There could be, I suppose, many definitions of what it is to be
exceptionally rich. There's mega millions lottery winner rich. There's
social network founder rich. There's telecommunications behemoth
chairman rich.
About the first: it's said the odds of winning the mega millions
lottery with a ticket are about the same odds of winning the mega
millions lottery without a ticket. About the second and
third: I'm not passionate about building either a social network or a
telecommunications behemoth. And there's the rub. Yes, me and my
offspring could live comfortably for the rest of our lives on about an
hour of such earnings - and I can think of one or two things I would do
with the rest. But in order to be exceptionally rich like that, I'd
have to do whatever it is the founder of a social network does, or I'd
have to do whatever it is the chairman of a telecommunications behemoth
does.
This is the unavoidable truth about being exceptionally rich this way:
to be exceptionally rich this way, I'd have to do whatever it is the
founder of a social network does, or I'd have to do whatever it is the
chairman of a telecommunications behemoth does. And with all due
respect to their sheer intentionality which drives both
these entrepreneurs from idea to actuality, I'm not
passionate about doing what either of them do. No, there are other
lives for me to live in which I'm passionate, fulfilled, satisfied,
authentic, and real. There are other lives for me to live in
which - bottom line - I make a difference to people and to
Life itself.
In inquiring into these other lives for me to live, other lives in
which I make a difference to people and to Life itself, I looked for
workable
definitions of what it is to be exceptionally rich, which are a
fit with living this way. I assert there are two - neither
of which have anything to do with a threshold earned dollar amount
exceeded. The first definition is this: if you're spending less and
owing less than you earn, you're exceptionally rich. That's not a
new edict for me. It's the very first lesson in
money
and finances
my father
and
mother
taught me when they began giving me a weekly allowance (which they
called pocket
money)
when I was a young child. "Spend less and owe less than you earn, and
invest the rest.". That's what
my father
and
mother
taught me.
I've tried and tested various
money
and financial paradigms throughout my life. And what it comes down to
now, is
my father
and
mother
are right: what
works
with
money
and finances is spending less and owing less than I earn, and investing
the rest. This model speaks more to taking responsibility for living
within my means than it does to any particular earned income level.
Neither is it uncompassionate to the financial hardship prevalent in
today's global economy. But the truth of
money
and finances is we're not born exceptionally rich in this
sense - and neither, by the way, are we born with any
right to be exceptionally rich. In this sense, I can only
be (and am) exceptionally rich like it's an invented
possibility.
Spending less and owing less than I earn, and investing the rest (and
being responsible for maintaining a lifestyle within which this
paradigm
works)
is one definition ie is one pragmatic definition of what
it is to be exceptionally rich. There's also another definition of what
it is to be exceptionally rich. And my second definition of what it is
to be exceptionally rich doesn't have anything at all to do with
money.
It's this:
Being exceptionally rich is being whole, complete, and full - which is
to say being exceptionally rich is inventing the
possibility of being whole, complete, and full. Being
exceptionally rich as being whole, complete, and full, isn't so much
having the wealth to buy and acquire anything
I want, as much as it's a declaration of being anything
and everything I want - which is to say being whole, complete, and
full. Listen (I really want you to get this): it's a function of being
extraordinarily
successful when I have the wealth to buy and acquire anything and
everything I want. But that's nothing (it's less than
nothing, actually: it's insignificant) when compared to,
when stacked up against the courage it is, the
heart
it is, the stand it is, and the
commitment
it is to be anything and everything I want.
Be careful! When I refer to the courage it is, the
heart
it is, the stand it is, and the
commitment
it is to be anything and everything I want, I don't mean to be anything
and everything I want someday. I don't mean to be anything and
everything I want soon. I don't mean to be anything and
everything I want eventually. I mean to be anything and
everything I want right now with nothing more than this,
with nothing more than this what I got right now (and, for that matter,
with nothing more than this what I don't got right now).
This is it! This is enough. This is whole and perfect. It's complete
and I'm satisfied.
Being social network founder rich, being telecommunications behemoth
chairman rich (OK, including being mega millions lottery winner rich
here too, is
good enough for
jazz),
is to be
extraordinarily
successful, for which all the appropriate kudos can and
should be lauded. But to be exceptionally rich is to be whole,
complete, and full - which is to say being exceptionally rich is
inventing the possibility of being whole, complete, and full. And
inventing the possibility of being whole, complete, and full, doesn't
have anything at all to do with
money.
It's a declaration.
When you can have it that just being alive is enough because you say
so, when you can have it that Life itself is enough,
when you got it (which is to say when you got it
all), when you can live day after day after day after day after
day coming from and recreating this space, this is what it
is to be exceptionally rich.