Living Instead of Consuming There is a great article in the Nov/Dec issue of Utne Reader entitled “Nothing Grows Forever”, which is a reprint of the article from Mother Jones by Clive Thomson. It is a very hopeful article both for us and for the planet, as it not only questions the consumption economics that we have been living in, but provides a viable alternative. It provides a third way other then the dilemma that has been presented to us by growth economists, that without growth we would spiral into poverty and with it we deplete the planet. This third alternative is aptly names no-growth economics. It asks the questions of whether we could have a healthy economy that doesn’t grow. It also asks if we could halt the inescapable movement toward ecological catastrophe. The point of view of no-growth economics fits perfectly with the movement toward more consciousness in our economics. According to Thompson, in then 19th Century the economist John Stuart Mill had the point of view that growth only served up to a certain point where everyone would enjoy a reasonable standard of living. After that point he believed, people would be able to live their lives with a focus on things like child rearing, art, leisure and not get caught up in the “trampling, crushing, elbowing, and treading on each other’s heals” that he saw in unrestrained capitalism. This chase of more is better is part of what I have spoken about earlier when I spoke about consciousness.This [...]
Conscious Money
Money and Inquiry
Applying the Spiritual Method of Inquiry to Money One of the themes that I have continued to talk about is taking responsibility? It seems like an easy concept, but it is actually something very difficult to do. Mostly we like to blame- our mates, our parents, our investment advisor, the government, the economy, Bernie Madoff etc. etc. What responsibility means is taking the 180 degree turn- instead of looking at the other, we begin to look at ourselves. This is the turn talked about in the spiritual journey- you can’t start until you begin to turn inwards. But it is not just those on the spiritual journey who need to take responsibility- we all do. It is required if the planet is going to survive- the argument about that has moved from “if” to “when”. There is no “other” that is going to do that for us. It is necessary that each one of us take responsibility for how we are living our lives and what we are contributing to the planet. If you confront yourself truthfully, you can know for yourself. Of course, we are influenced by the culture we live in. One measurement of the mean responsibility (average) in your culture is the carbon footprint, which you, as an individual, are contributing to. And the carbon footprint in the US is the second largest in the world. The only country higher is Australia, and that is because of the exportation of their natural resources, not because of their [...]
The Future is Now
Are Being Spiritual and Not Debting for the Future Contradictory? I received this email last week: “In an excellent post last April on credit card debt, you stated bluntly, ‘Debt steals from the future.’ I’m in full agreement, but I fear this line of reasoning falls on deaf ears to many debt-laden people who’ve imbibed spiritual literature over the years that emphasizes “present-moment awareness.” They don’t want to hear about the future, don’t want to think about it. For them, that 60s song by The Grass Roots, ‘Let’s Live for Today’ has been a lifelong mantra. Do you have any thoughts on how to overcome this resistance to the notion of focusing on the future? You hint at this when you write, ‘You will become more present, and not living in the bondage of your future’ by avoiding debt… but what exactly should someone tell himself or herself while climbing out of debt to ‘become more present’?” This is an excellent question, but not a simple one to answer. There are many levels on which to answer this question. I am going to approach it for the purposes of this post from two perspectives. Firstly from the perspective of Right Action. We are where spirit has materialized, so you cannot separate yourself from that which is physical or material. So being in the moment, in the now of our experience, does not negate the laws of relative reality, of physical manifestation. And there are patterns that manifest regarding money just [...]
Money and the Patriarchy
The Challenge to the Old Masculine Mentality The masculine is what turns the soul outward to affect the world. But in order for it to help us through the global crisis, which is really a wake-up all to humanity, it must escape the defining cultural influences to which it has been subjected for centuries. The forces of the old masculine approach ( what I call the patriarchy) are being challenged by a the arising of the feminine and a new masculinity that uses its strength to support and empower the community. What I call the patriarchy is really a magnification and distortion of the true masculine qualities. True masculinity is about achievement in the world, but not cut off from consciousness and in partnership with the feminine. The old patriarch loves the rigidity of the law, the power of the hierarchy, and the tyranny of oppression. The difficulty is that old ways die hard and our institutions including banks, government, church, and corporations are still easily controlled by this mentality. People who are in these institutions are not objective, because their own interests are being served- so whether consciously or unconsciously, they are enmeshed in this mindset. You just need to look at the bonuses Wall Street keeps paying out to see the truth of this. These people have not reflected on their inner lives, and the values that would flow from such a reflection. Instead, they act through layers of rationalization, manipulation, greed, and hidden agendas which (I hope for [...]
