money becomes us

I have such amazing friends full of spirit kindness deep wonderful thought and adventure. Some live in big beautiful homes with guest houses and land. Some live in trailers, the kind with wheels on them, and little bungalows with small rooms. One lives in a shed of sorts with no running water. You can touch both walls with outstretched arms. I put myself in a situation this Fall where I needed more than before. I bought land in the high desert where I plan to build a cabin. My landlord person wanted another year's lease and raised the rent so I gave notice and moved out. My cabin is only a drawing so I am camping out and figuring out. The friends who have wide opened their homes to me for warmth, hot water, a place to make good thick soup, are the ones in the trailers and sheds. Money allows insulation and it becomes a habit? What do you think?

Re: money becomes us

How interesting.  The poor ones offered you help with what little they have and the rich ones with more than they need did not.  They have a rich mind and heart.

I think rich people don't want to associate with anyone that's not on their financial and social level.  THat is a very poor mind set and very little heart.

Good luck with building your home.  I bet once you have your home set up and decorated, the rich ones will be curious to see what you have accomplished and congratulate you as if they had something to do with it.

Best wishes

Re: money becomes us

It is the clinging attachment  for material comfort and physical security…that enslave us through our false sense of security. So thosewho are free in spirit are not chained to their comfort, money, status, social expectations, dogmas and belief systems. May be in your free time you can read my article….the purpose of this discussion threads here.

I really like to get the entire planet of the sucidal treadmill of mindless money machine maintained by centralized bankasaurs that is called free-market capitalism for democracy…which is an illusion we have been conditioned to accept. A big mind shift needs to happen among people who dare to dream and take mindful action. So join in.

Peace Warrior
mita

Re: money becomes us

What if everyone had the same attitude and love for the world and people and everyone just did everything and gave everything for free and people worked for free to just supply things for the human race and their incentive for working was just to keep good in humanity and to have everyone happy

Re: money becomes us

lance: 
you say that like it's a bad thing?  are you?

Re: money becomes us

It's me again. The interesting thing is my more wealthy friends are incredible people, some buddhists and philanthopists, artists, my mentors, and what I would consider conscious capitalists. Maybe it is a fear of loss that is stronger than other feelings.  Having money and those nice places is a wonderful thing. Farland 

Re: money becomes us

Dear Farland,

what a beautiful thing about your more wealthy friends.
Nevertheless I'm sure that true spirituality (buddhist, christian, wilberian or any other direction) is always translating itself into what we are doing. Whatever we think or believe is worth as much as it is expressed in day to day life. With this I do not wish to judge your friends, for there is not much in judgement…

We do not have anything, no matter what we call our possesions. There is no place in the heart or spirit to put things in. What we live truly matters… and that is an unalienable richness. And I'm happy that you give me the opportunity to honor just that in you.

Much Love,
Mushin

Re: money becomes us

Mushin

You make a good point.  WHat good is it to say I'm a bhudist, christian, etc…..just for the sake of saying it because it's attached to some great believing organization.

I'd rather be of no belief at all and do what's in my heart.  THen it's just kiki-ism.  My own giving or my own taking, accepting, rejecting.  My own choice, not attached to any religious choice but just my own.

No body can complain if I don't feel like giving nor does it affect me if my giving is not accepted, and no body expects something just becaue I say I'm of a certain belief.

Hope that makes sense.  LOL

Re: money becomes us

Hi Kiki,

yes kikism for kiki, mushinism for mushin and so on.
there is no need to project our innate authority outword on some figure (or inward on some figure). I feel life is about being response-able, meaning that we are obliged to respond to what is present to us.

There is belief involved though, belief in the innate knowledge of our heart and reason, maybe. Trusting that we are able to respond in such a way that all are honored by our response.

