Money

One of my Sensa articles from April 2014.

I was asked if could write my next article about money. I can't really say I'm the best person to talk about it, because of the simple reason that I don't really have it. Nevertheless, I am qualified to talk about my relationship towards money and I guess that is what might be interesting to some of the readers. 

When I look at how people live they lives, I get the sensation that most people are very confused and they have quite an odd relationship towards money. Don't become offended now, it's very possible that your approach is very healthy and balanced, but then again, maybe not. Stay open minded and read on.

Why do we want money? Money is just paper or numbers in a virtual thing called our bank account. It doesn't mean anything. Money is not evil, let's make that clear from the start. I have no problems with having or receiving money, but it's not really the money we are after. It's the freedom that it gives us. Here is where the main problem lies. People are ready to sacrifice their freedom for the struggle of getting more money, so that they can experience freedom later in their life! Don't we have anything more significant to do in our lives than play a foolish game like this. What is the point? Maybe I don't see what so many others see? Maybe I'm the foolish one?

Here is an amazing proverb that perfectly illustrates the problem I just mentioned. 

The Mexican fisherman proverb

An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked.  Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna.  The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.
The Mexican replied, “only a little while". The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”
The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos.  I have a full and busy life.” The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”
To which the American replied, “15 – 20 years.”
“But what then?” Asked the Mexican.
The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part.  When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!”
“Millions – then what?”
The American said, “Then you would retire.  Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

I just love this proverb! I could end this article with it, but let's see if there is still something interesting to be shared. 

Money can give you freedom, but freedom requires no money

Money can give you a certain amount of freedom, but if you win the lottery and don't experience an inner change, you will still continue to live your life from the state of poverty. The state of not having enough. You could have millions of euros and still feel poor inside. You could, and probably would, feel that you are still not deserving. The ability to travel the world and do what you please, with a an inner state of emptiness, is certainly not what I'm interested of. I would always prefer to be broke and have an inner state of abundance and freedom. I feel it's important to remind you that I don't believe money is evil, like some spiritual people seem to. That is just the ego trying to be holier and it's not true spirituality. It's ok to have money and it is possible to be happy and spiritual while having it. It is also possible to give away everything you own and do it from a place of authenticity, without the ego boosting itself, but I would imagine this is not always the case. 

Freedom requires no money. Freedom is an inner state and it comes to you when you are not totally identified with the ego. Freedom doesn't require enlightenment, it only requires a better connection to your heart. With this connection you can, at least momentarily, let go of the small/false self which mainly is dealing with keeping itself alive. The goal with the ego is to control, limit, keep you safe, and avoid the unknown. The universe around us, on the other hand, is not like that. The universe is all about expansion and evolution. Change (the unknown) is scary for the ego but it is what the heart lives for. When connected to that part of yourself, you embrace and enjoy the change. It excites you and gives you an experience of truly living. Inner freedom with an empty bank account, is still a full life. Inner constipation with a bank account full of money, is not life at all. 

Giving and receiving 
The universe works with the principle of giving and receiving. Find out what resonates with you (in your heart), have no fear and give your talent, your Self, to the universe and the universe will be abundant towards you. What does this mean? It means it's time to start living. Living means having no fear and actively participating in this game called life. Be you. Not who you think you are, but who you really could be, and let go of control and restriction. Expand, evolve, experience, and become... The universe will support you and give you more than you could imagine. How do I know this? I don't. I just let it flow out of me. Like so many times, I think I'm teaching myself through this writing process. How do I feel now? Amazing! Abundant, and I have no fear, no doubt.

Life is meant to be lived, not just survived. Come to think of it, we won't even survive it, so wouldn't it be better to focus on truly living it. We live in a creative and constantly evolving universe. Do you think we could become more aligned with that? Maybe we could embrace change, expansion and evolution and not be afraid of it? Control and restriction is the way of the ego and it's not aligned with the abundant universe. It's not natural. If you control and restrict your giving, you also restrict the receiving. You want more money? No. You want to give more to life. When your inner state is aligned with the creative, evolving and abundant universe, you will live life without fear and restriction. You will give abundantly and you will receive abundantly. This is what we all want. Numbers on a virtual account don't mean anything. 

Connect with me through twitter: @jockesalokorpi 

Namaste!
Jocke