action

The Business Person simply swings into action, when confronted with a problem. Even when there is no acute problem, the Business Person relentlessly searches for something to do.

support

Launched into a little tech support adventure. Microsoft Support. Problem solved.

live food

One of my dreams actually is to create the grocery delivery business.

No plastic. None of what we sell, not one single item, will ever be packaged in plastic, not at any time in its life.

We are, however, a technology company.

When you order stuff, you will talk to a shopper, live, over the Internet, using streaming video telephony.

You will talk to management, over live streaming video telephony.


I'm thinking about the customer base.

It is essential that our customers behave well.

Our whole mission is helping people behave well. We're an Eco Company.

Our mission is to help people prosper, and people prosper when they behave well.

However, are we going to achieve a base of customers who are behaving extremely will by reaching out only to well behaved people? That wouldn't be good behavior on our part.

We are going to set up a system for studying our customer base, which is EVERYONE. We are going to PERSONALLY GET TO KNOW EVERY LIVING HUMAN BEING. Then we are going to work hard to understand each of their personal needs, so that we can address those needs for them.

reading

Don't make the mistake of thinking you should only read an occasional book, or only read for entertainment.

For prosperity, read as much as you possibly can. Read and read and read and read and read.

dharma

What the Buddha Taught
The Buddha taught how to achieve "safety, peace, happiness, tranquility."
This is a very scholarly work, and extremely complete, and straight from the most ancient texts, written by one of the most elevated members of the Order. (Sangha, the Order of Monks.)
used for $3
In short, I am not good at many things, but I am very good at picking things. I decided to look for a book on Buddhism. I went to Changing Hands Books, found the section on Buddhism, looked for ten minutes at the titles, and picked, really by luck, the one complete text. Once I had taken it out, though, I could tell.
I am fifty five years old. I come from a Jewish father and a Christian Pagan mother. They are naive people, not religious and barely philosophical. They are scholastic, though. That's where my ethic comes from. At any rate, out of this it came to pass that in my twenties I found myself very much drawn so Buddhism, but through an indirect route. I found myself very much drawn to a school originated by an Asian person, an Asian school teaching in the West. The doctrine was fundamentally Taoist, but one of the texts was titled Zen something. Without knowing almost anything more than that I began to think I was a Zen master.
Completely by chance I got a job in a Sushi house.
Then, completely by chance, I married a Japanese girl. She is rather casual in her religiosity, though not entirely disinterested, or unobservant, either. For nostalgia's sake she sought out a Zen community, which turned out to be, though it was entirely American (except for the head monk, who was entirely Japanese), very traditional. The right stuff.
So, I practiced with them, a little. So I know a little of that. Early in the morning, you go into the meditation hall and take a seat on a cushion. It's all very proper, simple, and serene. There's a statue of the Buddha. Tea is served. Then there's a ringing of bells, and you all chant sutras together. Then incense is lit, it's very lovely, and you sit, and it's very hard. You walk a little. Then you sit some more. Then you either hurry off to work, or you do a little work at the temple.
Now it is still very early, and you are awake, and in town, with the whole day, including even the early morning, before you.
It is my observation, however, that almost all the active participants are attracted to it by some sort of abstract notion - seeking salvation, in the abstract, or the pomp and ceremony. They are seeking pomp and ceremony, which is, I would say, a path to something, but they are not much aware of what it is a path to.
The old master, who was, beyond question, the real deal, visited often. These were serious occasions. They were trials. He could say something in a talk that would go straight to your core, and actually change you. That happened to me.
However, he was not making complete sense.
To my mind, books, art, and architecture were not emphasized as much as they ought to have been.
I now have a book.
I have learned, from it, that to join the Order, to become a monk, you must have three robes and a begging bowl.
I am uncertain I want to take that route.
I am wondering - I have only read the first chapter, so I might yet find out - whether the Buddha taught that it was necessary to become a monk, in order to achieve the benefits I listed. Is there such a thing as a lay practitioner?
We laypersons were invited into the temple to participate in meditation, and in all the ceremonies, it seemed. It did not appear any distinction was made or that we were treated any differently. In fact the Roshi, it was reported, thought it was silly that anyone would be so eager for ordination.
And, in the end, it all falls apart. This is quite in keeping with what I am reading now.
On my last visit to the temple, we were mourning a loss, and maybe two. A monk was standing, in robes, very erect, extremely serious. Is that the way? I say they were not doing enough reading, and not enough thinking. Still, it was impressive. What instructions was he following?
Still, if you involve yourself in something like this, even if in the end you leave it again, and even if it ultimately does little for you, some day, later in your life, you find that it is sustaining you somehow. If you are lost, I think attending a retreat somewhere is not a bad idea. Just be dispassionate about it. Participate, do as you are instructed, keep your purpose to yourself, only debate points in private, in your diary, unless you can publish something. Keep an eye out for reading and writing, so you can absorb some of those skills, and do sketches and sell them for money.
Be interested in business. Don't be mislead by anyone who would question your motives, hearing you are interested in that. I am completely certain this is entirely Buddhistic, and that you will find the idea is supported in the texts. (If not, so be it.)

get money

More vacuuming.

A hellacious noise the thing makes ...
Amplified in the stair well.

Studying stock charts ...
I'm quite sick of it.
Not that I don't recommend it,
I do.




Make no mistake, this is spiritual writing.
I have lost and lost and lost.
The seventh bar in November
and the third bar in December
(where the month line is the first bar)
were "signals".

