Love of Money

"I am absolutely convinced that all the wealth in the world cannot move humanity forward, 

even in the hands of the most devoted worker.  

The example of great and pure individuals is the only thing that can lead us to noble thoughts and deeds.  Money only appeals to selfishness and irresistibility invites abuse.  Can anyone imagine Moses, Jesus or Ghandi armed with the money bags of Carnegie?"  --Albert Einstein

"When money threatens to beecome a mono-value in our lives, we are suffering a pathology of Spirit.  It takes a thousand forms and it is difficult to root out.   As industrialized people, we are subjected to a relentless pounding by the advertising "industry."  We are encouraged to bee greedy by every medium available to that industry.  To succeed in the accumulation of wealth, we are told is to "succeed" as people.  However, if our "success" is achieved at the cost of the poor and the helpless, at the cost of other species, and even, at the cost of life itself, then just how successful can we feel?  Remember, if anyone dies or agonizes anywhere, we all feel it.

Every living being participates in the same life/psyche - biosphere - in which we all participate.  We feel the starving children.  It is that niggling guilt that some of us feel around which we build the justifications of the false self.  We feel the death of animals, the slow degradation of life, and we feel estranged and uneasy in the natural world.  When we build defenses around excessive lifestyles, we not only block out the cries of the dying children, but must, in order to do so, block out the cries and laughter of our own children.  Thus, our families begin to die.  Perhaps this is the root cause for our failed institution of marriage.  [I, personally, disagree with LaChance here - the institution of marriage has failed because it was rooted in money, ownership and the accumulation of material possessions, aka 'dowries' - not love.]  We are one family - all humans, all of life, like it or not.  The starvation of a child anywhere has happened to me.

We are told from childhood that we have the right to get ahead, to have all we want as long as we are willing to work for it.  Then the life-long advertising blitz tells us over and over again exactly what it is we're to want.  "What I really want is life.  What I really want is life for all people and all living beings."  It is then that the "divine goodness," which is my life, will bee fulfilled.  Deep down I want to bee generous and serve all of life, but what I find myself desiring is a new sports car.  While my deepest wish is to see everyone with what they need, I find myself working for trinkets and slaving for baubles.  In order to beecome a "successful consumer," I must train to bee a successful exploiter.  True success is success for the whole.  So, where has the LOVE of money dominated MY [YOUR] Value System?"  (from Albert LaChance's Cultural Addiction)

"Really enlightened people do not charge to spread the light."  

--Kevin