INTRODUCTION

Money can’t buy me happiness, even though it can buy me a boat. 

To paraphrase Spike Milligan, all the stuff we gather and heap upon ourselves, from clothes to degrees and cars to once-in-a-lifetime experiences, can only bring us a more pleasant form of misery.

Please stop looking in all the wrong places for the things you want most.

Just stop. Stop long enough to get your bearings, make conscious choices, and move smoothly.

TRANSLATION

Excessive accumulation.
  Stop!

Endless forging and sharpening
  Ruins the edge. 

A room filled with gold and jade
  Cannot be protected. 

Wealth and Pride
   Bring about one’s demise. 

Completion is followed by rest. 
This is the way of spiritual wisdom.

COMMENTARY

Excessive accumulation.
Stop!

Endless forging and sharpening
Ruins the edge. 

If you’ve been reading these as we go, you know Weaving the Virtuous Way has nothing to do with stagnation. Especially the stagnation of thinking we are “all that.” We can find the key to the “paradox” of evolutionary pressure in Excessive and Endless. Accumulation is necessary. Forging and sharpening are required. The question is always, “When is this enough?” That edge is always a moving target requiring deep, ongoing inquiry and constant re-evaluation.