Is New Age Really So New Age At All Or A Big Moneymaker?
Rick London
I can remember having several debates with a former girlfriend who is a high-profile attorney on the west coast. The fact that she was a high-profile attorney, though impressive, was not her lure. For me, the fact that she started from scratch, actually on a park bench, worked her way through one of the most prestigious law schools in the country, and has offices in Beverly Hills and beyond, was a lure. The fact that she is a good person didn't hurt. She looked at the struggle as part of the dream, not something to complain about. The way she thought was the way I wished to think. The way she worked was the way I wished to work. She has discipline and organizational skills; business elements of which I am still but nubile and shall be for awhile.
I guess you could say I am better at Internet marketing than she is, but that is only because that is what I studied when I went back to school. There is little doubt she could pick it up in no time if she had the spare time to learn it, or the interest.
I, on the other hand, though a bit clumsy and not as organized, have managed to create some exciting things on the Internet. But, if not for the Internet, I do not think they would exist. One, for instance is the largest cartoon website which lures about 4000 visitors per hour or 4.5 million people per year. From that I've expanded it into 5 different e-stores with my cartoon products (over 80,000 of them in 23 different categories). I invented and have a patent pending on the world's first fully-automated medical device. I did not get rich (but I do make a lot more money than I did before I took action, conjured a little confidence and started from ground zero. (I was working out of an abandoned warehouse in rural Ms. but that's a whole other story).
She drives a new Mercedes. I drove an '89 Buick Regal until I got a heart condition and stopped driving. She has a big home in the Valley. I have a modest studio apartment on a mountaintop in Arkansas. I now have a 2000 Saturn and I'm prefectly satisfied with it.
I live in the Arkansas hills. Her once complaint is that we Arkansaians "think small". Wish Sam Walton was alive to hear that one. Maya Angelou would love to hear it as well
I don't really get much into New Age philosophy. Let me rephrase that. i do and I don't. I get into it from the biblical point of view, because, that is really all it is; ancient text rewritten ever so gently and packaged beautifully. And if we don't watch out, some "guru aka false profit" is getting rich as I write this. I prefer to read the same material free from ancient scriptures. Yes, its a harder read, but its the same thing.
Now there is nothing wrong with attracting wealth and good things for you and/or your family by praye and meditation. But there is nothing "New" about it. It is in both the Jewish and Christian Bibles and mentioned numerous times regarding the labors of attraction, prayer, and "ACTION". What seems to be left of a lot of the new age laws of attraction is the action part. If you've met someone who has sat on an easy chair for weeks, months or years, without moving a muscle, and suddenly his BVD Tee turned into an Armani Suit, his '57 Chevy Pickup into a new Lexus, please do let me know about it and I shall gladly edit or remove this article. The Kaballah (hardly New Age) but the mystical intrpretation of the Torah, still considered a bit controversial even in Judaism, has all the information in that is in the slick new age packaged goods. The big difference is that it is available for free. And the information is more precise and based on real spiritual dynamics, not on a spiritual guru's bank balance.
Life is what it is. I can't debate with her about income. If I want to make more, I will promote my business more, go to law school, or both. A good lawyer, historically, makes a better income than a good cartoonist and e-tailer. But I don't like law. Grew up with plenty of lawyers in my family and though they made a great living, very few of them enjoyed it. In fact several quit and one never even practiced after daddy paid for law school. So it goes.
So everyone is telling me to "live the dream" and "sell the dream". I don't want to be sold those things. I feel like I'm in a conversation with Elmer Gantry when that occasionally happens. I'd rather talk about the weather.
But I have an ally. He's long gone now but his words live on in his writings; Carl Jung that is. Many people do not understand Jung's message and that's okay. I think it was because he was so interested in the spiritual and metaphysical side of things. So am I. But he, like I, am also interested in living in the now, enjoying the now, appreciating the struggle. For if not to appreciate the struggle, once the dream "happens", what's next? I don't want to keep living for "new dreams". I want to enjoy the ones I am living and gradually evolve into other ways of life, if they look health and positive for me.
One reality to know is that no matter what the dream, or one's life becomes, it will never be utopia. If we make billions of dollars and purchase the Taj Mahal, we will still get sore throats, indigestion, family problems, and have similar issues as those living in the ghetto. The only difference is more resources with which to deal. That does not necessarily mean better resources either.
In our culture, we correlate happiness and success with our bank account. We were taught that in our formal education, and its a big mistake. Yes having a big bank account is wonderful, but that's not all there is to it. One has to do what one loves to do, to build one's own happiness, not let anyone else do it; not a boss, a spouse or anyone else. They can add to it like we can add to theirs, but they are not THE SOURCE.
I make less money now working at home than I did in the big city corporate world. That is just fine with me. I love working in my jogging suit. I love being able to stretch, make coffee, and take a long walk when I feel like it. I love that the Internet allows me to make an income based on past work, my products sell by others who are affiliates. They make good money and so do I. I can sit back now, and create work for others and myself. I had to work hard every day for a decade to allow that to happen. You may be a faster learner, but it took me awhile to figure it out.
Prepare to fail (and succeed). The world of business is full of success stories (household names) who failed many times before they ever succeeded. Read their autobiographies. You might be very surprised.
I have many wealthy friends, many middle class, many upper class, many lower class; I really don't find any of that important as a requisite for friendship. I love being around people who are doing things to try to improve themselves and others. If someone is out there just trying to make a lot of money, so be it. They bore me. If they are out there trying to provide the best service, product, or creative endeavor out there, and whether they make a pot of gold, or not, I will hang with them.
Each of us have different dreams.
A lot of our former education is good. Especially the basic principles. But let's remember, times have changed. When I worked in real estate, we were sent to guru workshops on "sales tactics and manipulation". They were based on the world being "not so savvy". The world is a lot more savvy now and manipulation and tactics insult most's intelligence.
I will continue to "live my dream", even if my better half thinks I'm "not thinking big". I've seen more big thinkers in bankruptcy court than checking into The Four Seasons Hotel.
I am not saying not to think big. All I am saying is to lay the foundation first. Do the legwork. Check your waist-size and make sure you are not too big for your britches (too soon). And make sure it is your dream, not one delegated to you. You are bound to make some "enemies" by not following someone else's dream, but you'll make many friends too. And most of all you will be your friend, and know "To thine own self be true" is what it is all about.
Paupers and kings are both happy if they are true to themselves. Both are miserable if not.
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