On Becoming A Player

We will begin with a scene from Oliver Stone’s masterpiece, Wall Street.

Gordon Gekko (the master investor) is explaining The Truth to his protégé and neophyte broker (Bud Fox).

Bud asks Gordon, “What about hard work?”

This is Gordon’s response:

“What about it? I bet you stayed up all night analyzing that dog shit stock you gave me, uh? Where’d it get you? My father, he worked like an elephant pushing electrical supplies until he dropped dead at 49 with a heart attack and tax bills. Wake up, will ya pal? If you’re not inside, you are outside, okay? And I’m not talking about some $400,000-a-year working Wall Street stiff flying first class and being comfortable. I’m talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. 50, 100 million dollars, buddy . . . A player.”

(As for the sum of money that Gordon mentioned, it’s important to remember that this was in the year 1987.)

Some will look upon Gordon Gekko from the standpoint of disingenuous societal props such as “morality.”

To this I will say that if man had achieved Peace in his life, he would never need a fabricated concept such as morality hanging over him. A peaceful person couldn’t be immoral if he tried.

The reason that we have the need for prisons, policeman, and watchdogs at every corner is precisely because man hasn’t been given the tools to be at Peace within himself.

He hasn’t been given The Truth.

The most important trait to be recognized in Gordon Gekko is that he figured out that what everyone was selling in his industry was a farse. And rather than get in line like everyone else, he found a way to make his own line.

This is why he was one of the few who became a Player, rather than a “wall street stiff.”

What I have noticed over the years is something very interesting. People who buck the system in their own industry, often fall into industry norms when they enter another industry.

It is certainly this way in the game of golf. Powerful world class executives who have actually invented industries by breaking every rule in the book. Yet when they come to golf, they hire the local golf instructor to “instruct” their every move. Where to put their hands, how to move their arms, how wide spread their feet . . .

How does a man who is a genius in his industry, allow himself to become a veritable Invalid in another?

These world class executives play golf for 40 years and don’t break 90. This is the norm. The golf industry now has space shuttle technology, radar data, launch monitors, 3d simulators, and even a robot that you can step inside that moves the golfer’s arms in a particular way in order to hit the golf ball correctly.

What is the result of all this fancy and expensive instruction?

The average golf handicap hasn’t improved in the last 50 years!

Not by One. Single. Solitary. Stroke.

Any questions?

I have not shared this story to many people (the first time in fact was a few days ago to a lovely young lady who is reading this discourse as we speak), but there was a swimmer who was in a slump for 3 years. He’d seen coach after coach. Psychologist after psychologist for 3 years. But he couldn’t place well at a race. He’d fallen off the map. All of these coaches had all the technical instruction in the world.

I was asked to fly to Los Angeles to work with him.

I’ll just quickly summarize:

2 trips.

4 hours of work.

He wins at least 5 meets.

And makes the 2016 Olympic Team and represents his country in Rio last year.

His coach called and asked me what I did.

I told him I didn’t know. I just sort of got him out of his mind.

What do I know about swimming? I can swim. That’s about it. In fact, I must have asked him twenty times how many meters it was from one wall to the other wall!

What’s the take home message here?

Write this down:

It is Never About The Thing.

It is all about The Mind.

It doesn’t matter if it’s business, engineering, medicine, pro sports, relationships, parenting, friendship, socialization, or anything else.

It is all . . . Mind.

Nothing else.

Let us talk about this ethereal concept called “Spirituality.”

The most important thing is to fall out of love with that word.

Spirituality will not help you.

Practicality will transform you.

There is no spirituality.

There is only Mind.

Whatever you do in your life, it’s critical to be Sincere.

This, too, is for practical reasons. I don’t tell anyone to be Sincere because it’s the “right” thing to do, or because it’s “proper,” or “healthy,” or just plain “nice.”

I say it because if you are Sincere, you will be free from inner turmoil.

I’d say that’s a pretty handy benefit, wouldn’t you?

If someone says, for instance, “Look, when it comes to the Mind and to my Life, I don’t really want to be a player. I just want to get in line. I just want to keep my head down and follow the masses. I’m not really interested in getting anywhere. Truth be told, I just sort of like the orange robes and the incense and the twenty minutes of meditation. And I’ll admit that I secretly like asking my friends how long they meditate because it’s sort of a competition for me. Don’t tell anyone I said that, but that’s really what excites me,” that’s Sincere.

To me, that’s very respectable. How can you not have respect for a person who is that straight forward and honest?

I would shake this person’s hand and say, “It’s truly an honor to meet someone as Sincere as you.”

