Zen Versus Bliss

Popular culture teaches us to 'follow our bliss' in order to gain success. But every time I have seen that urging I have not seen a description of what make success. The idea seems to be that you will find the career that makes you the happiest and this will automatically bring you material blessings. That's not totally wrong. You are much more likely to make a success of a career you enjoy than of one you dislike. But the Zen discipline of being centered, of endowing every movement with spiritual purpose has a very important message. Perhaps bliss is the goal and Zen is the way. As I type the pages of my books, from my handwritten pages, I focus on the rhythm of the typing and try to stay as relaxed as possible in order that I be fast and accurate. If I were thinking about the day when many children will be delighted with my stories it would pull me away from the moment I need to be in as I type. So I say 'bring bliss or the Zen consciousness into every moment of your life.' As I wrote that my inner self asked me "What about the necessary work of analysis? That has to be full of suffering to in order to get it done." I found myself laughing because yesterday I had done a fair amount of analysis over financial matters and in research for my writing but I had been centered as I did it and had not suffered at all. Things had become apparent and I had then dealt with each thing and gone on to the next. I reached out for that spark of magic to give myself the tools to make my life better. May you find ways to do the same for yourself.