It happens when you least expect it
Be open to inspiration. Want nothing. Let go. Be free. It manifests.
5 minute read
Once upon a time, I wanted to make a lot of money and to have authority in my career. I put it out there into ‘the universe’ through little notes to myself, and visualizations of a full bank account. But it didn’t happen. So, naturally, I eventually let go and sort of forgot about it.
Many years later, when I was between jobs, I discovered the magic of wanting nothing. Because wanting is about desire. And desire is about objects and otherness - things that are outside your reach. I had made the deep and unexpected connection to G-d, which was everything. So nothing was ‘out of my reach.’ And nothing could top this. Not money or status or fame (least of all that poison chalice).
Then, wouldn’t you know it, just when I’d let go of that worldly prize, it tapped me on the shoulder and almost out of nowhere, with little fuss or muss, I got a high paying job (the exact amount I’d wished for), a title and a life of worldly stuff. That’s how it works.
Those wishes don’t go away, even when you’ve outgrown them. They come rushing back in at the right moment. It’s not a test, as humans love calling it, but just the law of cause and effect in action. You intended it so it manifested… eventually. When it comes to timing, the joke’s on you. Because the universe doesn’t respond to the energy of wanting or pining. It feeds off of a cocktail of passion, readiness and the freedom of letting go, wanting for naught and generally not giving a flying F.
“Freedom is another word for nothing left to lose.”
-Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster, ‘Me and Bobby McGee’
Feeling like you have more than enough, buoys you up. It’s nice to have money. While it my pump you up (like a bump of meth) it doesn’t buoy you up into natural ethereal realms.
Emptiness is other-worldly — on the precipice of folding into the fullness (Yin-Yang), it teeters on the edge of fulfillment and purpose.
I’ve heard many restless people dryly lament, ‘what now?’ Or ‘what am I supposed to do with my life?’ With a sense of purpose, which ubiquitously takes center stage, such pointless questions give way to a sense of elegant presence.
That purpose can emanate from your job — whether it’s a dream job or a stop-gap to pay the bills — from giving yourself to the moment, the details, and concentrating on the task at hand while embodying a commitment to being helpful, to your boss, colleagues, clients…
“True sustenance is in service, and through it a man or woman reaches the eternal Brahman. But those who do not seek to serve are without a home in this world.”
-Krishna to Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita
You can also inadvertently intercept someone else’s intention and be of service to it. When I was in my 20s, I visited Amsterdam and dreamed of living there. One day, an idea popped into my head to start a postcard-sized magazine about quirky local creatives in that idyllic city. I went over it in my head, made notes and forgot about it.
A year or two later, after having taken the plunge and moved to Amsterdam, a friend emailed me a listing for a magazine job. When I showed up for an interview it suddenly transformed into an editorial meeting (I promptly got the managing editor position on site - no second interview, no callbacks, just one and done). The magazine was postcard sized!
Later, I shared my idea for focusing on eccentric Amsterdammers (including a profile on an oddball local who roller-bladed through town in a G-string, even in winter months) and the publisher loved it - it resonated with his dream. He promoted me to editor-in-chief and there I was, suddenly in my dream job. In this instance, it wasn’t about the pay (which was very fair), but about creative expression.
Love Don’t Cost a Thing
The things you do voluntarily for no compensation, or for the compensation of creative fulfillment, hold an entirely different value.
Painting is something I do for myself… and for G-d. By letting go and residing in emptiness, while channeling into an outlet for expression (painting, writing music, cooking, etc.) I am giving G-d a language through which to communicate with me (my creativity).
The iterative process of painting is present, patient and purposeful. It culminates in a final moment when I sit back and feel proud of what I’ve accomplished - painting a scene, or ‘silent articulation of a face’ (to quote the poet Rumi). I give my innermost thoughts (which were running rampant in my mind like wild rebellious teens) a place to run and play.
And then there’s a time of loss and sadness at having to let go of that psychological milieu that I actualized on the canvas, that I was so engrossed in for weeks or months. There’s power in that relinquishment. It’s followed by a renewed interplay with the painting, which is now mounted on my wall. It’s then that I realize I can still journey into it but from a different angle - as an observer, a passenger.
Nothing can take this away from me - the feeling of getting lost to get found. No person, no situation, no Gen AI. The latter may replace aspects of my job but such glimpses of ‘indirect, leased-out’ creativity can never truly fulfill me because they’re ersatz, transactional and focused on an endpoint or delivery, rather than the process.
And whether you’re creating a sculpture, conjuring up a delicious meal, making your way through the woods on a hike, or responding to a glimmer of inspiration which evolves into an intention that grows into a manifestation… process if purpose. The moment-to-moment journey is all there is.