Money Madness

Money is supposed to be fluid. It flows in and flows out in a steady stream. It’s only passing through. It’s not staying or moving in. We’re nothing more than a host. We can invite it in, feed it, and offer it our attention, but we cannot grab it or cling to it or lock it away. It needs fresh air. It’s not meant to be hoarded. That’s done from fear. Instead, we need to respect its need for freedom and let it breathe.

Money, by itself, is lifeless and dead. We bring it to life and give it meaning and energy. We transfer it from place to place, sending it into the world to travel and circulate. If we don’t touch it or move it, it remains invisible and without power, except perhaps to comfort the owner with a false sense of security. Of course, along with that there often comes the fear of someday losing it.

Money has the power of making us react to it. It can also hold us hostage if we give it that power. Our relationship to our money reflects our relationship to the world. It is simply a metaphor for how safe we feel. On a survival level, money can bring us to our knees. This brings most of us into an unnatural attachment to it. We become dependent on it for our security, and this blocks us from truly experiencing life. We are too focused on protecting ourselves that we miss out on the spontaneous gifts around us.

Money cuts across a lot of boundaries. There are those who overspend, those who save, those who gamble, those who debt, those who chase after it, those who are satisfied with very little, and those who simply work hard, pay their bills, save, invest and give the remainder away.

A major motivation for crime and violence is money; a major source of arguments among married couples is money; a major factor in career choice is money. What happened to following one’s passion, marrying for love, and settling our differences? What happened to learning for learning’s sake, following our convictions because we believe in something, getting involved because we are passionate about something?

Having has replaced being as our primary value. We mistakenly believe that once we have “enough” we’ll take time to be. This presupposes that there is such thing as security. Being uncertain and taking risks allows us to learn more quickly and on a deeper level. Always playing it safe results in a limited range of experiences. What is the point to life if not to expand our range of experiences, stretch our imagination, and touch the lives of a wide variety of people?

A rich life is not a safe life. A rich life is one that is lived on the razor’s edge, a life full of amazing stories and opportunities, which cannot be found in the comfort of our well-furnished living room.