If you have spent any time around New Age freaks and goofs you have likely heard the word “energy” or “vibes” tossed around with little explanation. These terms have also been infused into common vernacular with comments like “eww she has a really bad energy” or “ I really like the vibe in this room.”
What the hell are people talking about? Well, I have come to the realization that maybe those New Agers aren’t so freaky or goofy and perhaps there is something to this idea of energy. This realization seems to be coming to me over the soul searching that I have been doing in regards to money. Money is simply a representation of energy (and not a very good one actually).
The issue also came up during my retreat through an internal voice that said, “I no longer want money as a parent.” Well the last time I checked, money wasn’t changing my diapers or pushing my stroller around the zoo. So what does that mean? I think it means that what we have done as a society is set up this monetary system as a parental figure. Fear makes us desperate for something to control us so we don’t feel scared about being in control. That is the irrationality of fear: trade one scary thing for another, but dress it up as something that only seems less scary.
Let’s face the facts people. We are scared of being in control of our own lives. And the people who appear to like being in control are the most scared. So, we have set up the system of money so that it has the seeming power to control us. Look at the world you live in. How much power do you give away daily? By having a boss who is in charge. A government to watch over you. An literal parent still controlling your life even though he is sitting in a nursing home. And then at the end of the day we let the television suck out what’s left of it.
So, my own fears about money have led me to the point where I am literally sick of it having control of my life and praying for a way to release its power and reclaim my own. And the idea of energy is now starting to make more sense to me. The energy I put out is always given back to me. And most of the time the energy returned is in surplus of what I have expended.
Can you honestly answer the question, “what is money?” I mean really get down to the root of what it is? Paper? What is behind it? Gold in some stockroom that none of us have laid eyes upon? Numbers being added and subtracted in a computer at some bank by God knows who? Speculation passed around by companies and governments? I mean, somebody please tell me what the fuck it is!?!!?
So how do I remove the power of money? I think the answer is energy. We put out energy into the world by noticing beautiful things. By loving the people that we care about and even ones that we don’t. By noticing my own joy and encouraging the joy in others. And overall, through appreciating and the gratitude that we take the time to send out back into the world. As long as I am doing that, money loses its power. Because it has no actual power. Meister Eckhart has a famous quote, “If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is thank you, that would suffice.”
If I am allowing fear to run my life, if I am concentrating on more negative things than positive, if I am not appreciating life then I am sucking energy out and it is not being returned to me. If I am doing my job of taking the time to dedicate myself to my passion, enjoying what is around me, and using the moment to express gratitude, money no longer needs to neither remain a fear nor rule my world. And you skeptics out there who think I am full of shit have actually done all of these things that I am talking about, right?
So, I made the comment about money not being a good substitute for energy because it has no real value. Energy has value in terms of its expression in our lives. I don’t care if it is money that I am getting back or a fresh fruit basket that comes to my door by a smiling and sexy deliverer. The joy is what gets returned. There are plenty of trust-fund babies who have tons of money coming to them without any seeming energy being expended. But what is the money truly affording them? If they are experiencing joy from the money it can only be because they are putting joy back out into their world. So, don’t judge people by the amount of money they have, rather, judge them by the amount of joy they experience and follow THAT example.
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