Is Business And Spirituality Compatible ?!

[The Universe]

Big question here : My egoic needs tells me that my life purpose is to be a commercial BUT at the same time i want to achieve enlightement...once i get there i really wanted to know if i could still do business stuff with "self" implication. Is that possible ?

[TJ Reeves]

You do have to build some sort of infrastructure for your life if you want to pursue enlightenment. That is simply how the world works.

Even if you gave up on working and literally pursued enlightenment 100% of the time, you would still need to do a form of work in finding people to support such a journey by giving you shelter or food.

You can figure out what's valuable to you internally, what your strengths are, and how you can apply those strengths in a new way to help people. From there you can still study spirituality.

Additionally, a big aspect of the path is the fact that you're still expected to hold career responsibilities... the path of enlightenment is called the middle way because it's not about totally giving up everything nor being sucked into a consumer/status/money-based society.

Even if you did achieve enlightenment, you would still go back to work. There's a saying that goes, "before enlightenment, clean the dishes, sweep the floors. After enlightenment, clean the dishes, sweep the floors." You give up the regular world for a little bit to find truth and come back to the regular world but this time appreciating it for what it truly is, something that you could have done from the very beginning anyway.

Lastly, is it not possible that your career may inform your path to enlightenment and vice-versa? examples include a) Leo b) writers who investigate the spiritual traditions of the world by trying them c) Peter Ralston, who's career as a martial artist and teacher also allows him to meditate, reflect on spiritual ideas, and has let him unravel the truths of enlightenment. 

Overall, be careful of setting up a false-dichotomy... But if you're working like an 80-hour a week job you hate wherein you market cigarettes and harm the world, I would recommend reevaluating your shit.

Edited April 23, 2017 by Treeves4u

[Prabhaker]

4 hours ago, The Universe said:

Is Business And Spirituality Compatible ?!

One has to do something in life. Somebody is a carpenter and somebody is a king, and somebody is a businessman and somebody is a warrior. These are ways of livelihood, these are ways of getting bread and butter, a shelter. They can't change your inner being. Whether you are a warrior or a businessman does not make any difference: one has chosen one way to earn his livelihood, the other has chosen something else.

Meditation is life, not livelihood. It has nothing to do with what you do; it has everything to do with what you are. Yes, business should not enter into your being, that is true. If your being also has become businesslike, then it is difficult to meditate and impossible to be a sannyasin...because if your being has become businesslike, then you have become too calculative. And a calculative person is a cowardly person: he thinks too much, he cannot take any jumps. And meditation is a jump: from the head to the heart, and ultimately from the heart to the being. You will be going deeper and deeper, where calculations will have to be left behind, where all logic becomes irrelevant. You cannot carry your cleverness there.

In fact, cleverness is not true intelligence either; cleverness is a poor substitute for intelligence. People who are not intelligent learn how to be clever. People who are intelligent need not be clever; they are innocent, they need not be cunning. They function out of a state of not-knowing. If you are a businessman, that's okay. If Jesus can become a meditator and a sannyasin, and ultimately a christ, a buddha... and he was the son of a carpenter, helping his father, bringing wood, cutting wood. If a carpenter's son can become a buddha, why not you?

[eskwire]

@The Universe Yes, theoretically, because there is nothing that enlightenment takes away from you. If you are adept at business and have something to provide worth money in return, this will shine with enlightenment. If you are getting into business to puff your self concept up, then you probably won't get into business after increasing consciousness. But you won't care, see? The issue is then irrelevant.

Perhaps you can't do both in terms of focus and time. "You can't serve two masters." You can serve both masters if your business is consciousness work, but not every student of consciousness work necessarily has the goods to do this. We can't all be Peter Ralston. He's a truly amazing creature.  I see that all the time at the martial arts school where I work. Little kids who suck at karate dream of opening their own school one day.

I have chosen to work for someone else to pay bills so that I may pursue enlightenment. Then see if the whole business thing even matters. 

Edited April 23, 2017 by eskwire

[Consept]

3 hours ago, Prabhaker said:

One has to do something in life. Somebody is a carpenter and somebody is a king, and somebody is a businessman and somebody is a warrior. These are ways of livelihood, these are ways of getting bread and butter, a shelter. They can't change your inner being. Whether you are a warrior or a businessman does not make any difference: one has chosen one way to earn his livelihood, the other has chosen something else.

Meditation is life, not livelihood. It has nothing to do with what you do; it has everything to do with what you are. Yes, business should not enter into your being, that is true. If your being also has become businesslike, then it is difficult to meditate and impossible to be a sannyasin...because if your being has become businesslike, then you have become too calculative. And a calculative person is a cowardly person: he thinks too much, he cannot take any jumps. And meditation is a jump: from the head to the heart, and ultimately from the heart to the being. You will be going deeper and deeper, where calculations will have to be left behind, where all logic becomes irrelevant. You cannot carry your cleverness there.

