“Tao” means the way, path or guiding principle for working with faith, integrity and meaning in a mysterious universe.

The concept of way, path or guiding principle is central to all religious faiths and secular philosophies — not just the ancient faith of Taoism. We may get lost in ethical fogs or illusion, but through prayer or other pathways, we can find our way back to what most matters. We can find wisdom through patience and by reconciling seeming opposites, like our need to earn money while also caring for others.

In any true tao, paradox is the norm. Example: sometimes the best way to deal with a time crunch is to take more time for prayer or meditation. In the timeless space of ultimate reality that is beyond words or even thought, we generate new insights for the challenge of the moment.

The “Dow” is a rapidly changing bunch of numbers that has been endowed with the perception that it offers great financial wisdom.

“The Dow” stands for a constantly changing index of stock prices selected by the editors of the Wall Street Journal, published by Dow Jones & Company. It’s supposed to measure the financial worth of “the market.” Stocks up, Dow up; stocks down, Dow down. Dow up, good; Dow down, bad.

The Dow is not an intelligent creature. It’s “subject to panics and irrational exuberance and sour moods and churlishness and massive misjudgments. To judge whether an economic plan is working or not requires time and wisdom – neither of which are found in the daily results of the Dow Jones Industrial Average,” writes Joe Campbell. http://2parse.com/?p=2307.

Stock prices make no accounting of environmental or human costs of production or benefits of goods and services. Often the higher the stock price, the lower the human or environmental benefit. And often, stock prices have little or no real relationship to the actual production of goods and services.

Yet many individuals, driven by many media, are obsessed with stock numbers. Jon Stewart satirized this by suggesting that Obama should wear a visor showing the latest stock prices whenever he speaks. http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=220253&title=The-Dow-Knows-All. That way even the laziest viewer could stay focused on “what matters” without having to move focus from Obama to the latest stock numbers.

The Dow is often a powerful catalyst for decisions that take us away from true prosperity.

Can you imagine having to run a business with your eye constantly on stock market prices, not on the true worth you are creating for customers? And knowing that by squeezing costs — no matter the harm to others or the earth or even your own company over the long run– you raise your perceived value and access to capital?

Well, that kind of consciousness has run rampant the past decade, and everyone has suffered from it.

The health care crisis is just one example of how harmful stock price obsession can be. As health insurance whistleblower Wendell Potter reports, “I knew that 47 million people were uninsured, but … in the financial medium, what you think about are the numbers … and whether or not you’re going to meet Wall Street’s expectations.” http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/transcript2.html?print

On June 24, 2009, Potter testified to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation that as a senior executive at health insurance companies, “I saw how they confuse their customers and dump the sick – all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors.”

The impact of this is an awful truth: between us and our doctors are not just health insurance executives but also Wall Street investors, forcing the health insurance companies to force doctors to cut costs so investors can make higher profits.

We need a tao or way to deal with the realities of money that is more meaningful, conscious and beneficial.

Countering this trend of 24-hour Dow obsession are a number of movements that will be discussed in future posts, especially socially responsible investing and conscious capitalism. All mean that we don’t just buy based on price and momentary gain, but we invest longer term in products and services we care about, that provide real good to us and others. We invest more in smaller, local companies that we can know better.

Any tao of money management will require us to relax self-will and be more engaged in something bigger than ourselves, which is a lot more conscious and engaged process than the 60′s definition of tao as “go with the flow.”

When we’re open to it, guidance to find and follow our tao is everywhere. Some of my favorite gems come from Jon Stewart’s 2004 commencement address to our common alma mater, William and Mary:

• So how do you know what is the right path to choose to get the result that you desire? And the honest answer is this. You won’t. And accepting that greatly eases the anxiety of your life experience.
• [The] truly exciting thing about your life, is that there is no core curriculum. The entire place is an elective. The paths are infinite and the results uncertain.
• Success is defined in myriad ways. [It] will come from your own internal sense of decency .
• Love what you do. Get good at it. Competence is a rare commodity in this day and age. And let the chips fall where they may.

What wisdom guides you on your path?

As always, many blessings and come back real soon, Pat McHenry Sullivan

How could we the people not just overcome this economy but thrive? Several powerful tips come from Bill Moyers’ Journal on PBS of October 24, 2008 (www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10242008/watch3.html):

1. Speak your joys and concerns and ask for prayers about them. The model given in Moyers’ show is a small Baptist church in a section of New York known as Hell’s Kitchen, where it’s often hard to hear what’s said in the church due to the traffic noise outside. But in that church, joys and concerns are blessed, and the concerns Moyers reported are much like the ones that many of us have.

2. Tap the power of our humility and common humanity. Moyers had gone to the church to hear his friend of 50 years, James Dunn, speak. Dunn spoke of “The humility that befits all humanity’, ‘the hurt that afflicts every heart,’ and, ‘the hope that comes with community,’ an old theme in American history,” reported Moyers. Those phrases were not explained, but they are ripe and juicy for your own interpretation.

