Continued from previous part: WealthThe Power of Transformation, the Only Connection between Energy and Matter
What is work?
It is when I put in a lot of effort, my expertise, time, energy, obedience, satisfaction, etc. I obey the collective, the company’s entire coordination, and the leadership to earn money. This is called an exchange. Therefore, work has always been an exchange process, and the money earned is very little.
But a career is different, what is a career?
It is something that I like, love, and want. I do not calculate the cost of my efforts, nor do I think about what will happen in the future. If I were to think, I imagine a particularly beautiful work environment.
Can virtue-misalignment only result from wrongdoing?
Someone asked Yang Liping, “You dance so well, what kind of reward do you want?” She paused for a moment and then said, “Dancing itself is a reward. What more do I want? Let me dance, and that’s the biggest reward for me.”
This is respecting the original nature of life. What I like, what makes me happy, and what I’m rewarded for with wealth are not my concern, but someone else’s. I just do what I love. I am grateful and don’t need more, and that’s a career.
In a career, many people turn their interests and hobbies into it, such as Jack Ma, Li Jiaqi, and the now-famous Li Ziqi. They don’t treat it as a job but as a career, as a way of life.
When they achieve this way of life, you will find that Jack Ma, Li Ziqi, and Li Jiaqi are the ones making the most money. So what have they achieved? Is “virtue not in line with wealth” applicable to them?
We have a misconception that we have to do a lot of good deeds and be virtuous to deserve money. This mentality is based on the suffering model: I must have suffered to deserve this money, and if I haven’t suffered, I’m not worthy of it.
Even for Li Jiaqi, Li Ziqi, and others, people say they have earned one billion or 1.5 billion, but think about why they earn so much money despite not suffering as much as others? It’s because they don’t see it as a job, but as a part of their original life. Like Li Jiaqi said, “If my fans like my content, I feel good.” He never stops being an anchor because he thinks that all his fans’ likes are the biggest motivation for him.
When will there be a mismatch between virtue and wealth?
When you are in an exchange mode, if you go beyond the exchange mode, you will feel that virtue and wealth do not match. For example, cabbage, which costs a few yuan or even a few cents per kilogram, if you sell it for several thousand or even tens of thousands of yuan, and it is not made of jade but genuine cabbage, then this is a state of losing the essence of exchange, and there is a mismatch between virtue and wealth.
Why? Because the energy and the power of exchange, as mentioned earlier, the essence of money is the power of exchange, its exchange is like the transformation of high blood pressure and low blood pressure, both of which have problems with their bodies, so they need to return to their original state.
We say why people like Li Jiaqi and Li Ziqi earn so much? They live in the original state of their lives.
Respecting the original state of life
The concept of “debupeiwei” (the mismatch between virtue and wealth) actually means that you do not respect the original state of life. What is the original state of life? It’s like the way blood flows. If you keep pressing your blood vessels and suppressing your blood pressure, your blood cannot circulate and cannot abide by the original state of life. Then how can you have money? That’s when the state of “debupeiwei” occurs.
In other words, the more intentionally you want something, the more you want to pretend to be something, the less you respect the original state of life, and the more energy you lose in the exchange of money. This is because money is the energy of transformation.
Therefore, when I can understand the original state of life, I don’t bother to disguise myself, I don’t want to package myself as a high-end teacher, a dignified teacher, or a generous teacher. I like my quirks, my playfulness, and my joyful and happy feelings. I like the state of not being completely a teacher, because that’s my original state of life.
Furthermore, in my lectures, I want to inspire more babies to return to their original state of life, telling them repeatedly that they are worth it, they deserve it, and they are here to enjoy the beauty of the world.
Regarding money, if you try to please it, work hard for it, or fear it, and worry about the mismatch of virtue and wealth, it is because your underlying energy is based on exchange, which is based on fear of loss and a sense of unworthiness.
Like when we pray to Buddha, our pleading energy is limited. In the power of money, what is infinite? It’s respecting the original state of life, including that sense of joy, and making it your life’s work, your love.
Return to the beautiful state of life
Love the red dust, love yourself, love all the choices you’ve made, love the happiness and beauty in your life. The third point Laozi mentioned, “be like a piece of wood,” what does it mean? A good person doesn’t fight, a good fighter isn’t angry, a good winner doesn’t contend. It means that when you really fight with someone, you don’t think about fighting, you just have your own explosive power, and you don’t think about how your opponent is doing.
However, many people live in a state of anxiety and fear in regards to money. They have a lot of inner anxiety and worries about losing money, feeling like they are not worth it or don’t deserve it. Therefore, they have a lot of fear and panic about money.
When I was sunbathing in Lijiang, I saw many happy cats and dogs lazily sunbathing. Sometimes I wanted to ask them, “Aren’t you afraid of going out without credit cards, WeChat, or Alipay?” Of course, they are not afraid because they can live in their original state of life, without WeChat, Alipay, credit cards or money. Who is afraid? It is us who create many imaginary enemies and generate anxiety and panic in our own energy.
For example, if you go out without money or your phone, many people don’t carry cash now, how do you feel inside? Anxious and fearful, right? You don’t know what to do, and if you’re hungry, you keep telling yourself that you’re hungry and entangling yourself in that feeling. “What if I don’t have money?” This is a vicious circle. The more you fear, the more you produce. The more you fear, the more anxious you become, and you’ll find that the more internal warfare you have, the more it starts from within.
When your breathing becomes irregular, the appearance of your heart and mind begins to be disordered. When we talk about the beautiful state of life, what does it look like? It’s about playing and having a calm breath! When your calm breathing becomes chaotic, your appearance and mind begin to be disordered. You start to attack and criticize yourself, “Why don’t I have money? Why can’t I earn money? Why did I forget? Why am I not good enough?” So when we start to have hostility towards ourselves, we begin to have anger towards others.
