOW! Is that cool or what? I am so excited! All my hard work is finally beginning to pay off. Soon, I'll be IN the money.

Ok so... here's a story for ya.

The day before yesterday I spent $30 at the grocery store. And then, yesterday, I paid $15 to have a flat tire fixed. This morning I put $15.00 worth of gas in my car, enough money to get me to work and back for the next 3 days. Then, I log into my email only to discover that I have a "low balance" warning from the bank. It seems I have $232.00 in my account. So, I'm thinking "that's alright. After all, it's only a week until payday, I've got a $60 check in my purse, and by the end of the month I'll have some boarding money coming in. I'll put off taking my dog to the vet, and everything will be fine if I'm really careful and nothing "exciting" happens.

Then the exciting thing happens....

I check the mail and find a disconnect notice for my cell phone... some anxiety there.... a little heart clenching goes on... but the bill is only $20... I still have the $60 check... the upcoming automatic withdrawal for the car insurance is somewhere in the neighborhood of $70... I'll be fine if I'm really super careful and nothing "even more exciting" happens. So, I paid the cell phone bill.

Then the even more exciting thing happens...

I get an email saying that my check to Bank of America in the amount of $220 was just mailed. Don't you just love automatic bill pay services? They make sure those bills go out when they are supposed to go out ensuring that forgetful flakey people (like myself) don't have their utilites turned off and their homes foreclosed on just because they forgot to visit the mail box, or because they did visit the mail box but put all the mail in the glove compartment of the car and forgot about it for 3 months... stuff like that.

So... I'm sitting here doing the math...
Getting excited...

By tomorrow morning I'm going to be at least... let me see...
Oh God... this is way too exciting...

Breathe... Shirley.... Breathe
At least I've got beer!
That's a bonus!

Doing the Mantra

In July of 2004, my sister and I had a dialogue via email. Reading it today was Deja Vu All Over Again, and this was my answer to the Good Advice and the mantra my sister gave me:



I know you are right.
Worry, worry, worry.
I'll do the mantra.
Fret fret fret.
I'll do the mantra.
It is a beautiful day
Yesterday was too.
Saturday we had a cold hard rain
I had to wear a coat
I almost turned on the heat.
This is a beautiful mild summer.
I think I'll go outside and drink my coffee.
Be in the now moment.
How profoundly simple.
How profoundly difficult.
For me
It's all about how to feel safe in the world.
Most of my fear is based on a core belief that I am not supported
or safe
Finding a way to feel safe
Will money and a regular pay check make me feel safe?
Maybe so, maybe not.
When I explore my feelings - and what I mean by that - when I stop trying to avoid, change, or stuff them - I find that dread gives way to grief - fear gives way to fatigue - fatigue gives way to grief - grief gives way to I don't know what - probably joy - but I haven't let it go that far. The feelings get too big and I go find something to do, or something to eat, or someone to call, or something to worry about.
I understand why people get "saved".
I'm going to go outside
Sit on the ground
Enjoy the Earth Mother
Drink coffee
contemplate the now moment.
fret about it
maybe even fall into it
say the mantra.
Love Shirley

Some Good Advice

This was my sister's response to It's Deja Vu All Over Again.

Okay, you asked - hope you don't regret it... I think it is great, encouraging and inspirational progress that you are ready to confront this worrisome miasma... I smell the end of its dominion over you.

Yes, I think it is a miracle you've lasted this long on snips and snatches and any of your solutions seem viable. Why not just do what has immediately presented itself to you to do? - forget about the future and don't project past right now. God has kept you from bankruptcy and ruin and all kinds of horrible working situations, and simple, grateful awareness has to have some measure of sustaining power.

There's no reason to suspect that universal support will dissolve just because you are at a point when you are ready for some abundance in your life. Know deeply and with certainty that all is as it should be - right now - it could never have been any other way. Abandon the need to know how things will work out; take your primary focus away from past and future and lend them little power over this moment. Hold a knowing space within where there is even greater certainty that there is an unfolding greater good of which you will increasingly be aware and participate in its manifestation.

Acting from this foundation, allowing things to unfold without projecting the small self in the process, is (in my opinion only) the most powerful, transformational accomplishment.

Then sit down and do the abundance mantra out loud for 15 min and then silently for 15 - do it when you can:

Om - Shreem - Maha - Lakshmi - Yei - Swaha

I am doing this mantra now and you and I together will multiply it's potency because of our connection - where you have abundance, so do I, and so do all those you and I love. So this is not optional - it is a mandate now - we must manifest abundance in the world for a higher purpose.

It's Deja Vu All Over Again!

I was going back through emails from my sister. Believe it or not, I have have kept them as far back as 2004! This little exchange really caught my interest. It was written in July 2004:

And so I added up the numbers
and
Now I'm depressed.
I should be happy -
I've just proved that the impossible is possible
I sat down with my bills
added them all up
and they come to more than the $300 a week bathing job
even pared down to the barest minimum.
How is it that I am caught up for July?
I don't know.
How did I make it on $800 a month (sometimes less)from November to now?
How is it that I actually have money in a savings account?
And none of my utilities are turned off?
And nothing has been reposessed?
It's probably a financial miracle that I even have any money at all!
I should fall to my knees and be thankful.

So, that was four years ago. I am now employed someplace else making $250 a week and picking up odd jobs here and there. My bills are not substantially different, it's still a miracle! And I have yet to fall to my knees and be thankful!

I'm going to do that right now.
Really.
I am!

And then, I'm going to post my sister's reply...