A Bohemian Outlook

It would appear that matters of money consume and dominate everyone at one point or another. In my travels, I am always mystified by the too frequent mention of money. Some have little else to speak of. Money is forefront in our consciousness and our mental focus is monetary and materialistic to the exclusion of values which lead to our well-being and greater growth. And I do believe that the pursuit of money is the greatest of foibles and truly a deleterious superficiality in the greater scheme of life. Why agitate your minds and live in a state of perpetual privation in the pursuit of the undesirable and unnecessary? Focus your minds and souls upon growth and fulfillment by being grateful… showing compassion and love. I do believe that what we focus our minds upon will come our way in life with sufficient effort. Our mental focus determines our consciousness and subsequently what we will inevitably attain in life.

And I do believe that the majority of us live with the deluded belief that satiation of material desires and the fulfillment of a lavish lifestyle will lead to meaning and fulfillment and happiness. But the fulfillment of outward desires does not make for meaning in life nor fulfillment nor happiness. The endless quest to amass one’s fortunes and material possessions merely makes for true poverty. Poverty is defined as being in want of the necessities of life. Yet we have become a society in which the vast majority cannot distinguish between monetary and material wants and the necessities of life and live in perpetual want of their superfluous desires. Man has become a slave to his own desires. And this is true poverty, is it not? Life becomes a struggle. This has always been an obstacle to human growth, contentment, peace, happiness, and meaning and fulfillment in life. Happy is the man who can live without, for his life is not consumed with want.

Dwell less on inquiry into the meaning of life but rather devote your energies to seeking, discovering and dwelling in the meaningful in life. A search for the meaning of life is nebulous thought akin to a dog pursuing his own tail without hope of ever grasping it. Seeking, discovering and dwelling in the meaningful in life is both life-enriching and pragmatic, and akin to the clever coyote who forever lopes onward, happy with his lot in life and always content his tail will follow him wherever he goes.

Middle age might be seen as a new chapter in life and a time to renew one’s growth or an opportunity to better one’s life in finding meaning and fulfillment. The same might be said of retirement. There is a new beginning in each and every day. The highly acclaimed and very prolific painter, Grandma Moses, began her career in painting in her elderly years. One is never too old to begin anew. Life is an ongoing progression with many chapters rich in meaning and fulfillment.

I roam free and my Bohemian range is wide in a perpetual quest for fine coffee and stimulating conversation. I am a café prophet and I do confess your conversations have been titillating. I have so often lent you my uninvited ear. Were I not a reticent and solitary creature I might have asked to join you, but I choose not to divulge indiscriminately in conversation but rather to contemplate and share my thoughts more exactly. Perhaps my collection of brief thoughts will be of service to you. They are some of the spiritual conclusions I have reached in my existence, tried and true. Spiritual I define as of the human spirit as opposed to of religion although there is a great deal of richness on matters spiritual to be found in some religious thought. This is for the young and old alike who seek answers to the great question that life is, in and of itself. And life for the curious of heart is like the world to a child, a great unanswered question unfolding in each and every day of our short lives. I share with you my rambling thoughts on life… but I am still evolving… so I often learn far more than I teach.