The Faryna Podcast EP3: Insufficient funds – it’s not a real problem.

Insufficient funds – it’s not a real problem
by Stan Faryna

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Play the soundcloud player to hear the podcast. Or download it here. The podcast sounds awesome with earphones or played on hi-fi speakers. Try it and tell me what you think.

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Money, they say, can’t buy you happiness.

Because happiness is not something a thing can give to you. Nor can you take happiness from a thing. It cannot be extracted like gold from the earth. Because happiness is not in things. For it is not material. It is feeling, it is knowing, and it is love.

It is feeling that reflects our presence in the world. It is feeling that reflects oneness, harmony and beauty. It is feeling that resounds with what is true and good. And the promises of a thousand kisses, falling stars that you speak wishes to, rainbows…

And the hope that glimmers in a thousand tears. That cries out from a sigh. The ache in the aching. Because what is missed and missing is what is true.

So when a friend asks me if I am happy, why do I think about income, savings, property, investments, etcetera?

The insufficiency of funds and resources holds me in its grip – like that shocking message you’ve seen on the atm screen. Insufficiency commands my attention, my mood and, yes, my capacity to love. To give. To be thankful. To be joyful.

Winning the lottery wouldn’t change a thing. I know. Because I could blow through 100 million in a day.

Like a captain of my soul. Or a master of my fate. A cruel, terrible, and heartless captain is insufficiency. I shall, however, make a mutiny in the house of insufficiency.

Perhaps, because I do not embrace small as beautiful. Because, perhaps, small does not seem to fill the growing emptiness in my heart. For as my heart grows to hold all of the world, the emptiness grows larger too.

For as my heart grows to hold all of the world, I want to see it as it is and must be in the world – a beauty that is revealed to me in that world that I am holding in my heart.

By holding you in my heart, I come to know your secrets. I come to know what you could be. Should be. Must be. Because you are so fucking beautiful. And that’s what you truly are. Beautiful.

What is happiness?

Happiness, it turns out, is being truly what one is. And happiness is also in knowing that a thing is truly what it is. And here is love. Love wants us to be always true. True to ourselves. And, yes, love wants us to find, know, and sustain what is true in the world. And love wants what we love to be true forever.

I want you to be true and forever. Not for me! For you! For you. Because I am of no consequence to you. I am no one for you – just a stranger on the bus.

But you – you are everything for you.

And if you will be you, truly and forever, I have participated in giving you the gift of forever. And there’s nothing more important that I could ever do. For me. And, also, for you.

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The bottomline: money, it don’t buy you (or me) happiness.

Because truth is priceless. Like a smile, a kiss, or a helping hand. Like having an ear that listens. Or an eye that sees.

You may (or may not) need money to live. That’s something I don’t want to get into here. Living and happiness are related but the two are, generally speaking, two distinct things.

For example, there are times when men and women have sacrificed their fortunes, their lives, and their honor for freedom. Because freedom is nothing less than the pursuit of happiness.

You still may be stuck on the idea that money can buy you happiness. Because with money, you can try to stage happiness like a production. But there’s no guarantees.

You already know for yourself, it’s not the money that made all the difference – when it worked out. More often than not, the money you spend on staging happiness, doesn’t stage for long.

You may need to dwell on that truth. Take a few days to think it over. Feel it through.

I’m just saying. That right now, you have everything you need to be happy. You have everything you need to be true – true to you, true to others, and to sustain what is beautiful and good in the world.

You don’t need more money for that. You don’t need credit cards. Bank cards. Mastercard. Visa. It’s superfluous. It’s not essential. It’s not mission-critical.

Because we are sufficient unto happiness. To be true. We always were. We always will be. To be true. And free. And happy.

Disagree? Share your unhappiness with me in a comment.

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Stan Faryna
12 July 2011
Bucharest, Romania

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Literary Copyright

© 2011 by Stan Faryna. Some Rights Reserved.

Music Copyright

© 2011 by Adrian Klein. Some Rights Reserved.

Note: If you want to make a podcast out of your blog post, get in touch with Adrian Klein on Twitter or Facebook. He charges $500 for five minutes. It’s worth every penny.