Money Programming

 

Detoxing The Money Programming

By Ida Lawrence

Empathy for the poor and the homeless comes from somewhere, just like with all things, ‘been there… done that’ gives you the feeling of a particular experience. You have felt the disdainful glare… and it makes you tender hearted when the homeless man approaches. No matter that it might be self-caused – you know he longs to feel dignity, and so you offer some money and tell him, “I wish you the very best.” And you mean it.

Last night I was talking with a very wealthy man, listening to his experiences. He told stories about his friends, and these were the oddest stories… so far outside my realm of experience. “Wow, you really know some strange people,” was all I could say. What stood out? The fact that I had never lived that… I had no feeling for it. And I confess… I was grateful.

I have nurtured the belief that a focus on money would take me away from my purpose. So it seems this belief is a personal challenge of mine, and maybe it is yours too. Can we step outside the system’s control, focus on the spiritual, and have plenty of money at the same time? Can we actually be limitless in our expectations?

Denying yourself certain experiences because of the entrapping nature of those experiences is real, and it’s wise. But why money? Why do we see it as entrapping? We’re getting to the point where the renewal is to be manifested, and it wouldn’t hurt to have some to spread around.

So today I’m working to understand the conditioning and programming behind this mindset… the closest I can come to it for myself is ‘sacrifice is divine’.

Who taught me the nobility of sacrifice? Well, I don’t need to ask really. It was the sacrifice of Jesus story that I absorbed in childhood. I didn’t realize that the underbelly was guilt. Do I regret taking those messages to heart? Not at all. They led me to experiences that have increased my understanding.

I’m sure my stories would be as strange sounding to the wealthy as theirs are to me.

I know how it feels to be homeless. I’ve been homeless under the worst of circumstances… pregnant with a 1 ½ year old baby. I didn’t get there through drug addiction or ill behavior… it was inadequate planning, trying to travel on a wing and a prayer. One wing is not enough! But two human angels did help me out of it. I can now teach the wealthy how to help the homeless if they’re interested in knowing.

I know how it feels to be trapped in a ghetto, and how the poor are overcharged, offered the worst food, subjected to the worst pollution, beaten down by the worst education and programmed to death. I have lived within the devastation and rubbed shoulders with the great spiritual core that centuries of pain could not destroy. Afro descendants and Native Americans rule the empirical experience classroom. If the wealthy are interested in knowing, they could sign up for class. No stealing: class requires moolah.

I know how the white peasant class feels – the kids in the trailer park whose mom is working hard in a low-pay job, giving them the best that she can, but she still can’t afford heat, and decent food, or Christmas. They walk to school, getting mocked for their ‘bummy’ clothes and they learn how to steal from the convenience store… because they’re hungry. These kids have sad eyes and big dreams… and they could manifest those dreams if offered guidance and a financial pull-up.

I write these things out of respect for my own life experience, and the people who have shared their life experience with me.

So, I opened up by talking about ‘sacrifice is divine’ programming. There are threads to tie together here if we wish to let the heart invite the universe’s offering of abundance into our lives. How do I pull together sacrifice, empathy, and karma, and still reach abundance.

Well, I don’t see sacrifice as a bad thing, but the programming around it, associated with guilt, is a trap. Every parent sacrifices for the well-being of their child… it’s just nature. So, love just plain requires putting the ego’s desire down, and we can call that sacrifice if we wish. Guilt is not divine, it’s just more ego… oh lordie lord I’m so bad. Be comfortable with your sacrifice, and remember… you didn’t do it so somebody would ‘owe you’ or somebody else would praise you.

Empathy… what are you if you can’t see another’s suffering and empathize. You can empathize with a tree getting cut down but not with a suffering human? There’s a thought trend now that says if you help the poor you’re making them dependent. Bull crap. With few exceptions, the poor desire dignity more than they desire dependency. I will forever remember the names and faces of the two beautiful women who became my angels when dignity was lost. My gratitude is eternal.

Karma is an unknown waiting to happen. I listen to people rail against the elitists… they want to enslave us, put us on ‘reservations’. Well? This is not new… it just hasn’t happened to you! There is no finger-shaking god in the sky saying bad, good, hell, heaven. There is non-judgmental balancing… everything must come into balance. So how will that pan out? We can only watch and see how things unfold, and be the best humans we can be.

