REFLECTIONS ON THE INDIVIDUAL USE OF MONEY
September 2022 .-
It is funny, something so apparently “common” as to deal with a water leakage and a damaged irrigation system has led me to think, this summer, about the use of money. Thanks to this I commit myself to build a new relationship with it.
THE CONTEXT: WATER FLOW AND DISTRIBUTION
There was a water leak in the house where I now live. It was not easy to locate. We had identified a possible area where the origin could be but we did not discard the possibility that some other areas would also be affected (quite normal, a 17th century historic house has its things…). No visible sign pointed the way…
It is one of these of things you know is there but you leave it aside … and time passes… laziness, fear… whatever. Somehow you put a blindfold and you "forget” about it.
Luckily there comes a day when LIFE gives you the opportunity to fix “unresolved” situations. Realizing that this hidden leak was not only wasting water and damaging the house but it was also contributing to the village running out of water in the summer, made me “wake up”.
That in itself is a great learning; a feeling of guilt leads you to regret not having done it earlier… then you recognize how imperfect you are and take responsibility for your actions.
As the saying goes when the student is ready the teacher appears... Well, when I finally decided to sincerely face and resolve this situation, the technical team I needed (and that I had unsuccesfully try to find for months…), appeared as if by “magic”.
We were presented with two choices.
One was to insist on looking for the source of the leak. This required removing almost the whole ground floor (with all the projects, cost, time, work and effort that this would involve…) and no guarantee that some leak or damage would still remain “hidden”. Or, the second option, to forget about the “old” pipes and focus our attention on giving the water a new path, with transparent pipes, updated materials and easier access for its maintenance.
In short, it was about redirecting the water to a certain point in the house with new water pipelines and restore our part of the “whole” distribution system so that the water in the village , and in the house, could flow in harmony.
And that’s what we did.
After this issue was solved it was time to go outdoors and take care of the garden irrigation system in a year of serious drought: check the water pumps, sprinklers, determine priorities, optimize the full circuit… once again the water, its flow and distribution...
Thanks to this experience I have become aware, among other things, about how I use this natural resource. I must admit I had not paid much attention to it… And I also have to thank both the plumbing and garden teams for what I have learned from them.
THE MOVEMENT OF MONEY AROUND THE WORLD
What I did not expect was that this experience was going to bring me another gift: an even deeper reflection. At some point during this process the image of the world’s money moving through a huge network of pipes and circuits suddenly came to my mind, all interconnected and interdependent.
I could feel it, leaks, hidden pipes, places where money is blocked or diverted, broken pipes that do not allow to receive it, isolated or disconnected areas… clean and transparent pipes… there is a little bit of everything inside that mega circuit.
When we speak abut the free movement of capital we mainly refer to the removal of all restrictions to the FLOW of money. In fact it is one of the four fundamental freedoms included in Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union .
At a macro level, this is the IDEAL we aspire to as a society.
However, beyond legal regulations, it would not be excessive to say that the movement of money in the world is interrupted, frozen, broken… it is not free from restrictions, why? In my opinion it is the consequence (not the cause) of a micro level, meaning, of how we individually interact with it. Each one of us is like a small “sprinkler” receiving and distributing money in this beautiful garden called the world.
With money, it happens as with water. Many times we insist on finding the leaks, revealing what is hidden, pointing at those we feel are responsible for diverting the pipes…. But we pay little attention to our own “circuit” ( how we use this material resource) and to our individual behavior with the money that flows through our hands.
This also reminds me of a kind of mantra the great Iese professor José Antonio Segarra used to teach us: «circulante que no circula… pérdida segura» which could be translated as «current assets that do not flow, losses certainly go on and on…» . Although he was referring to financial management and accounting, to me the key message behind this idea is the MOVEMENT, the quintessence of the EVOLUTION of humanity and the Universe. If there is no movement, we are “lost” and so we will be if we do not change the way with interact with money.
WHAT AFFECTS THE FLOW OF MONEY: FROM THE IDEAL TO THE INDIVIDUAL USE
Money as such is a neutral material resource (neither good nor bad), it is a VEHICLE we “move” with our thoughts, beliefs, emotions… with the conscious and unconscious motivation that drives our actions and that leads us to desire it, need it, hate it, reject it, monopolize it, hide it, avoid losing it, conquer it...
An example. Poderoso Caballero es Don Dinero (Powerful Knight is Mr. Money)… these words written by Francisco de Quevedo in the 17th century reflect a deeply rooted belief in Spain about this issue. In fact I used to believe it too, but life experience has taught me something important:
Money is powerful if I THINK or BELIEVE that….
It has the POWER (it can) to give me happiness
It has the POWER (it can) to give me freedom
It has the POWER (it can) to give me recognition
It has the POWER (it can) to give me safety
It has the POWER (it can) to give me POWER…
And that without money…
I have no POWER (I can’t) to be someone in life
I have no POWER (I can’t) do what I want
I have no POWER (I can’t) achieve my personal goals
I have no POWER (I can’t) to have POWER…
Caught up in this vicious circle the unconscious mind keeps us SEPARATED from our true nature and it prevents us from opening OUR HEART. An inner conflict where money is the main or only focus of our attention and therefore it becomes and end in itself, a GOAL of life. That is how we make it powerful.
RECOGNIZING TRUE POWER
POWER, in fact, is the individual ability to change the focus of our attention, to let go old beliefs and to open to new thoughts (new pipes) that allow us to create clean and clear structures for the money that flows through our hands.
As we find the inner strength to break that inertia and attachment (each of one at our own pace and learning experience) and consider money a means and not an end, its power is reduced and we can move it more freely.
El PODER, en realidad, es la capacidad individual de cambiar nuestro objeto de atención, de soltar las viejas creencias y de abrirse a nuevos pensamientos (nuevas tuberías) que permitan crear estructuras limpias y claras para canalizar el dinero que pasa por nuestras manos.
Almost five centuries have passed since Don Francisco de Quevedo wrote that popular verse and maybe now it is possible to take a small step regarding our relationship with money, both individually and collectively.
For this reason, joining myself to the ideal that the money in the world be free of restrictions this poem appears in my mind:
INSTRUMENT WITH NO END
(loop poem)
What if we turn MONEY
into an instrument and not an end?…
An instrument to LOVE
an instrument to ADD
an instrument to HEAL
an instrument to UNDERSTAND
what happiness is (wouldn't you like that?)
an instrument to SHARE
an instrument to SERVE
at the end...
A constant motion
that is the notion,
an instrument with meaning
that never ends.
(Go back to the beginning)
As for me, I commit myself to changing my thoughts, words and actions to build a new relationship with it learning from MOTHER EARTH who gives us water with generosity and unconditional love. With time and experience consciousness rises and one learns to overcome fears and attachments; that is when that powerful knight opens the heart and then he kneels and becomes a SERVANT.