Money is the symbol of our willingness to dance with the Wheel of Sacrifice.
Money represents the responsibility we take in our energy exchange with the universe.
There is nothing impure about money. What is impure is to expect money when one has not earned it, or to withhold money from one who serves you. The ignorant waste their energy figuring out ways to avoid paying for what they receive. The enlightened are glad to give fair wages and profits to those who provide them with true service.
The universe is a Great Wheel of Sacrifice, where energy consumed in one turning pours out in another. We participate in the great wheel through seva, service. No new energy is created, and no energy can be lost: therefor every service has a cost and a reward.
Whatever is of value has a price. One who does not feel the cost can never know the value. What is received here is paid for there, given to one, purchased by another. Is anything free?
If you value yourself, you will ask a fair price for your service. If you value others, you will pay them for theirs.
Capital-ism is not an evil. Debt-ism is the evil. Wealth that is built on manufacturing actual goods and services is capital. Wealth that is built on other peoples' debts produces nothing, creates no jobs, and concentrates itself in the hands of a few elite creditors, at the expense of many debtors. It is debtism, not capitalism, that ruins our community.
The coming age of justice will be a time when no man will be permitted to grow his wealth by increasing another's debt. But it will also be a time when each of us joyfully pays for what we receive, instead of assuming that others should bear the cost for us. The age of expecting something for nothing has come to an end. The reckoning is here: we owe the price for our footprints on the earth.
But what about payment for spiritual teachings? Some say that "spiritual teachings should be given for free." The truth is, spiritual teachings are the most valuable commodities of all. If we value them, we should pay for them. Spiritual teachings do not lose value when they are associated with money: they gain value.
If I pay a school teacher, a plumber or a doctor for their services, why should I not pay a meditation teacher, a yoga instructor, or a spiritual counselor? To say that spirituality is above money is to say that spirituality is not of this world, and not real.
Those who taste the radiance of spiritual energy know that it is as real as bread, blood or plumbing. Instead of giving so much of our money to million-dollar sports babies, weapons manufacturers, politicians and pharmaceutical corporations, we need to build more meditation centers, healing schools, institutes of breath work. We need to pay money for dance therapy, yoga, tai chi, and contemplative counseling.
If you are a spiritual teacher, be sure you are teaching something that really works, then joyfully ask a fair price for what you do.
Nothing is free. There are no entitlements - only turnings of the Great Wheel.
No comments:
Post a Comment