And now we come to abundance. Wealth seems to corrupt because we observe the sucking and hoarding of money and the damages resulting from that. But what do our liberated feelings tell us about wealth? There is only energy: you put forth energy that benefits someone, they recognize the value and they put forth energy that benefits you. When we call it money it’s still just a representation of energy.

I’m adjusting my feelings: money is neutral just like karma; it flows without judgment. Many of us who are in the heart/mind decided long ago to live with little money… kind of crazy programming, wasn’ it. It got me! But now it’s time to build and detox the money programming. Let it flow I say… heart open!

talk2momz.com

Visioning the Future

 Visioning the future in a full earth

For some years it has been clear that environmental doom-saying, because it is a poor motivator, is a dead end. However true the prediction of global overheating, climate chaos, resource wars, pollution and disease (with consequent mass death or displacement), it leads most people to despair and denial rather than hope and resilience. Only a spiritual and emotional grounding (a transformation) gives humans the power to change our ways. This not only moral teaching, but sound neuroscience.

The "full earth" invalidates all previous human experience. No longer can we migrate or innovate our way out of the dilemma posed by infinite economic growth on a finite planet. A number of the planetary boundaries have already been breached. The "developed" world of our generation is eating its way through the equivalent of 3 1/2 earths. If pond scum doubles every hour, at the last hour (when we could intervene) the pond still seems half clear. Apparently, not a problem.

And a peculiar limit of the human mind makes it harder to develop an overall vision of future, than to recall an (often imaginary) past Eden. Hard, but not impossible. Some of the worlds' best scientists, eco-activists, ethical thinkers and artists have been doing just that. This is a rough guide to their work.

One slogan should be discarded: "sustainable development", still a staple of United Nations and business thinking. But its elements are self-contradictory. A necessary compromise in the UN's Our Common Future, the 1992 Rio and subsequent Kyoto treaty, it is now outdated. Infinite growth is not sustainable. Quality of life, climate justice and right sharing are. The much-touted "green economy" of Rio+20 failed because it proposed to build the future on commodifying the Earth's commons; in fact it would finance climate action, and better life for the world's poor, by selling licenses to pollute.

The new watchword is "resilience", the ability of biodiversity to repair the web of life. In time it may become overused and shopworn, but at this point it is a helpful guide.

Eco-economics was invented by Herman Daly (and others) emphasizing that production should serve social need, and human society within the planet. This blog has reported the astonishing variety of eco-economic thought (tagged EE) that has developed in event decades. Much was simply a critique of standard economics -- a critique of which Adbusters and Occupy have now made a protest movement. But some has been positive and transformatory.

Global Democracy

 The United for Global Democracy statement was adopted by Occupy London and reached consensus at the General Assembly by St Paul’s Cathedral in October 2011.

On 15 October 2011, united in our diversity, united for global change, we demand global democracy: global governance by the people, for the people. Inspired by our sisters and brothers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Bahrain, New York, Palestine-Israel, Spain and Greece, we too call for a regime change: a global regime change. In the words of Vandana Shiva, the Indian activist, today we demand replacing the G8 with the whole of humanity – the G7,000,000,000.

Undemocratic international institutions are our global Mubarak, our global Assad, our global Gaddafi. These include: the IMF, the WTO, global markets, multinational banks, the G8/G20, the European Central Bank and the UN security council. Like Mubarak and Assad, these institutions must not be allowed to run people’s lives without their consent. We are all born equal, rich or poor, woman or man. Every African and Asian is equal to every European and American. Our global institutions must reflect this, or be overturned.

Today, more than ever before, global forces shape people’s lives. Our jobs, health, housing, education and pensions are controlled by global banks, markets, tax-havens, corporations and financial crises. Our environment is being destroyed by pollution in other continents. Our safety is determined by international wars and international trade in arms, drugs and natural resources. We are losing control over our lives. This must stop. This will stop. The citizens of the world must get control over the decisions that influence them in all levels – from global to local. That is global democracy. That is what we demand today.

Today, like the Mexican Zapatistas, we say “¡Ya basta! Aquí el pueblo manda y el gobierno obedece”: Enough! Here the people command and global institutions obey! Like the Spanish Tomalaplaza we say “Democracia Real Ya”: True global democracy now!” Today we call the citizens of the world: let us globalise Tahrir Square! Let us globalise Puerta del Sol!