wisewords
REALLY RICH: Balancing Wealth with Health
A Conversation with Russell Simmons by Bill Van Arsdale
R
ussell Simmons is a rare combina- tion of self-made multi-millionaire and spiritual guru. Co-founder of Def Jam records, the Phat Farm fashion label and several other business and philanthropic ventures, Russell has just released his second bestselling book, Super Rich: A Guide to Having It All. His idea of “having it all” is not what one might imagine.
While you have achieved ex- traordinary financial success, instead of becoming completely swept up in ego and material things, you have evolved from being the “Godfather of Rap” into a guru. What set you on
the path to writing Super Rich? As we grow, we experience proofs that what our parents, preachers, prophets and scriptures told us as a child is true: The process of living in the cycle of giv- ing is the thing that makes us happy. We also learn that the outside world separates us from the God inside of us, and if we take that Godlikeness and exude it, spreading it out, then the world gives it back to us. These truths are right in front of us, but we are not taught them enough, or else we forget to remember them. So, the purpose of this book is simply to help us remember.
You present many lessons on how to move toward higher consciousness, while simulta- neously allowing for financial success. How can we use our
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creativity to apply ourselves to something we really believe in without worrying about acco-
lades or financial reward? In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says you have control of the action alone, and never the fruit. The work we do is our prayer. Going to work every day is God’s work. Finding an entrepreneurial business or another endeavor that you are proud of and inspired to use to give—that’s God’s work. You have to be creative, which means that you have to look inside enough to come up with something that the world needs. You can’t see the whole if you reside on the outside, where others move you around; the inside is where you make your own choices. Success and prosperity are fringe
benefits. Super Rich means a state of needing nothing, of operating from a state of Christ consciousness, or Nirva- na, or Samadhi. If we can operate from that, then the cycle of giving speeds up. We become a much greater servant because we are good givers, and good givers are great receivers. That is the core premise.
Don’t the pursuits of wealth and enlightenment pull us in opposite directions?
Spiritually, we know what’s right, and that is what I am really trying to get people to engage in, this process of prayer, of looking at the inside instead of the outside for answers. I want them to become what is in their heart and do what they think makes good sense.
Courtesy of Gerald Janssen
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