On the Love of Money

 

 

Money. A measure of value and a medium of exchange. In a monetary system, new money enters circulation at least when someone takes out a loan. Then, when someone pays off their debt, that amount of money disappears from circulation. The amount of money you own is therefore someone’s debt to someone else. Money can, of course, be understood in other ways as well.

I don’t believe many people actually want to become a millionaire only for the sake of becoming a millionaire. In reality, money is used to seek security, joy, peace, and perhaps a little excitement; power over other people; and love, which, as we know, cannot be bought. Money is not the goal itself, but a makeshift vehicle for getting from point A to point B. Joy is found within, as a certain Easter egg commercial claims. Living in joy, peace, and love creates a flow of money in alignment with these feelings. On the other hand, living in misery, poverty, lovelessness, and worthlessness creates a flow of money in harmony with these.

Let’s assume that the monetary system is a circulatory system. Money circulates within this system as blood flows through veins. The system includes banks, companies, the government, municipalities, gambling operators, other people, paper bills, coins, etc. Within this system, people are the cells into which money flows effortlessly and spontaneously. Money seems to flow in the precise amount at precisely the right time from wherever the individual is connected and with which they feel a sense of identification. Likewise, the cells of the human body always receive the energy they need at the right time by sending a signal, for example, to the brain, which then orchestrates the delivery of the necessary substances to the cell that sent the signal.

Since money flows through people, one way to influence your amount of money is by serving others in some way. The best way to do so, in my opinion, is by daring to be yourself and by living your dream. Whether that means watching the birds and taking in the scenery, skipping stones across the water, enjoying a walk, staying at home, building society, sharing thoughts and perspectives, spending time with friends, caring for others, or simply being present at a café, in a park, at a festival, or in a shopping mall. Another way is to share your abundance and joy. You get what you give.

In comprehensive school, we were taught the law of conservation of energy: energy changes from one form to another without disappearing anywhere. Money, too, can be understood as energy. Do you feel like you’re living in poverty and lack, or in abundance? If you have believed in scarcity, meaning that it would be better to be in some other state than the one you currently seem to be in, it does not necessarily immediately translate into a physical cornucopia. Experiencing, noticing, or knowing that everything is already there, however, dispels the scarcity mindset. An analogy for this could be changing the direction of a carousel’s rotation. At first, it spins in one direction. By reducing the force applied, the carousel stops, and by applying force in the other direction, it begins to spin again. Money makes things possible without being the goal itself; it can be understood as an unmanifest potentiality simply waiting to come into form as something desired.

Wealth and money are not merely external and material abundance. Rather, they stem from within and reflect one’s own attitudes that radiate outward from within. Even a large amount of external wealth cannot fix internal states or “problems”; in fact, it may even exacerbate them. That is why a big lottery win would not automatically be good for everyone. But when you are fulfilled from within and have inner peace, the outer world, too, reflects abundance and peace. Sustaining (monetary) wealth seems to require the right kind of humility of the ego, and naturally, letting go of the belief in scarcity and in the “just enough” mentality.

One definition of self-love is acting in alignment with your Own true Will. If you didn’t have to do anything for money, what would you do then?

 

 

translated from Finnish
by Alexandra Hiltunen