3. Sing your pain and your joy with others. Moyers’ guest on the 24th was Mark Johnson, founder of Playing for Change. www.playingforchange.org For 10 years, Johnson had filmed people all around the world, many from some of the poorest and most troubled places, singing “Stand By Me,” “One Love (let’s get together and feel all right)” and other songs to the same beat and same pitch with their own unique voices. The seamless blend flows easily among street musicians in New Orleans and Amsterdam, a sitar player in India, a classical cellist in Russia, a choir in South Africa, and others. As my husband John and I watched and listened, tears and laugher flowed easily. There was so much response to the show from other viewers that Moyers repeated the segment on December 5th with a new lead-in.

4. Be open to inspiration and creative courage at all times. Johnson’s inspiration for Playing for Change came from joining a crowd of people who were transfixed by the singing of two monks in a subway in New York City. Many thought he was very naive to take on such a big job. “[N]aïve is thinking that there’s any other choice [than to] come together. And to inspire each other because that’s the way that we’ll create a better world for us now and for the kids tomorrow,” Johnson told Moyers in the “Journal” segment. “[W]e don’t even know how long we’re going to be in this world. The most important thing is while we’re here, let’s make a difference together.”

5. Watch Moyers’ PBS segment with others, and dare to dream a healthy economy for all. www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10242008/watch3.html

After you watch the segment, find an appropriate time to be in silence together, as people are silent in a Quaker worship service. Speak from your heart when called. As each person speaks, listen as carefully as Moyers always listens to his guests.

Without responding, go back into the silence to savor what was said, without judgment. As each new person speaks, listen and return to the silence.

When you are ready for dialogue, here are some questions to consider:

What strength do you find in the company of others?
What music (or art or writing) makes you feel most united to others and empowered to give your best to the common good?
How do Johnson and the musicians inspire you? What do they call you to do?
What’s your blessing for the work we are all called to do to stand by each other and get together to help make it all right for all of us?

If you are new to this blog, please click on “About the Challenge” at the upper right of today’s post. Start anytime, and take as long as you wish.

Come back real soon with your own insights and inspiration, Pat McHenry Sullivan

copyright 2008 by Pat McHenry Sullivan

Have you ever dreamed of flourishing financially, no matter what happens in the economy?

Does it matter that you flourish with integrity in all its meanings–whole, honest, naturally ethical, true to your own values and in harmony with the rest of the world?

Do you want to meet all financial challenges–from emergencies to long-range planning–with wisdom, not panic?

If these questions speak to you, then I invite you to join a 30-day money challenge:

• Every day for 30 days, set aside 10-30 minutes to discover how you can earn, save, invest and share your money with more integrity, purpose and joy.
• Every day, act more from your deepest guidance about money.
• Every day, take small steps to anchor your personal economy in money sanity, money harmony, and money consciousness.
• Every day, share a portion of your increase with others in a way that empowers them to create money sanity, harmony and consciousness.

At the end of this challenge, I hope we’ll all have a richer relationship with money, measured in spiritual, emotional and financial terms. I believe that participating in this challenge can support us in creating an economy that works better for all.

This 30-day challenge was birthed during a meditation at the November 2008 meeting of the Spirit and Work Resource Center at Unity of Berkeley in Berkeley, California. A few of us have now begun meditating and/or dialoguing about money every day. I’ve started this blog to share my thoughts about money for 30 days, as often as I can. Sometimes colleagues and friends will add their thoughts.

Your comments are welcome here with some simple caveats: no direct requests for money or a job; no stock tips, specific job leads or network marketing opportunity; and no putting down of another’s thoughts. Do speak from your heart and your own experience.

Feel free to join in the challenge at any time, maybe starting with the oldest post and working your way forward. Take as long as you wish to work with each post, and feel free to bring your friends into the dialogue.

What will happen to this blog after the 30 days? I don’t know yet. But I do know that taking on any challenge is a lot easier and more satisfying when people take it on together. That includes common dialogue, sharing tips or inspiration, and encouraging each other to do the things that we can only do ourselves.

Your action today and every day of this challenge, if you so choose: Spend some time alone, thinking and praying about your relationship to money. In your journal, note your insights and understandings. If you receive guidance, write it down. As you discern what is right for you, follow that guidance until you are clearly called to go in another direction.

Talk with other people who are interested in exploring their relationship to money. And start reading, listening to and watching wise people. Here are some recent words from Bill Moyers:

“[Our] self-correcting faculty, even in the darkest hours, is the best thing we have going for us. That and the knowledge that nothing we face in the months ahead is more than was asked of our parents and grandparents in war and depression.

“This giant of a country is bleeding badly from savage self-inflicted wounds, but what happens next is still our story to write. We can be thankful for that.”

Finally, be sure to bless your money journey every day. Here’s my blessing for this moment:

May everything I do to earn, save, spend or invest money be done for the highest, deepest and broadest good. May I always be grateful for the gifts of learning and growing, even when times are tough.

Come back real soon with your own insights and inspiration,

Pat McHenry Sullivan

p.s. To comment, click on the word “comment” below.