“Whose head is this, and whose title?” “The emperor’s.”
“Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s,
and to God the things that are God’s.”
-Jesus in the Gospel of Saint Matthew
When you think of the Occupy Wall Street protesters, what comes to mind? Were these ex-hippies, shiftless millennials and dropouts with nothing better to do? What would prompt ordinary people to critique so venerable an institution as the American stock market? Why are we witnessing movements similar to the activism of the 1960’s?
People want fundamental social change and see the “system” as the problem. Just one-percent of the population by far makes the most money. On Wall Street this disparity has been as high as 6,000 to 1. The richest tycoon in the market makes 6,000 times what the poorest worker in New York earns. The “Middle Class” in America has steadily eroded for an entire generation, a class once capable of funding public education.
Is the problem with the global economy, or with the institution of money, itself? Is money inherently profane, a simple power grab, a means for the strong to prey on the weak? Or is there something else going on, something that transcends business and government?
A Crisis in Perception
Fritjof Capra, best-selling author of the Tao of Physics, tipped us off back in 1990 with his masterpiece, MindWalk. His film entails an inner journey viewed as a conversation between a failed Presidential candidate, a disenchanted physicist and a poet. They recount the myriad problems of that era, including bank failures, deforestation and global warming, and look for a common theme. As they discuss the nature of reality seen through the lens of quantum physics and systems theory, they arrive at an epiphany. All these problems have to do with a “crisis in perception.” We simply can’t see what is right in front of us.
We live in an interdependent universe that requires all of us for any of us to function. We are defined by our relationships, our mutual connectivity. When we try to isolate the heart of reality, we find in place of solid matter “vast regions of empty space.” What looks like a massive world with battle ships, jet planes and high rises is in truth the “Dance of Shiva,” the play of consciousness. Everything we see out there is really happening within us.
Contemporary global society is an extremely intricate and dynamic set of relationships on top of an even more complex set of relationships that defines our ecosystem.
When you can step back from the individual trees and start seeing the forest, then you get smart. We are not separate automatons floating around completely independent of one another. Our interests are not inherently conflicting. Rather, they are complementary.
When you can step back from the individual trees and start seeing the forest, then you get smart.
Giving Our Power Away
Money is just a symbol, on bits of metal, elegantly printed paper and digits in a computer. Our net worth is defined by numbers. These numbers represent our assets. However, we determine if our net “worth” in any way reflects our actual value as people.
Furthermore, money, or currency, exists solely by agreement. We all agree tacitly that the American dollar is the medium of exchange and shall service “all debts, public and private.” As long as this agreement holds, the coins, the currency, the bank accounts have power. If this agreement collapses, then their value falls right through the floor.
What we want are the experiences that things can give us, more than the actual things, themselves. We want the things more than the money it takes to buy them. Are we shopping for a new Apple iPad or Tesla Model S to accumulate elaborate scraps of metal? Of course not.
Money is simply an agreed-upon medium of exchange of goods and services. We often forget who created money.
The Human Dimension of Economics
Money is a function of culture. It exists only in the world of humanity. You would have to keep looking for centuries to find actual money in the physical universe. Sure, you can find bits of metal and paper certificates, but what makes them money? They are simply a convenience for us to avoid barter.
Suppose you have a healthy organic farm, and you are itching for a fancy new sports car. How many head of cattle, or how many chickens and pigs will satisfy the dealer? Absurd? Of course it is, but that is what would happen without some medium of exchange. What would such a medium be without big and small, high and low? To have meaningful currency, you must assign value to it. Originally, it was gold, silver and copper. Now it is simply a binding set of numbers.
Money was created to serve people, both as individuals, and as collectives. It is easy to carry money around. However, it takes more than a village market to make barter work. Money is a form of acknowledgement. At root, money is a form of thanksgiving for goods and services that make us feel wealthy. The feeling of gratitude is what gives money its true power.
The Physical Dimension of Economics
When we look at the physical universe, we see our real wealth, in terms of mountains and forests and the ocean and clean skies. Humanity has crafted innumerable roads, bridges and airstrips. Buildings of every descript are indispensable for us, but they totally depend upon the environment. They are built on top of the natural world. It is no accident that the words “ecology” and “economy” share the same root meaning, “house.”
When we pollute the oceans and burn the rainforests, we are actually incinerating our future. This is far worse than torching money. That economy should be pitted against the environment is a form of insanity. We do this daily by ignoring climate change and denying global warming. Then we pretend superstorms are a bit unusual and will soon go away.
The Earth is our mother every bit as much as God is our father. Everything we know and use comes out of the earth. Most of what we consume is a gift, whether earned or not. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the wheat that comprises our bread, the gas in our cars, the electric current that powers all our digital devices is the gift of our planet. Are we using these gifts wisely?
The Spiritual Dimension of Economics
As we probe creation through advanced physics, we come to the realization that every observation requires an observer. The participant / observer is creating his or her universe moment by moment. Just as our ultimate Self is sustaining us moment by moment, with every breath we take and every beat of our heart. God both lies within the universe and infinitely beyond it.
We can use money and the economy spiritually. Money is a wonderful tool if used consciously. In today’s market, it will take trillions of dollars to heal the environment. With advanced technology, Apple, Inc. is enabling us to do more and more with less and less. Just as the digital appliances keep getting smaller and smaller, it will take less and less to satisfy us, IF we use the tools, rather than letting the tools use us.
Money comes out of relationship. When we use money as an expression of love, enlightenment and empowerment, that money will bless the world and glorify God, our One and Only True Self. Money is a powerful vehicle of agreement, but agreement can come in a variety of ways. We are in no way limited to money. It is our poverty that we think otherwise.
Introducing “the Gift Economy”
Burning Man has etched a place in the minds and hearts of powerful people, such as the founders of Google. A new generation is coming to power on top of the aging Baby Boomers. (President Trump is the exception to the rule.) For a week, artists, technophiles and millennials create a small city in the desert, and bring goods and services to share, much like a giant potluck.
Many people have left this festival actively seeking to institute it in the “real world.” Non-monetary exchanges were the norm in early America. Barn raising was a notable example, where neighboring farmers would come together and create a barn for one of them in less than a day. Jimmy Carter’s Habitat for Humanity is a contemporary example.
Through new technologies, cultural creatives are pioneering new forms of exchange, including microcurrencies, carbon neutral policies and negative interest. Negative interest has money lose its value over time if not given to others. When you hold onto money, you lose. In actual fact, this is a very good investment policy. Smart Republicans look at their own money, not to consume, but to invest in their, and others, businesses and property.
Work as Worship
Hindus have a concept long lost in the West that work is actually a form of worship. Every person has his or her own dharma, or proper craft, trade or profession. You do your dharma as a way of loving service to others, and you give unto Lord Krishna, unto God, the fruit of your actions. If you secure a generous payoff, wonderful! If you receive nothing back, your work is still your own individual expression, a celebration of life.
Life is sacred. If viewed with transformed eyes, this very planet, this very solar system and this very galaxy are sacred, as God permeates every particle. We could say that the heavens are God’s body. God sees through our eyes, hears through our ears. Everyone we encounter is a unique, infinitely precious portal of divine presence. When we love others, we love God.
Let us begin owning money, rather than letting money own us.
We are the source of our money. When we open up our hearts and minds, when we are wholeheartedly given to service, our money flows through us. The global economy is a reflection of who we all are.
You have the power to transform it, and that power lies deeply within you. When you can act from total responsibility, you can do what Occupy Wall Street could not do, bring heaven down to earth.
Is Sacred Economics Possible? appeared first on http://consciousowl.com.
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