E feel that everybody can respond in whatever way they please - nevertheless they might then have to deal with my response…

Love,
Mushin

Re: money becomes us

Dear Farland,

It sounds as if you have some wonderful friends.  My experience in this area is that the quality of our friends is always a direct reflection of who we are as people so you should pat yourself on the back for being a quality person to have attracted into your experience such quality friends.  I have to tell you that I have left many 'friends' behind in these travels I am on to find myself because they didn't truly reflect how I wanted to be.  Yet there are friends from my childhood, true friends, that I still keep in touch with and love and value very much.

You say that having money and those nice places is a wonderful thing!  Yes it definitely is a wonderful thing and the beauty of it all is that we are all meant to have our version of that wonderful thing…however we must always remember that things are things and we are us and that happiness does not come from those things but comes from within. 

We all truly deserve to live in the lap of luxury and if we play our intentional/grateful cards right we will.

Blessings,
Cheryl

Re: money becomes us

About not really having anything no place in heart and spirit for things. We are often trying it seems to hold things. I have experienced this wonderful sense of lightness and fullness inside after I have lost some thing I cherished, as if that holding on was holding me down.  And then I find something else to hold me down although the more the letting go happens the easier it becomes.
 I think in the deepest teaching of many “religions” there is something about the openess of not any labels, that once there is a label then there is not that religion any more.  I'd forgottne about that until just now. It was something my Father, who was a minister, talked about. Farland

Re: money becomes us

“As if that holding on was holding me down”

Being chained to past ideas of Capitalism and false assumptions about money in our “unexamined minds” is as burdensome and oppressive as holding on to material possessions and wealth.

The thing is we can all be free, only if we become free thinkers and practice living with open mind and open-heart.

Mind can only change by changing our individual attitudes and beliefs and assumptions of what money is and how it ought to be issued and circulated. So I invite you to be part of solution than part of the problem. Take the first step by changing your own perception of money and educate others.

Peace & Joy

Re: money becomes us

I don't feel money is either good or bad……It is what we decide it is within us that matters.  It is our behavior about it that we need to look at.  Some people do amazing things for others with their money and some stop thinking about others when they have money.  Perhaps the friends without money are responsive to someone in need because they are keenly aware of it in their own lives and the ones with money don't even see a need because they cannot relate.  Not everyone with money is like that though………some don't have money, get it, remember their own past and give, give, give. 

I grew up poor and know what it is like to struggle for your basic needs to be met………I have had plenty of money and plenty of possessions…………..I have walked away from it all and been happier with a life of simplicity…………….how it affected me had nothing to do with the money itself but what it meant to me.  Once I dealt with my own perceptions about money and what it meant to me I was able to have it again and be very different about its place in my world and how I utilized it.  I do not think it is virtuous to be poor, starving and not where you will put your head down at night as a way of life.  If it is a lesson passing through your life then so be it…then it is a gift. 

How do we even measure who has money and who doesn't anyway?  It is all relative.  A person can feel that someone else has too much money and is materialistic, while not seeing it in themselves but someone with less than that person may being viewing them in the same light.

Re: money becomes us

Dear Debby..I love what you say in this posting…it really resonated with me and feels very true to me…I also grew up very poor and the only thing that has changed is the way I feel about myself, money and possessions.
Robyn

Re: money becomes us

Funny, on my return to Australia from visiting friends and family in England I feel I could have stayed with any of my friends all over Australia. The reason I chose the ones that I am living with at the moment is because they have a large house where I can have a room of my own, and they are welcoming as they are not renovating or similar.

I am truly blessed and hope that I will always be such a friend in the future, in fact I am hoping to secure a two bedroom apartment for the same reason.

There is a quote about to have a good friend you have to be one, it has stuck to me and I hope to live it.

Could it be the ones that think they are most spiritually advanced are in fact not? Or maybe their ideas are different to ours?

Re: money becomes us

I don’t think the money itself is the problem, but the many imagines which have been created from the society about rich people would be and act are the real difficulties that create such a strong attachment to the person who own them. Is this the kind of the society that we want to be or we want our love ones to be? How can rich people will know better if someone ever teach them how to?

