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Q. Please talk about money and its significance to those of us on the spiritual path.
A. How you torture yourselves about money!! Money is nothing but your willingness to take up space. Your relationship to it is a reflection of your relationship with yourself. You may consider it manifest 'self esteem'. This is not to say that there are not those who have money who also have issues of esteem, self worth and self hatred. But for those of you who practice spirituality and feel poor, the lack of money represents your unwillingness to be fully embodied.
Understand, we speak to western culture, to the nations of wealth and power. The issues in poor nations are different. But since, in your cultures, money represents ease, flexibility, opportunity, the issues that we are pointing to are relevant here.
Money, in America and Europe, is the power through which the universe can support you. If not the coin itself, then the wherewithal to lead a life of joy and connection to spirit.
The issues that arise around money for those on the path are two: worth and guilt. For many the willingness to be embodied, the risk to be visible that is life, the unraveling of conditionings around self value, are all reflected in 'living on the edge' financially. Coupled with this is an understanding of the injustice of modern economic systems, a love of all mankind that refuses plenty in the face of poverty. In the first case, regarding self-value, many strategies are available through modern psychology and modern teachings to confront and heal these wounds. In the case of the latter, misunderstandings abound.
Recognizing the injustices of your system, the poverty of many in the face of the few, is not a reason to eschew money. In doing so, you simply line yourself up on the side of the victim and perpetuate the duality of haves and have-nots. It is, of course, easy to fall into moral righteousness when you have nothing. But this is not either useful of productive. Poverty is not useful unless it is a reflection of clarity and truth. In other words, there are those who, on awakening in consciousness, may choose to live a life of poverty or abstinence, but this is a different issue. For most people it is a question of preferring to be on the side of the underdog - choosing the moral superiority of the victim.
Understand this: when you are at peace, the universe supports you. And supports you in ways that are most appropriate for your life. In the west, this is the experience of money coming easily. When you are open and in self-acceptance and in alignment with spirit in your life, then money can enter as universal love. This is not to say that all who have money are in such alignment. We speak only of possibilities and to bust myths.
Understand this also: money is power in your world. If you wish to change things, you are more likely to have success if you have money than if you do not. Therefore to revile wealth is in some cases to abdicate power. From a spiritual perspective this is like telling spirit that you refuse it entry.
Having said all this, we see many of you begin to berate yourselves: "Oh, I have to get into alignment, I have to find peace, or I'll never have money or spiritual success." This is the opposite of what is needed. Know that your relationship to money can be used as a gauge or reflection of where you are on the path at this very moment. Know that to see and understand this reflection is helpful, to resist it is not. When you struggle around money you are often struggling with yourself. Seeing this, you can explore that which is unconscious. To live in hardship is a lack of love for yourself. That does not mean that you cannot live simply, but if you are strapped from week to week for that which makes life flow, then there is a self-karma unravelling. Look into it. As you become willing to do what it takes to take care of yourself, to offer yourself a life of ease, to move into trust and let go of the fear that holds you in your suffering, then the universe can enter.
For many there is a misunderstanding: 'If I am truly spiritual I will not have to deal with the world.' But you are spirit manifesting as form on the material plane, and therefore the opposite is in fact true. If you are truly spiritual, you will celebrate the world and find ways to live that reflect your joy. That which reflects your joy is not necessarily that which your ego craves. You may not necessarily become a healer or a teacher or an artist or poet. You may be a checkout person for Cost Plus or Safeway. And this may serve you and society. You may do great healing simply by being present in this work. And this may be your joy - not necessarily the work itself, but the life you live, the who you are. Do you understand? Many believe that "if the universe supports me I will become all that I can be and this means I will earn my living doing something magical, effortless, ecstatic." Sometimes the magic and the effortlessness and the ecstasy describe the style of being, rather than the activity. When they are present, all aspects of the life are a celebration. Earning a living becomes a means to a good life. Self expression IS and need not be sought.
These issues are complex and multidimensional. We have only touched on them. We invite you to e-mail us with questions that may arise.
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