And I would mean every word.

But if someone says, “I really want to learn about the Mind. I absolutely want peace in my life. I want to have an amazing relationship with my wife and my children. I want to feel what it feels like to be truly Free. I’m all in. I want to be a Player,” and then they hire “meditation instructors,” talk about “mindfulness,” go on “silent retreats,” and hang an Om symbol on their rearview mirror, well . . .

The Truth is that such people do not want to be players at all.

(I’ve never understood silent retreats. Why would you need to go somewhere to be silent? And why would you join a group? Why not spare yourself the torture and be alone? Isn’t this more conducive to being silent.)

(And do you really need an instructor to tell you how to be silent? . . . You need an “instruction” for that too? . . . Really?)

It’s important to note that I am not the judge of anything.

The results are the judge of everything.

And by results, I don’t mean the ones that you scrape the bottom of the barrel in order to find, so that you can justify the time and money spent doing something which deep inside yourself you know didn’t do a single thing for you.

I mean real results!

I’ve shared with a few people the story of my visiting a Buddhist monk who lives in a temple near my home.

In short, I went there hoping that I was all wrong. You have no idea how badly I wanted him to shame me. I wanted him to say that he had achieved No-Mind, No-Thought, total Peace, and complete Freedom.

Because if he did, I would have sat at his feet and learned as much as I could. We would share our experiences of the quality of No-Mind we had achieved. And I would be honored to have push me all the way to Buddhahood. I would have become his student for life. I am all ears for those individuals who know what I do not.

For learning is a splendid intoxication.

As soon as we sat down, I asked him point blank, “Have you learned how to turn off the mind?”

He laughed and said, “No.”

I asked him what he was doing in this temple?

He said that he meditated all day.

I asked him how long he had been meditating.

He said 20 years.

I thanked him and left.

There you have it.

20 years!

With nothing to show for it.

Now the scrap collectors will come in with their barrel scraping. They will say, “Well, he probably does have something to show for it. Maybe it’s made him feel good. Maybe it’s brought him some peace. Maybe it made him feel more calm.”

Feeling good, gaining some peace, and feeling calm can be done in about two weeks!

If you’re going to spend 20 years, you’d better be a freaking Buddha!

Because Buddha did it in 6!

Whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well.

Wherever it is worth going, it is worth going to the very top.

Wherever it is worth reaching, it is worth reaching The Ultimate.

But rare is the human being who seeks The Ultimate in anything.

They are more enthralled by the out-clauses.

Tell them the story of Gordon Gekko, and they will say that Gordon broke the law through insider trading.

Tell them the story of Buddha, and they will say that he left his children and his wife, but “I don’t want to leave my family behind.”

(Secretly, they thank the heavens that Buddha left his family because now they can use that as an excuse for not going on the journey. And by the way, no one needs to leave their family or their home.)

The Truth is not for the faint of heart.

It is for those who cannot resist it.

For those who hire “meditation teachers,” ask them if they can turn off their mind at will.

Ask the meditation teacher.

Text him. Call him. Send him an email. Drop him a telegram.

Ask him, “Oh wise meditation teacher, can you turn off thought? Even for a short while. At will!”

Say to him, “Today, I’m not asking you for a meditation pose. I’m not asking you about Ida and the Pingala or the Sushumna. Today I don’t give two cents about the Kundalini. Today I have no interest in balancing my chakras. Forget the third eye. Drop the half-lotus. Forget about watching the breath. Can. You. Turn. Off. Thought. At. Will!”

And see what you get as a response.

The people who are reading this discourse are those who have become Players in their own industry.

I will speak to you directly.

Yes, YOU!

What you have demonstrated in your own industry reveals a rare sort of DNA, my friend. I respect you for it. I admire you for it.

With all my heart. And all my sincerity.

For those who make you feel guilty for being wealthy . . .

For those who put you down for your success . . .

Forget them.

It is beneath you to cower and lower yourself to the lowest common denominator when it comes to the Mind!

If you became a player in your industry, you can become a player in this one.

To find Peace. Every day. At least portions of every day.

To be free of human conflict. To no longer feel the need to fight with anyone.

To be free of emotional turmoil. To go on a journey in which anger cannot touch you. Not learn to “deal with it.” Not to have it arise in the first place!

To be equanimous regardless of the circumstance. Calm in all situations.

To switch off thought like a light switch. And feel the natural curl of your lips as you feel the glorious and God-like feeling of floating in this beautiful emptiness.

To become . . . A Player.

Why in the world would you settle for anything less?