Re: money becomes us

Aphinya,

I don't think you can teach anybody anything.

The 'rich' person, with plenty of spare time on their hands, is in a very valuable position to consider his/her own folly. It's the people out there that use all their time trying to become 'rich' that may miss out on the chance to consider their ambition and goal.

Look at retirement for example, people believe if they slog it out for most of their lives they'll reap the benefits at 50 or 60. Have people not considered the vicissitudes of life? That their life can change in so many different ways and that planning for a future that may not even come is inherently defeating.

As soon as we can let possessions come and go with no attachment, then you've achieved simplicity and in my opinion life.

Re: money becomes us

What we live truly matters… and that is an unalienable richness.
 Now thats-the damned simple truth of it all. We should never worry about the wealthy they are fine just as we are. The more we struggle with what others are doing we are taken away from the richness of what we are doing. Their seems to be wealth here and we are passing it around.

This life will provide much for us always trust that. Allow others to clean their own mess as we sort out our own.

Re: money becomes us

I couldn't agree more Golden!

Live and let live is becoming less and less simply a saying for me and becoming more and more a way of life for me.  Not saying that if others need me I would turn away…just saying that I attract a whole heck of a lot more joy and abundance into my own life by not worrying about what others are doing.  I used to spend a lot of time observing other people and thinking in my head what they should or shouldn't be doing, saying or thinking.  Now I'm learning to simply 'mind my own knitting', as my grandma would say, and things are much much much better for me and for them too!

Blessings,
Cheryl

Re: money becomes us

The issue isn't only with the people with a lot of money but also with the people who don't have as much as they'd like to have that envy the rich people and paint a picture of them that is inaccurate for most likely 75% or more of 'rich people'.  Envy can truly change one's perspective of weath.  Those who choose to perceive wealth in their own lives from a place of lack and then add to that by disliking those who have a lot of money are not doing themselves any favors.  I used to be one of the envious ones who always was able to find fault with people who had a lot of money…for years now I have ceased to envy them for their wealth and started to be glad for their good fortune.  This I believe helps a lot with allowing abundance of wealth into my own life!

Perspective is everything.

Blessings,
Cheryl

Re: money becomes us

It is rare that anyone suddenly finds themself with a large and well-kept property, though it can occasionally happen through inheritance or marriage.  But as a rule, you achieve such things over time by habitually keeping money for yourself.  This is called “saving”.

A person can be in the habit of sharing with those who have less, or in the habit of keeping for themself.  It is even possible to compromise between the two, sharing some and keeping some. But it is logically impossible to do both of them to the fullest at the same time.

(And of course it is possible to waste all our income on fleeting pleasures, which means we don't need to face tough choices about what to do with it later.)

Re: money becomes us

Or none of us should decide how another lives, these are now our choices to make. WHat I am hearing consistantly in the “rich people do this” rabble is the desire for more money for ourselves. I work with the wealthy on a consistant basis and the truth is they are always looking for new things to buy, new paradigms for living. They are striving for something greater just as we all are the only difference is they have the money issue down, as we are searching for resolution.

Re: money becomes us

Thank you Golden. 

I do get a bit disheartened whenever I hear people bad mouthing rich people because we are ALL the same rich or poor…we are all human beings…beings of light when it gets right down to it.  When people become angry with the rich because they feel that the rich people are taking all of the wealth (resources, money, assets or whatever) for themselves it means that the people who are complaining are approaching wealth, and most likely life in general, from a place of LACK.  There is plenty for everyone and if one person has a gazillion dollars in their bank account then everyone else can have that much too.  NO matter where the money is going…there is always plenty more where it came from.  Trust me…money will never run out.  If you truly think it can then perhaps you should take a look at the history of the U.S. governments annual budget and then take a look at what it is today.  If that is not proof enough that there is plenty of money for everyone then sadly you will always look at wealth from a place of lack.

