Maugham … the poets Snyder and McClure and the rest of the Beats … Alan Watts, and Caine the priest of the Shao-Lin sleeping on exactly the same ground I sleep on, only without bed, roof, or floor; without a mortgage or a dime in his pocket. In fact, strictly speaking, not even a pocket.
That metaphoric imagery aside, the nearest and most homegrown path is pointed to in another author I haven’t read for a while, the one sometimes called Carlos Casteneda.
Carlos doesn’t have a lot to say about money specifically, but he does talk a lot about a concept called the Petty Tyrant.
It’s relevant because the petty tyrants of my life today are standing between me and what little money I’ve got, to the right and to the left.
Let us just consider a few of the choice words.
***
A petty tyrant is a tormentor. Someone who either holds the power of life and death over warriors or simply annoys them to distraction.
Nothing can temper the spirit of a warrior as much as the challenge of dealing with impossible people in positions of power. Only under those conditions can warriors acquire the sobriety and serenity to stand the pressure of the unknowable.
The idea of using a petty tyrant is not only for perfecting the warrior’s spirit, but also for enjoyment and happiness. Even the worst tyrants can bring delight, provided, of course, that one is a warrior.
To tune the spirit when someone is trampling on you is called control. Instead of feeling sorry for himself a warrior immediately goes to work mapping the petty tyrant’s strong points, his weaknesses, his quirks of behavior.
To be defeated by a small-fry petty tyrant is not deadly, but devastating. Warriors who succumb to a small-fry petty tyrant are obliterated by their own sense of failure and unworthiness.
Anyone who joins the petty tyrant is defeated. To act in anger, without control and discipline, to have no forbearance, is to be defeated.
After warriors are defeated they either regroup themselves or they abandon the quest for knowledge and join the ranks of the petty tyrants for life.
***
Yes.
The defeats have been devastating. Even obliterating for a time and a time again. I’ve been knocked senseless into days and nights where there is nothing but watching the images flicker on the cold screen.
I have not and will not join the ranks of the petty tyrants. I will not ascend to their middle class. Even death would be better than that, though I have no intention of dying yet either.
The warrior regroups themself.
There is no other option.