Opting Out of Serfdom
Day to Day Living in the New Paradigm In my last two blogs I talked at length about predatory lending and the debt economy getting us into trouble as a nation and as individuals. We need to step out of the culture of easy money and magical thinking that allowed Ponzi schemes like Bernie Madoff- but not just him. If you look at the whole bubble created by the debt system, you could say the whole of the state of Florida was a Ponzi scheme (look at the details of their real estate bubble). You could say all hedgefunds and therefore the fund managers were a Ponzi scheme. You could say the whole country (supported by Greenspan and the Bush Administration) has been living a national Ponzi scheme. Maybe ( and I believe) the whole world economy has been a Ponzi scheme. Bernie Madoff was just the starting bell in this horserace. I have an acquaintance here in Marin County who thought he was a multimillionaire. He had a thriving tax preparation business. Then he got into the investment business so his tax clients could invest in pension plans. And then he invested his own earnings in Florida real estate. The whole thing (except his tax practice- as taxes, like death, are inevitable) has fallen like a deck of cards. Now he is deeply suffering from his delusion and is having great difficulty in accepting that. There are many people who are in the same boat and they are [...]
Serfdom in the Global Economy
Obama Bailing Out the Banks In my last post, I talked about debt from the point of view of the individual getting off the wheel of bondage. Today I want to talk about debt again, but from the point of view of the Macro. Why? Because we can’t talk intelligently about our own money actions without talking about the canvass upon which these money actions are being played. Also, because we can’t really be conscious with money without this knowledge. And finally, we won’t really know what right action is. With respect to what is going on, both in our country, and in the bigger field of the world, I have run into two very powerful articles this recently. One was entitled ” Financial War Against Iceland” by Michael Hudson. Michael is a Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri. He is also a Wall Street analyst and president of the Institute for the Study of Long-term Economic Trends. So he knows what he is talking about. I have been reading his articles for years about the true effects of the US Treasury policies and the resulting inevitable current financial crisis. His is a voice of intelligence, true intelligence, not just intellectual analysis, in a sea of self- serving rhetoric. The other article was “Resist Or Become Serfs” by Chris Hedges. Both of these articles talk about the bondage of our creditor society. The real issue in this economic crisis should be overall the health of [...]
Debt is the New Bondage
Staying Out of Credit Card Debt As stated in the New Yorker in its April 13, 2009 issue, in the article I.O.U. by Jill Lepore ,”Consumer debt has been the engine of the American economy since the 1970′s and arguably longer”. I would argue not just the American economy, but the whole world consumer driven bubble economy that has just crashed because it is simply not sustainable. Many are now recognizing that the predatory lending practices of the banks and credit card companies, with the tacit approval of the government through it’s interest rate manipulation and, as Jill Lepore, says its pitching to the American people that credit is a civic responsibility , have created a such a giant hole in the economy that we wonder if it can actually be fixed. We have no appreciation for history, or geography, in this country. It was never something that was valued in our education. If we did appreciate history, we would know that the downfall of every civilization was presaged by a wider and wider split between the haves and the have -nots. Think the Fall of the Roman Empire and now perhaps what we are experiencing, the Fall of the American Empire. We don’t have to go back that far if we were interested in what happened to us with respect to debt. And if we look we will see, that we have had many rises and falls of the economy, and in all cases debt was seen as necessary [...]
Madoff as Teacher not Devil
Madoff’s Lesson For Us My friends, Matt and Geneen, lost all their retirement savings in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. Instead of being victims, they have used the experience in very constructive ways for themselves. I am not talking out of school here, because they have each publicized their plight in their own ways: together as a couple on the Today show, author Geneen in an article in the Huffington Post (What I Gained By Losing in Madoff) and award-winning inspirational speaker Matt in Youtube (What Bernie Madoff Couldn’t Steal From Me) . One of the common ingredients in their stories is their willingness to take responsibility – not only for what happened- but ongoingly. As Matt says, Bernie Madoff stole money from them, but it was up to them to ensure that he didn’t steal the rest of their lives. Too often we stay locked in the past and try and change it. We obsess about how it should have been, or how it could have been if…..Those who are focusing on Bernie Madoff and what should have happened to him (nothing you can do to him will bring back your wealth), or, trying to find out where the money is (wake-up, it’s GONE), or how the government should pay them back because it was the SEC who messed up (Hey, where’s my bailout!) are staying in the past, are ultimately not taking responsibility for their lives. There is a new paradigm shift, and that shift requires each of us to [...]