Money, Debt and Slavery

Lisa and I have been talking a lot about money lately. We want to live more simply. We've even considered living without credit. We've had credit ever since we can remember. By now we have thousands and thousands of dollars accessible to us, immediately, with just one swipe. Which is one reason why we are in the trouble we are in. I mean, we have been victims of trauma, unemployment, failed busines efforts, illness and accidents, but we've also become victims of our own consumerism. We live in such a culture that encourages, nurtures and supports this. But we've just realized something: we've been trusting our credit. We've been walking the high tightrope thinking we've been trusting The All in All. In fact, we've been trusting the net luxuriously spread out beneath us, waiting to softly catch us should we fall. It hasn't been him, but Money, that we've been serving. Money, the almighty ruling power over our lives. We've learned, finally, that we have been serving it. It rules over us, bossing us around, making us happy or sad, strong or weak, abundant or scarce, generous or miserly. And this realization has leaked over into other areas of our lives, so that we question just how much trust we've had at all. Or have we been enjoying peace because of our country, life because of our health, happiness because of our many distractions, and our daily bread because of our stuffed cupboards, fridge and freezer? It is strange to see so clearly that debt is Money's Hell... a place that offers the full luxuries of our imaginations that aren't real, but borrowed, empty, temporary, and stolen. When seen for what it is, much of debt is the Negative Unreal which is Hell. It seems that the he is getting shoved further and further into the corner. He's been less a part of our lives than we thought, less important, less necessary. OR, he's been in all this, woven throughout this story like a strong thread linking it all together and bringing us to this point of admission. In any case, I've discovered that it is the most difficult thing to wean myself from my favorite idol, my most useful and tangible god. But we are determined to make money submit to us, to make it serve us rather than us it. There must be a way to live free and simple, with money in its proper place. There must be a deliverance from this land of slavery to a land flowing with milk and honey. So... I think I'm going to go ice-fishing and see if any fish have coins in their mouths. The image is of a painting of mine called "Ice-Fishing".