 Alright, so today's idea I want to share with you is this concept of working without ceasing and yet to be resting deeply always. It's a paradox, but it's one that I've been reflecting on quite a bit because it seems to me that society typically assumes, you know, puts this supposition on us, presupposition on us, that a good life is one where we work for a while, gather up money, gather up resources, set up the systems, and then we coast for the rest of our lives, that's called retirement. And of course, you know, a little bit more sophisticated than that is work-life balance. So you work during the day, and then, you know, whatever, whatever your shift is at work, and then you rest and play in the evenings, weekends, and on vacations. And because of this, and there's this idea that really ideally like if you had all the money in the world, or if you had plenty of resources, you wouldn't really work so much. You would just be playing all the time and resting and playing all the time who wouldn't want to, right? That's the most pleasurable way of being. And all of that assumes, all of that assumes that there is simply this body-mind system that tends towards chaos, really, it tends towards everything breaking down, but it tends towards shall we say laziness and, you know, pleasure, it tends towards pleasure, let's just put it that way. And then there's the flip side of this, you know, I think societal assumption. Let me know if you think that's true or not, actually, do you think that's true or not, that I just, I've kind of felt this assumption on me my entire life, right? Like from society, that that's the goal. The goal is to get to a state where we're just playing and resting all the time, relaxing, you know, on vacation mode, basically, all the time. But we have to accumulate enough money to get there. People who are retired or retired early, you know, can just do whatever they want all the time. And essentially presuming that it's basically pleasure all the time. And anything that's not pleasure, like staying fit, is really just so that we can have more pleasure later. It's just sort of like a delayed gratification is another way of putting it. And so the reality, of course, is that almost all of us don't have enough resources to just relax and play all the time. I don't. I still have to work my business to be able to pay the rent and, you know, buy food and all that stuff. I still have to work, work, work. And so because none of us or very few of us have the privilege of being able to just have money come in, and some of you, and even those who have money coming in all the time from trust fund or something like that, you have your burdens too. You have burdens from family, certainly. You have burdens from expectations of society and others. It's way harder than most people think. So it's like, no matter what situation you're in, it's like there's always hardship, you might say, or lack of pleasure that we have to get through, no matter what. And so there's this, I don't know, there's this sort of like ongoing battle, I guess, with the fact of hardship, labor challenges, and having to do stuff to stay fit. Stay fit in terms of your finances, in terms of your body, so that you can have more pleasure in play and relaxation. So there's this constant battle, I don't know, to me, it's like, why does it have to be this way? And maybe a deeper question, which is related, is why is there evil in the world, dear God? Dear God, why did you allow, you have all powerful, why did you allow evil in this world, including the fact of labor and the fact of everything breaking down all the time? We have to stay fit, we have to fix machines, we have to fix ourselves, we have to pay the rent. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? And so I want to flip the idea on its head and introduce this concept of working without ceasing, and yet resting deeply always. So this is my way of going beyond the societal, eternal battle of labor versus rest, labor versus leisure. And it's like this eternal battle, like, can we find it? Like instead of the answer typically is, well, you've got to find balance, right? You've got to, yeah, you've got to suck it up and like, you know, work, or work out, or you have to stay, keep your body from breaking down, do the hard things so that you can then have pleasure. It's like, but then, during the pleasurable times, might you not feel guilty that you're not doing enough work, enough labor, enough fitness, when you're indulging in the cake, are you feeling guilty that you're not keeping to your nutritional, you know, whatever? You see, I mean, like, why, why is this this constant battle, and can we find a higher way beyond that? And so this is my proposal to you of a higher way, which is to, it's sort of like this taking work life, work rest balance, and putting a higher spin on it, which is to work without ceasing, and yes, to rest deeply always. Okay. What do I mean by this? And so what I mean by this is by, when I say work, I don't mean literally, when I say work without ceasing, I don't mean you should be at your computer all the time doing your business or doing your job. That doesn't make any sense, because you would be, you would have to, you still have to rest and, you know, take care of your body and your family and your community, da, da, da. So it's not literally physical work, okay, or even mental work. I'm talking about spiritual work without ceasing. And by, and this is supported in, by most faith in sacred traditions, of this idea of, you know, Western sacred traditions have a continuous alignment, continuous communion with God. Like that, that should, that ideally, that's the aim is to have this continuous, like, practicing the presence of God. Like during all of your waking hours, you practice the presence of God, like without ceasing, well, a life monastery, essentially, right? And then in Eastern traditions, it's this idea of mindfulness and continuous engagement with the world to bring more harmony to, to the world, you know, to align with the dao, essentially, at all times. And so in, pretty much all sacred, in indigenous traditions, the same idea. It's continuous responsibility and engagement with the whole, you know, through rituals and through, you know, practices and all that. So it's like, in all, all these sacred traditions seem to support this idea of work without ceasing, spiritual work without ceasing. And then at the same time, what about rest deeply always? So