Quote:
Originally Posted by daveangeles  In other words, I felt that just letting the intention out to the universe, combined with Tao Te Ching-style 'non-action' would eventually lead to financial success. |
I don't think that wu wei, which I supposes is the Tao "non-action" means literally doing nothing. From what I understand, it means you are so intune to your higher self, that you do many things, but you are not struggling. "When nothing is done nothing is left undone", I believe is in one of the chapters.
Which would seem to be opposite of what you say about working your ass off.
I considered a thread about this, becuause I've been thinking about this as well. It seems that many here say that I-M is bunk, you have to do "hard work, work your ass off" which implies struggle. Like you don't expect a positive outcome so you end up moving mountains to make something happen, you are working extra hard to make up for the lack of faith in yourself, is the message I seem to get from that.
I love writing and recording music. It takes physical effort. To someone who isn't interested in that, it may seem like hard work since there are many actions involved. But it's not work. It's what I would be doing, anyway. That would be non-action. I'm challenged, I learn and grow, sometimes I need a breather, but is that really the definition of "working your ass off/hard work"?
Why would anyone want to struggle against themselves? This is a new way of thinking for me, even though I've been reading the tao for a few years. I always thought success meant sacraficing what I wanted (free time, time to create, be with friends, read books that relax me) for money. How is sacrificing that stuff success? Does success mean you spend your whole life struggling, burning the midnight oil, for what? So you can earn enough money to buy the things you don't have any time to enjoy?