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Today, I often meet people who are too busy to take care of their wealth. And there are people too busy to take care of their health. The cause is the same. They’re too busy … To this writer, Mr. Kiyosaki’s observation covers the water – almost the seven seas – of modern living. Apart from the usual ups and downs of every human life, we moderns have become busy and occupied, and then distracted to the point of being “away from the wheel.” Many of us should put out OCCUPADO signs. The whole society could do the same as physical activity, social media, and outer diversions absorb us hour to hour and day to day. That while BOREDOM is one of our most feared concerns. Silence, Stillness, and Serenity are outside the comfort zone of millions. So, we keep busy – often far too busy – with things which may not support growth and health.  The actor Michael J. Fox has written about this subject in his book Lucky Man. He admits that he was never still before he became a TV and movie star, even less so after that passage in time. Then when Parkinson’s Disorder took over his being, Stillness became almost impossible. Once asked, “What would it mean to be still?” Fox answered, “I wouldn’t know.” Compared to Fox, our own busy-ness is likely a much less imposing challenge – yet often beyond our awareness. That is so in part because we are products of our times and customs. We take in and believe most of what is “common knowledge and practice” because “we can’t know everything.” We accept what parents and teachers, politicians and commentators, movie stars and celebrities, the rich and famous, the media and medicine, “experts and authorities” tell us. We then reap the downside as well as the upside of modern life. But, who should say? Who should know? Whose body is it? Whose wallet is it? How often are we prodded by people and forces which are really deranged parts of our ailing society? If we join with them, then do we not add measures of illness to that already sick society? We are often trained from early on. Rather than educated. Much schooling – public as well as private – has become indoctrination. Real learning and true knowledge is subtler and simpler than classrooms, curricula and books. The word educate comes from the Latin and means – to draw forth from within – our own latent genius as Kiyosaki might say. Much more will follow on education in a later chapter. For now, our focus is busy-ness as noted by Mr. Kiyosaki. There are far too many obligations, distractions and entertainments – not to mention electronic and mechanical devices to occupy us and keep us busy. Most certainly, technological advancements have given people comforts as well as the simple benefits of clean water and sanitation, abundant food and fodder, housing with electric lighting, and communication and transportation wonders beyond the imaginings of ancestors only a few generations past. Stores in western countries are today overloaded with options to “fit every taste.” This writer is often reminded of a story told by his mother about her mother Grandma Colvin. Grandma Georgianna lived on a South Dakota farm birthing and raising nine children. And she managed to “bake bread every day of her married life.” Then, she outlived Grandpa Colvin by more than twenty years. If Grandma Georgianna could find time between child rearing and housekeeping on the rugged Dakota prairie to bake bread every day, shouldn’t we – with all our amenities, labor-saving devices, and dozens of kinds of bread in supermarkets – be able to make time to study finances as well as to learn how to treat our bodies as temples rather than as mere mules?  Mr. Kiyosaki may preach that people can learn how to buy and build more assets, create more jobs, and spread the wealth. But, life is not forever additive and expansive. We all have periods of contraction and restoration. Even Kiyosaki did. So, many of us in the West might want to consider the idea that, “We may be able to simplify our lives, to content ourselves with our present relative wealth, and to spread the health.” “I
have learned to be content whatever the
circumstances.”
Saint Paul Even Kiyosaki has taken stock as to how much is enough. Money is important in the physical world. But, its value – we believe – has been oversold. We may be able to gather more assets and fewer liabilities to build lives of abundance and possibilities. But, wealth without health may not be worth shooting for. Furthermore, “you can’t take it with you.” We might stop here to ask for the reader’s definition of wealth. On the scales of life, how important is it really? How does it relate to health? Aren’t health and wholeness and holiness larger and more inclusive goals? We dare not suggest that living in poverty brings us rewards and honors. But, one can manage much more readily with empty pockets than with a broken mind-body. True health has no ill effects on our pocketbooks. But, wealth has been noted for centuries – and still does – to disturb the well-being of the rich and famous the world around. Read
on at The Wealth of Kings
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Introduction - Table of Contents
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