to me, the more we do the spiritual work of alignment with the divine, the more we're able to rest deeply. Because we understand that all of our efforting is by grace alone. It's like we get into heaven by grace alone. But it's because of all the efforting that we get into heaven, but it's all by grace alone. So I'm kind of like, I'm kind of poking at both the Protestant and Catholic faiths. Trying to, trying to meld everything together. Sorry, Christians. But, but the resting deeply is possible because we are psychologically and ontologically resting on the foundation that this individual mind and body is really not an individual mind and body. It's really, it really depends on everything, right? You are not separate. I mean, literally even your body, if you look at your cells of your body, it's, it's go down to the finest. It's all connected for all the atoms and the electrons and the, and the quantum field is all connected, right? Like even physically, we're not literally separate. It's well known that, you know, there are certain elements that have been with, I mean, there are certain elements that have been with us since the dawn of time. And so like every breath that has ever been taken, ever been exhaled, there are molecules in that breath that are still literally here in the world today. Like the breath of Jesus or Buddha or, you know, whatever sacred, you know, ancient master you want to name, their breath is literally, we're still breathing that air today. There's some molecules of that that's still here. And that's been distributed all around the world now. And so even physically, we're not separate, let alone metaphorically or philosophically or spiritually. Certainly we are not separate. We're all connected by spirit, by the quantum field, by the spot, by spirit. It's all connected. And, and, and furthermore, for those of us who believe in guardian angels and, you know, the divine source that is supporting all of this. Like you can't do a single, you can't even take a single breath by your individual might and effort. You can't even do that. It's all dependent on everything else. I mean, you could say again, you could say all dependent on your ancestors having brought you to this very moment, like, like it all depends on society, still running its systems. I mean, however you want to say it, secularly or religiously or spiritually or whatever. There is nothing we can do by ourselves. Everything we do is dependent on this rich web of physical and spiritual support. And so, and the simplest way I think of it is my eternal destiny is secure, is completely secure. Like there is a higher power that is guiding this entire life of mine. And I don't have to ever be afraid of being bumped off of that path. There is nothing wrong that I can do that is so wrong. I mean, it's impossible to do any sin, any sin or any wrong thing, wrong behavior, wrong thought, wrong disposition. There is nothing so bad that I can do that will bump me off of this secure, eternally secure path that I have been placed on toward ultimate knowledge, ultimate bliss, ultimate power, ultimate creative capacity, ultimate love, ultimate wisdom. That path is certainly secure for me and I believe for all of us. There's nothing that can take us off that. We are not powerful enough on ourselves individually to take us off that eternal secure path of goodness. And so that allows me to rest deeply. There's nothing I can do that is that wrong. Of course, I'll make mistakes. Of course, I could do wrong things from the smaller perspective of right and wrong. You know, in this lifetime, as compared to societal norms or my own norms or whatever, sure, I can do things that are right and wrong, but in the eternal sacred sense, then nothing I can do that will bump me off the secure path of growth towards ultimate goodness. And so therefore, I rest deeply. And therefore, I'm resting deeply and psychologically. I'm not, you know, taking naps and watching Netflix all day long and eating popcorn and ice cream, right? That's typically when people think they're resting or playing, right? Playing video games or whatever. No, I am working without ceasing. Well, that's what I aim for anyway. Work without ceasing in terms of the spiritual communion with God and mindfulness of my mental well-being, spiritual path, how I'm treating others and treating myself, and how I'm continually working on my spiritual growth, essentially, and doing the right thing, whatever that means in the moment. And yet I'm doing all of that with this deep rest, which is, which is sadly, I think the opposite of what many people do is that many people can never rest deeply. They just haven't, you know, whatever. It's like they haven't found a way to rest deeply. And then they're always battling the idea of having to work. It's always fighting. Oh, I wish I didn't have to work and wish I didn't. It's like, and the work without ceasing translates into your job, into your business as well. I mean, I'm not literally working my business all the time, but I feel like I'm able to work more in my business and without as much angst as a lot of people because I'm resting so deeply even while I'm working hard on my business as well. So I'm able to work more hours, but then I'm also literally physically resting a lot during my work. But anyway, it's all connected, this idea of work without ceasing, but resting deeply as well. It's like, and that, like I said, it's opposite of what most people do, which is they cannot rest deeply psychologically and then they're battling their work all the time. So that's, that's maybe that is the highest work for everybody, right? I'm not saying I'm perfect or I'm not enlightened, certainly, but, but it's, it's the highest work and the most important work for all of us is to find a way to cultivate the inner peace that's ultimately what's about, right? That cultivate that deep, deepest, deepest inner peace that allows us to rest deeply in the psychological spiritual sense. And from that deep rest and deep security, psychological security arises, true work arises, work on in our most authentic sense. There rises the most empowered type of work. So anyway, I hope this rambling has any value at all to you. I'm curious. Thank you for watching and whatever you've got, maybe you have to watch this again to see the dots being connected. But I look forward to seeing your comments below if any of this connected with you and served you in some way. So thank you so much for watching.