The reality is that the current financial crisis means not all humans will flourish, and some may not survive. But THIS crisis, unlike the nuclear threat when I was growing up, and the environmental threat that goes with our materialistic, capitalistic ways, does not threaten the physical survival of this world.
Do you know that a recent article in “The Age” (www.theage.com.au) found deforestation had annual costs of around $5trillion, and far outweighed the severity of the financial crisis?
A slightly different perspective on the matter there.
Perspective is the issue I wish to consider in this post: perspectives on money. I’ve heard money described as being an energy. Certainly in the literal sense money is a token representing value or units of work. In the case of the stock market, the monetary value of shares is largely – far TOO largely, in my opinion – a perspective on the potential money energy in each share. I have a hard, pragmatic viewpoint on this topic, and consider blue chip shares and investments that lead to tangible results (whether that be more widgets, or better education/health care/quality of life) have a greater reality than things like selling short, or trading in shares and aiming to make money out of changes in perceived value of shares.
Don’t get me wrong: I KNOW that money can be made on the stockmarket – the father of an ex of mine had given up an engineering career and spent twenty years making a very good living off trading shares when I met her. That, however, does not change my view that any system which relies so heavily on perception is in need of a reality check.
I think that also applies to the house owner who thinks that, because their house has gone up in value (according to the market) they are better off. The house has not changed in its functionality, or size. Nothing in the real world sense has changed. Be careful not to mistake perceptions for reality. If the change in value was realised by selling the house and having more tokens [“money”] “in the bank”, I would consider it real: in that case, the potential energy has been changed into tokens which have a reasonable form of reality.
Those tokens, however, are not always assured. Financial crises – such as the one we are currently facing – have the potential to, if not managed properly, lead to inflation which – through a common, shared perception called “the financial market/reality” – can rob the tokens of their previously assigned value. And that leads to the situation of using wheelbarrows to collect pay cheques and the like.
I think I’ve possibly spent too much time running household budgets to be impressed by economists/financial advisors’ preaching.
It’s not that I have a great inherent distrust of markets. In my day job, as an engineer, I’ve seen the good and bad of public and private enterprise, and advise clients to use market forces – when it is appropriate, and in ways that are appropriate. Which includes ethical. Because karma is also an energy.
As a digression, I’m currently experiencing great problems in my life because of stress caused by a bureaucratic, bloody-minded, penny-pinching approach being taken by a public sector organisation. This approach is costing the community money, and making the projects timelines impossible to meet. On the other hand, I’m aware of times when the private sector does work which will cost the community money (e.g., using higher velocities in pipes, which increases power consumption – such matters typically happen when design & construct approaches to work are badly written).
Both parts of the market have advantages and disadvantages – one matter I am very aware of is that a healthy public sector avoids problems such as those associated with the rampant individualism and greed of the US economy, where, for instance, poverty exit-rates are FAR lower than those of the more socially aware and responsible European market, and where health care is unaffordable for many people. (I have seen people in the US Wiccan community ask for help with financial costs; I wrote to the US ambassador about these problems in a general sense, but was a bit stumped by privacy considerations when the ambassador [or ambassador’s lackey] did the Margaret Thatcher thing of “what are these people’s names?”)
Another part of saying things have advantages and disadvantages is that there are times when they are appropriate, and times when they are not.
In my opinion, the current financial crisis is showing, as the 89-92 recession did with the decade of greed, that there are limits to milking people out of money (my veiled reference to the sub-prime mortgage market, where people were duped into loans they could not afford – and approach I found starting to sneak into Australia in recent years). To put this more nicely, there are possibly limits to situations where capitalism is “good”.
You know what? That is OK. Things can evolve – for instance, democracy nowadays is far better than the free-male-only version the ancient Greeks invented.
On a personal level, I consider everything you do you should be aware of your needs and wants, and your risks. For instance, in undertaking psychic development, is your want really, perhaps, something like fostering friendships? Perhaps your need is spiritual self discipline, rather than adding one or two more healing techniques to your resume? In any case, are you actually applying your personal/spiritual/psychic development to making you a better sentient being, and your life a “better” (whatever that is!) life? I’ve had two major changes of path (away from Christianity, and away from [westernised] Buddhism) because I became fed up with people who failed to apply their beliefs to make themselves better people.
As I wrote: things change and evolve, and those “things” can include spiritual paths.
Are you being genuine in your spiritual beliefs with respect to this financial crisis, or are you writing it off as something afflicting only either the rich or the ignorant? Shame on you if you are, as the effects are being felt by many hard working, honest people who deserve help.
If you are working on the financial crisis, are you ideologically committed to capitalism, or are you open minded, fair and objective?
Life has a way of bringing us lessons we would rather avoid at times. What lessons is this current crisis bringing to you?
Love, light, hugs and blessings
Gnwmythr
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Tags: perceptions, change, life lessons, personal responsibility, personal characteristics,
First published: Saturday 8th November, 2008
Last edited: Saturday 8th November, 2008
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