Everyone wants the same things in life…   No matter how different the culture or way of life or financial status or sexual orientation or whatever…everyone wants the exact same basic things in life…to live well to love and to be loved.  This is why I have such a hard time understanding prejudice against those who look, dress, worship and live a bit differently than we do.  We are all a part of one another…WE ARE ONE! 

Blessings,
Cheryl

Re: money becomes us! exactly

Each of us live within our own personal-social reality and there is partial truth in all of the above. However when one looks deep beyond one's own personal-social network to the invisible in our society….hungry, homeless, without medical care or access to basic necessities in our own community, region, nation, and other countries and the planetary situation as a whole (the gross misallocation of resources to war, and military-intelligence complex and truely understand the interdependence of all life (not just human life) then one need to take responsibility for those beyond one's comfort-security-fear zones.

Personally I am happy, wealthy, and have a fullfilling life with many rich and poor friends alike.  And I do not think it is Ok to feel complacent about the state of affairs in this country and the world. In fact i get outraged with such complacency from anyone who wants to avoid their social moral responsibility (ability to respond creatively to planetary challenges that we face). It is not about envying or attacking rich, it is about understanding our own unconscious role in perpetuating such a grossly unbalanced state of affair.

The vast majority of earth's people are not being allowed to Live as they see fit under corporate-political fascism. So live and let live is not applying here, once you take the time to study and understand. What are you afraid of that you do not even care to know???

Re: money becomes us! exactly

Sorry. Here's the correct Link for Forbes 2000 biggest companies 2007 List
in terms of asset!

Thanks
Mita

Re: money becomes us! exactly

Thank you susmita I can appreciate the attention you are seeking to bring to these causes and it is others like you who are creating the solutions to such problems. I do however take issue with the shame you wish to bring upon others who are not so focused on this cause. I at one period in my life was heavily focused on similar issues and now I am not. I do not consider this complacency nor do I consider others who do not take issue with this cause complacent. If this make you uncomfortable you must rectify that within yourself, because that is far from my problem.

I am trusting that the world will reach a heightened level of integration, as we progress. These social issues are issues that have been around since the dawn of civilization and colonization they will move to resolution without my current participation. Allow others to make the same choices, it really will be ok.

Re: money becomes us! exactly

Where attention goes…energy flows.  Personally I choose to focus my attention and thereby my energy on those issues that are being addressed.  If I choose to only focus on the things that are wrong then my energy is going to the 'wrongness' of the situation.  However, if I focus on what things might be going right…I am supporting the 'rightness' or rather the REPAIR of an issue.

It all depends on where you want your energy to go. 

There is of course another way to percieve all that we consider as 'broken' or 'wrong' in our world…if we are all totally responsible for our own lives then everyone else is equally as responsible for theirs.  Not saying we should not help others…not saying that in the least but we have all managed to 'make our own way' in our lives and some of us quite successfully so if we can do that so can anyone else who cares to.  Yes I know that there are people who are under the thumb of a dictator or a badly run government…lest we forget in this country we once were in the same boat being sucked dry by the motherland England…we managed to get out from under it and so can other people's do the same thing.  We sometimes forget that even though we are ONE we are all independently all on our own unique path in this existence so for us to expect everyone to be at the same level of abundance and joy doesn't make too much sense.

Furthermore, I find feeling 'sorry' and being 'upset' about those less fortunate than myself as an insult to them and also I feel it is feeding even more energy into their already dire situation.  I have been rock bottom in my life more than once and I have always managed to get back up on my feet.  I used to feel it was important that others knew my story and felt sorry for my plight…but all the sorry in the world never helped me one iota and to be honest with you the way I think and feel today I would be totally insulted that anyone felt pity for me.  Helping is one thing…help by all means that is IF the person will accept your help but feeling sorry is quite another.

Blessings,
Cheryl