Excerpts from "Money Can Heal"
Excerpt Page 12
Money, which first dawns on human consciousness as a coin, has evolved from being an object to being sheer movement. Suppose it is only an object when it is not in circulation, when it is not money? Further, suppose it is only money when it is in motion and involved in a transaction? Can we perceive money in the way it slows down, speeds up, and eddies in pools, and rushes around the globe in pure response to human intentions? Can it be youthful, grow elderly, be a bit sickly, or even die? These questions arise when we consider money not as a thing, but as a worldwide living force, unleashed and given purpose and meaning by human beings at their various stages of development. In order to view money as movement, we will need a new form of imaginative cognition, one that takes in our own personal experiences with money.
Excerpt Page 31
CHAPTER 9. IT TAKES TWO
I decide that something I already own should be sold, but then I change my mind and decide to buy it back from myself. The exchange of money from one pocket into the other, and the transfer of the object from a higher shelf to a lower shelf, is a non-transaction. It never shows up in the economy and is meaningless. Buying an object is not something any of us can do alone, whether in our study or on the street. Selling is also something nobody can do in isolation. It takes two of us! It is a mysterious occurrence in which polarity generates movement and economic value. The healthy tension between the two parties engenders life and meaning.
– – – – – – – – –
All agreements and contracts are similar in essence. Sometimes an attorney will whip out a template for an agreement, and both parties sign it. Is the agreement the piece of paper? How many partnerships do we know that have only the crudest papers to support them, and yet they last a life? How many partnerships do we know that have reams of legalese to spell out every detail of their arrangement, but barely make it through the fiscal year? It is sage advice to avoid a partnership with someone unless you have complete trust. Even a slight reluctance should be enough to give you pause. Like marriages, partnerships, agreements, and contracts are only as good as the trust behind them, invisible to all except the hearts of those involved.
Where do agreements actually exist? Where is the reality of a marriage, an agreement, or a contract? Apparently somewhere between the parties! It isn’t in one of the parties, nor is it in the other. It must be between them. But what is between them? I never saw a marriage in the air – up in the air, perhaps, but not in the air. To discover the reality of an agreement, such as a marriage, we need to shift our consciousness away from physical reality and into an invisible reality that lies between the parties. It is something that neither possesses; yet both create.
Like music, it shifts and changes, wafts and eddies, and never endures beyond the moments it is being created. Our consciousness has to leave this world and enter a world of soul space, wherein all human agreements either thrive or die. Our feelings and thoughts live in this element of our souls. I am not using the term in a religious sense, but out of our every day experience of some inner, usually subjective dimension that can expand to include another party for agreements and contracts. This is also the place where financial transactions live their reality. It takes two parties to carry out a financial transaction. Nobody I know can sell something that no other party wants to buy. Buying and selling are two counterparts to an activity that starts in the physical world and ends up in the soul space between the parties as an agreement.
– – – – – – – – –
A Financial transaction is a remarkable occurrence in which polarity generates movement and value. The healthy tension between the two parties engenders life and meaning. The polarity exists because two parties, each with their own needs, meet to satisfy their individual desires through the activity with the other party. They do not meet to create teamwork, nor do they have the same goal. They have individual goals and negotiate for a common ground called a financial transaction. Because each party wants something the other has, and because both parties are willing to give something up, a certain tension is created. The tension thus created between the two parties’ needs has to be resolved to the satisfaction of both. Every such financial transaction stimulates the whole economy and provides meaningful work for many other people not directly involved in the transaction. The millions of buying/selling transactions occurring around the globe are the keys to a healthy economy. This we all know and believe fervently. Our economy is our modern belief system externalized into transactional behaviors.
I decide that something I already own should be sold, but then I change my mind and decide to buy it back from myself. The exchange of money from one pocket into the other, and the transfer of the object from a higher shelf to a lower shelf, is a non-transaction. It never shows up in the economy and is meaningless. Buying an object is not something any of us can do alone, whether in our study or on the street. Selling is also something nobody can do in isolation. It takes two of us! It is a mysterious occurrence in which polarity generates movement and economic value. The healthy tension between the two parties engenders life and meaning.
