Shambhala Day Message from Robert Reichner- Envoy for Enrichment
Cheerful Shambhala Day!
I connect so deeply to Shambhala because at its core is an inspiration and complete dedication to be of service to the world. To me, that means engaging our society at an architectural level, as well as at the level of individual relationships.
We live in a world whose forms are deeply influenced by our belief systems about what it means to be a human being. Shambhala is a proclamation of trust and utter confidence in the goodness of human beings and human society. From that starting place, amazing new possibilities arise.
For me, economy has to do with how we work with our own livelihood as it connects to our household, our family, our city or town. Ultimately it has to do with how we’re investing our energy in the world. Living in Seattle, when I step out of my home each day I see the huge range that results from where we each individually direct our time, money, heart, and mind. We can fuel the speed and greed we sometimes see or we can invest in sanity, slowing down, caring for our earth, connecting deeply with each person we meet.
Shambhala and meditation practice offer me the constant reminder that the seed we are cultivating is an inherent trust in our own worth and our own wealth. And we extend that trust to others, building relationships that are based on acknowledging the inherent worth of everyone we touch. That is really the essence of economy altogether. I feel this every time I step into a Shambhala Center, sit with friends, or join with community for good food and good conversation. This is our richness.
We live in a society in which there is tremendous confusion around wealth and money. Sometimes we ourselves express that confusion, and sometimes we are able to take a different approach. The path of the Shambhala Pillar of Economy is to engage that process, open discussions around it, and start to shift the way that we actually work with wealth, richness, and money in our lives and in the greater world.
As Shambhalians, we see that there is a world that needs our engagement, needs our good heart. And we are working to unlock the potential in ourselves and our community so that we can have a greater impact. My aspiration for the coming year is for all of us, individually and collectively, to discover what we can uniquely offer, and for us to step forward more and more, offering everything we can in service and dedication to our world.
May your Year of the Fire Monkey be filled with richness!
Robert Reichner
Shambhala Pillar of Economy