But, get money other ways, and plenty of it.
Try my meditation, especially if you're shy
about getting a job, or jobs.

Suddenly I am wondering
about the possibility of getting jobs.
I am thinking about Jun, freelancing in Osaka.
Me, really, all I can do is tree work
and I'm an amateur, at that.
I could enter design competitions.
Meditate, meditate, meditate!

May those not yet arisen
quickly perfect their minds
awakening as fully enlightened ones.




I am so tired of stock charts.
Do you see?
There was a top at twenty five, and another, at thirty.
Do you see how today's rally stopped, and reversed
at the level of the top of March and April?
Do you see this wedge
and how on the other chart there was a wedge?
Do you see how tops have only lasted a short while?
Do you see that $100 invested can only become that small a loss
and how a bit of patience would be required, but that
it could be rewarded?
Look at the way this chart came from Finviz
and how, if you can find it there yourself
below it, there were many headlines.
I followed one, and started to feel like family.

abundance

Someone was drilling with a jackhammer for hours on end this morning and into the afternoon.
It seemed like they never so much as took a break.
It didn't sound like they were hurrying, though.

I suppose I could try meditations to make myself like another.

Ach. Phooey.

Get some kind of little book
in which you can keep a record
of certain things you do.

Imagine someone
(Abunduntia, in one of her many guises)
placing one hundred dollar bills
in your open hand
counting them out
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
or they might count them on the table
or counter
then pick them up
put them in an envelope
and put it in your inside breast pocket.

Then make a note of the time
and what you did.

This follows on my advice.

And it continues.

advice

With desperation creeping up
on me
the other day
I thought to seek out
a prayer
which I intended to repeat
out loud
again and again
as the greatly empowered monks
do.

I got the idea from a book
which I was reading out loud,
funny, that, and
in order to ensure my persistence.

I am not
they would say
a Buddhist
but Jesus, though I like him, is so irritating
the obsequiousness of his follower
so revolting
I chose a Buddhist prayer.
Two short moments later
it was in my laptop
a pretty yellow book
very lovely.

And I read it the whole way through
very fast, out loud
as the greatly empowered monks do
though
they do it every morning
and every evening
and maybe also at lunch time.

After reading The King of Prayers
(which is very sweet, I tell you)
through
two days in a row
on the third day
I could not bring myself to do it.
On the fourth day
I could not bring myself to do it either.

But, I was concerned.
"I will read something," I thought.
So, this idea of reading things out loud
for empowerment
whether they are prayers
or whatever they might be
has come to me.

If you try to just read this
silently
(this is called irony)
it is very likely you will fail.
But it is written with the idea of reading things out loud
in my mind.
If you do that
it might empower you
and,
you are more likely to in fact
read it.

Back to action.

action

doing what I want
which is all I ever do
which is all anyone ever does
whatever they may think
whatever they may say

stung by the chastisement
of my mind
to do something "useful"
something "practical"
something "actual"
something "physical"
some kind of "work"

I choose vacuuming

vacuuming hairs
and bits of grit
out of the purple carpet
finding more and more of them
vacuuming again and again
blessed to have
a working purple vacuum cleaner
and a powerful one
obsessing, you could say
but no
there is grit
there are hairs
gradually the situation is improving
this upper room
this loft
is now fairly clean
now there is the flight of stairs
the long, long flight of stairs
doing the top step
then, quitting

other things to do.

I love money.
I think it is good.
I think it is OK to just pursue it.
Sometimes that's the right thing to do.
I called a plumber.
He was kind.
He was even concerned
that my shower wasn't working.
He had some trouble.
He worked hard at it.
He got it working again.
He charged me an arm and a leg.
He even said he was giving me a break.
He even I think meant it.
And yet, he left me with a half assed faucet.
Nor did he care.
He had no thought, even, of doing better.
None of it was his fault.
It's just the way things are.
The workman does it half assed.
Just enough to get by.
That's the way of work.
If you are a worker
do not be discouraged.
If you wish it were better
I recommend prayer.

What money represents, though, is
infinite possibilities.
You will pay a price
for pursuing it.
You will be criticized.
Jesus will turn over your tables.
Don't pay any attention.

Turning this over and over in my mind,
this question, how to get money
yesterday, coming up with an idea:
a money machine. Now, to set it up.
(Do I have the courage? Will I take action,
or am I just blabbing?)
The parts exist.
At GoFundMe, people can click a button
that sends someone money.
It goes into their PayPal account, right?
No, I'm wrong!
Google: how does GoFundMe work?
GoFundMe/questions
How does it work? and
How do I get my money?
Request a withdrawal
directly to your bank account.

So
I did check my bank account.
(I actually have no money.)
See, taking action.
That was about another matter.
Now
I need to create a GoFundMe account
and link it to my bank account
(it can be done in 1 minute,
GoFundMe says)
and then create a campaign.

loving money

loving money

my mind working
appearing to work
appearing to strive
as if grinding grain
as if stirring a pot

as if turning a galexy

somehow I think
out of this turning
should rise
a goddess
Abunduntia

and she will place
money
in my hand

the idea of one thing
leading to another
the "later" post

thus is the one thing
"done"

chastisement

my mind
chastising me
questioning the validity
of
its own conception

chastising me
for not "serving others"
for even thinking I can be of service
doing this,
writing

it is not that I think it
i am simply following
my inclinations

having two posts open for editing at once
so I can add a link to the one
pointing to the other
the earlier one

that's not quite right

at any rate
next up
action