– – – – – – – – –
All agreements and contracts are similar in essence. Sometimes an attorney will whip out a template for an agreement, and both parties sign it. Is the agreement the piece of paper? How many partnerships do we know that have only the crudest papers to support them, and yet they last a life? How many partnerships do we know that have reams of legalese to spell out every detail of their arrangement, but barely make it through the fiscal year? It is sage advice to avoid a partnership with someone unless you have complete trust. Even a slight reluctance should be enough to give you pause. Like marriages, partnerships, agreements, and contracts are only as good as the trust behind them, invisible to all except the hearts of those involved.
Where do agreements actually exist? Where is the reality of a marriage, an agreement, or a contract? Apparently somewhere between the parties! It isn’t in one of the parties, nor is it in the other. It must be between them. But what is between them? I never saw a marriage in the air – up in the air, perhaps, but not in the air. To discover the reality of an agreement, such as a marriage, we need to shift our consciousness away from physical reality and into an invisible reality that lies between the parties. It is something that neither possesses; yet both create.
Like music, it shifts and changes, wafts and eddies, and never endures beyond the moments it is being created. Our consciousness has to leave this world and enter a world of soul space, wherein all human agreements either thrive or die. Our feelings and thoughts live in this element of our souls. I am not using the term in a religious sense, but out of our every day experience of some inner, usually subjective dimension that can expand to include another party for agreements and contracts. This is also the place where financial transactions live their reality. It takes two parties to carry out a financial transaction. Nobody I know can sell something that no other party wants to buy. Buying and selling are two counterparts to an activity that starts in the physical world and ends up in the soul space between the parties as an agreement.
– – – – – – – – –
A Financial transaction is a remarkable occurrence in which polarity generates movement and value. The healthy tension between the two parties engenders life and meaning. The polarity exists because two parties, each with their own needs, meet to satisfy their individual desires through the activity with the other party. They do not meet to create teamwork, nor do they have the same goal. They have individual goals and negotiate for a common ground called a financial transaction. Because each party wants something the other has, and because both parties are willing to give something up, a certain tension is created. The tension thus created between the two parties’ needs has to be resolved to the satisfaction of both. Every such financial transaction stimulates the whole economy and provides meaningful work for many other people not directly involved in the transaction. The millions of buying/selling transactions occurring around the globe are the keys to a healthy economy. This we all know and believe fervently. Our economy is our modern belief system externalized into transactional behaviors.
Excerpt Page 88
CHAPTER 25: THE THREE TRANSACTIONS
There are three transactions and only three, and they all involve two parties. All constitute agreements validated by tangible evidence but motivated by different aspects of our soul. Each affects people and the world differently. Buying/selling draws human beings into the material world and stimulates the whole world to produce what people desire. Lending/borrowing draws human beings into connection with one another, enabling people to accomplish their intentions. Giving/receiving entices the spirit into material existence, and can elevate human beings to greater development, wisdom, and love in shaping the future. Based on my observations and experiences, I have concluded that these three financial transactions are rooted in the architecture of the universe. They contain all the ingredients we need to become healing forces in the life of society. These three financial transactions are all we need to transform the world, unfold healthy relationships and reconnect with the active spirit of our time.
There are three transactions and only three, and they all involve two parties. All constitute agreements validated by tangible evidence but motivated by different aspects of our soul. Each affects people and the world differently. Buying/selling draws human beings into the material world and stimulates the whole world to produce what people desire. Lending/borrowing draws human beings into connection with one another, enabling people to accomplish their intentions. Giving/receiving entices the spirit into material existence, and can elevate human beings to greater development, wisdom, and love in shaping the future. Based on my observations and experiences, I have concluded that these three financial transactions are rooted in the architecture of the universe. They contain all the ingredients we need to become healing forces in the life of society. These three financial transactions are all we need to transform the world, unfold healthy relationships and reconnect with the active spirit of our time.
