Life’s purpose and goal is not to be ridiculously wealthy and live like a king, but to be “peacefully abiding here, now” (The Buddha). We want to have enough money to do whatever we want, yet, the ideal is to want to peacefully abide here now. And we can do that with no money at all.

The Tao is not about wealth. It is about seeing, knowing, doing what needs to be done in each situation as it arises for the good of the moment with all things considered. The Tao is doing the right thing in the right way at the right time in the right place, taking everything into account here, now. And that may mean stepping aside, getting out of the way so that what needs to happen can have the right of way. As the Tao Te Ching puts it, “Do your part and step aside. Let nature take its course.”

Assisting nature and allowing nature to take its course is the key to “Peacefully abiding here, now.” Knowing what is happening and what needs to happen and assisting what needs to happen in the service of the true good of all concerned is the goal of life and being. Here, now and always.

If we are living in the path of an advancing glacier, or the water producing the Grand Canyon, we need to move out of the way. When what is happening is the result of things that have been happening and we are not in charge of the forces at work in what is happening, it will continue to happen and will shape our lives accordingly. This is called “Living with the flow of things in light of the flow of things.” Which is the goal of life for all things.