Money is not the thing.
My relationship with money has always been rather painful. Either I couldn’t get my hands on it ~ like when I was a kid; or I couldn’t hold onto it ~ like when I lost my life’s savings to a con.
And interestingly, I’m still here, I’m not homeless. I even have central heat, internet and a cell phone; a fridge full of food and tomatoes ripening in boxes.
I realized yesterday after having a chat with my sister that I’ve been pursuing money the way some people pursue weight loss. I’ve been longing after a number, just out of reach.
Part of how I create this problem for myself is through comparison. People online are boasting of consistent $10k months. Well, that would be nice and I’ve done that – but that’s not enough! Other’s boast $100K months, well wouldn’t that be even nicer.
I imagine what I would do what $100K all at once: some new clothes, stock up the pantry, invest some and put the rest away to purchase my property sans mortgage. And then if I eventually purchased my new home, in a few months? Well then, perhaps I would buy some alpacas and chickens and a place to put them.
New, expensive cars make me very uncomfortable. I despise high heeled shoes and I don’t intend to sling designer bags over my shoulder.
Here’s the thing – I can purchase some land, right now, without a mortgage. Just not here.
I saw, very clearly, that I don’t need very much to live. That’s lucky, all things considered. And the solution is simple.
I grow my own food – that’s fairly important to me, not for financial reasons but because I’m committed to the enjoyment of good food.
Yes, I can anticipate the future – but realistically, I’ll deal with it when it comes. And I’m not afraid of death, so if financial paucity does end my life….well, I won’t have to waste any more time on taxes.
So what is the issue?
Getting my teeth fixed?
Solution: take excellent care of my teeth.
Needing advanced health care?
Solutions: take excellent care of my health.
I’ve got the tools. I’ve got the means to live exactly as I desire. And no matter how much money I have, there will always be something out of reach.
Money is not the thing.
If we truly examine money, we will see it is a mirage, a fiction, a fantasy – it doesn’t exist. Money doesn’t exist – not the way you and I exist. Not the way the Earth, plants and the insects exist. Money is a concept, a means of trade and it represents something: the real work of you and I. We forget that.
The only thing of value is the real work of you and I.
Yet, we need to navigate and manage this fictional concept. We might think that older systems of trade – cowrie shells for example are quaint and can be manipulated, but what we have is not better.
In a competitive money system, those who can manufacture money out of thin air will always ‘win’. The bankers do this. We cannot win when there are bankers, willy-nilly creating 90+% of the circulating “money” and giving it the same value as the cash for which we labour. And when we earn a whopping 4% interest on our hard-earned cash, the banks are making an outrageous 400% ROI.
But if you and I stop working for it, the whole thing collapses. In fact, it seems to be collapsing now, even though we still work for it. [Have you heard, the banks are borrowing from the Gov? Tells me how that works!]
But WE will not collapse because we are not a house of cards, not if we keep working. Not working for money, but for each other, not for money but out of interest, love and a sense of service.
Let’s say the financial system collapses and our money is suddenly worth zilch. That’s a real possibility. We have at least a couple options:
- We go berserk, stealing, looting, lynching;
- We take care of that which needs to be taken care of ~ ourselves and each other.
Do we still need money? For now we still use it. But it’s important that we use money, not the other way around. Use money but don’t let it use you.
The adage “the love of money is the root of all evil” – there is truth to that. What will we do for a little money? How easily and how cheaply do we sell our integrity and our dreams. I see this in the government pay-outs. That’s a purchase. And it’s not much. We sell out for very little. But no amount of a fictional concept can ever be worth the weight of your soul.