In fact, cleverness is not true intelligence either; cleverness is a poor substitute for intelligence. People who are not intelligent learn how to be clever. People who are intelligent need not be clever; they are innocent, they need not be cunning. They function out of a state of not-knowing. If you are a businessman, that's okay. If Jesus can become a meditator and a sannyasin, and ultimately a christ, a buddha... and he was the son of a carpenter, helping his father, bringing wood, cutting wood. If a carpenter's son can become a buddha, why not you?

Lol you should say this a quote from Osho nice try haha. But still very relevant, actually Osho talks about this a lot in general and its actually really important to understand that theres nothing you can 'do' to become enlightened, theres no job or planned (by you) path that will lead you there, what you have to do is be present with whatever is happening now. So if youre at a job that maybe deep down you know you dont like, dont surpress that feeling bring your presence in. Once you do that youll know for sure whether you should be doing it or not.

Theres nothing to say you cant do business or whatever its just you have to not loose yourself in it and remember its sonething youre doing not something you are. Dont look for an identity in it 

[Prabhaker]

39 minutes ago, Consept said:

Lol you should say this a quote from Osho nice try haha.

Everything I post is from Osho There are many followers of Osho in India, they are doing their jobs and businesses successfully. Only at marketplace you can test your meditation. What's the point, if you prepare for a test and never appear in it ?

[The Universe]

11 hours ago, Treeves4u said:

You do have to build some sort of infrastructure for your life if you want to pursue enlightenment. That is simply how the world works.

Even if you gave up on working and literally pursued enlightenment 100% of the time, you would still need to do a form of work in finding people to support such a journey by giving you shelter or food.

You can figure out what's valuable to you internally, what your strengths are, and how you can apply those strengths in a new way to help people. From there you can still study spirituality.

Additionally, a big aspect of the path is the fact that you're still expected to hold career responsibilities... the path of enlightenment is called the middle way because it's not about totally giving up everything nor being sucked into a consumer/status/money-based society.

Even if you did achieve enlightenment, you would still go back to work. There's a saying that goes, "before enlightenment, clean the dishes, sweep the floors. After enlightenment, clean the dishes, sweep the floors." You give up the regular world for a little bit to find truth and come back to the regular world but this time appreciating it for what it truly is, something that you could have done from the very beginning anyway.

Lastly, is it not possible that your career may inform your path to enlightenment and vice-versa? examples include a) Leo b) writers who investigate the spiritual traditions of the world by trying them c) Peter Ralston, who's career as a martial artist and teacher also allows him to meditate, reflect on spiritual ideas, and has let him unravel the truths of enlightenment. 

Overall, be careful of setting up a false-dichotomy... But if you're working like an 80-hour a week job you hate wherein you market cigarettes and harm the world, I would recommend reevaluating your shit.

Thanks for helping me overcoming this delusion !  My Jesus the Ego is tricky !  

[The Universe]

12 hours ago, Prabhaker said:

One has to do something in life. Somebody is a carpenter and somebody is a king, and somebody is a businessman and somebody is a warrior. These are ways of livelihood, these are ways of getting bread and butter, a shelter. They can't change your inner being. Whether you are a warrior or a businessman does not make any difference: one has chosen one way to earn his livelihood, the other has chosen something else.

Meditation is life, not livelihood. It has nothing to do with what you do; it has everything to do with what you are. Yes, business should not enter into your being, that is true. If your being also has become businesslike, then it is difficult to meditate and impossible to be a sannyasin...because if your being has become businesslike, then you have become too calculative. And a calculative person is a cowardly person: he thinks too much, he cannot take any jumps. And meditation is a jump: from the head to the heart, and ultimately from the heart to the being. You will be going deeper and deeper, where calculations will have to be left behind, where all logic becomes irrelevant. You cannot carry your cleverness there.

In fact, cleverness is not true intelligence either; cleverness is a poor substitute for intelligence. People who are not intelligent learn how to be clever. People who are intelligent need not be clever; they are innocent, they need not be cunning. They function out of a state of not-knowing. If you are a businessman, that's okay. If Jesus can become a meditator and a sannyasin, and ultimately a christ, a buddha... and he was the son of a carpenter, helping his father, bringing wood, cutting wood. If a carpenter's son can become a buddha, why not you?

So the domain has nothing to do with the inner-self BUT the identification with this domain creates the illusion of self...Pretty profund, thank you  .