money

Everywhere in the world money has become an important part of human life. It has become a ubiquitous comfort blanket. And, as with other comfort blankets, whilst we feel secure with our money situation, it doesn’t cause too much trouble. And yet, for millions of people, money has become a great worry. There is a fear of not having enough money. There’s the fear that whatever source of money we are relying on will dry up. And money differs from some of the other comfort blankets because we are using it, so we feel we need that steady source to replenish the stocks. And also, money is of particular significance because it is convertible. We can change it into many different things. We can buy a car, a house, if we have enough of it. We can buy almost anything. And the word ‘buy’ means exchange for money. So we can convert money into other things, into other comfort blankets, often.

So this fact that we use money, and also the fact that it is so readily convertible into other forms gives it particular significance, and makes us worry all the more about it. We feel that without money we will not survive, that we need money to buy food, to buy shelter. Whilst that might be the way that we normally provide food and shelter for ourself, it is also the case that in most countries of the world few people die just from not having money. There is usually some way of acquiring enough food and enough warmth to survive. So our survival fears linked to money are exaggerated.

But money also buys us status in the world and attractiveness. Will you be able to seduce a sexual partner if you have no money? These are the often unconscious fears that we link to the fear of not having money: survival issues and sexual attractiveness issues. In truth we have these issues anyway and it is only our mind, conscious or unconscious, that is making an arbitrary link to money.

On the positive side, money is a very useful lubricant within society, allowing us to trade in a very flexible way with each other, to do things for each other in a supportive way. Even if we don’t have anything else immediately to gain in return, we can ask for money. It’s a perfectly good ‘I owe you’ that is transferable between different people. In a sense it’s a beautiful system, as long as the money is flowing and is serving us. But when we become enslaved to money, it has gone too far. Everything has turned upside down. We are no longer the masters using a tool. The tool is using us and we have become slaves. How many people are doing a job that they hate because they feel they need the money?  This is no way to live a life. We should do what we love to do, what we feel passionate about, and if in exchange for that, some money comes to us, all well and good. And if money does not come, gifts of another sort will come to us anyway.

So this attachment to money, this feeling of dependence, not only on having some money in the bank, but also being able to foresee a future revenue stream, the money flowing to us, for many people this is a huge feeling of dependence, and one that causes endless anxiety, worry. And as with other comfort blankets, we need to really look into this and face it. And the best way is to stop earning money for a while and go and live without it. You will see, you are just as happy without money as with it. It is absurd perhaps but that is the reality. Our happiness does not depend on money – our comfort perhaps, and that is why money is the ultimate comfort blanket. It can buy us comfort. But on the spiritual money we are not looking for comfort. We are looking for the truth. We are looking for that which underpins reality. We are looking for god.