The Economics of Oneness
"Shifting Energies, Shifting Values, Part 6"
B Y D A N I E L J A C O B
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Another important piece of discussion concerning this "Crisis of Values" that is currently raging in our world has to do with this idea known as INVESTMENT. Most folks have the idea that to "invest" in something means simply to pour money into it. And yes, financing certainly has its place in the economic process. Who hasn't heard that famous admonition: "Why don't you put your money where your mouth is?"
But true "investment" deals with much more than that. Literally, the word implies an act of PUTTING ON a person, an organization, or life mission--like someone would wear a uniform or insignia to symbolize their support and identification with what that person or organization stands for.
To simply "throw money" at something or someone, without becoming personally identified with them, carries the subliminal message: "Here. Take this, shut up and leave me alone." We see this play out every day in families---where busy fathers and mothers try to "buy off" the emotional needs of their children by giving them THINGS rather than TIME and ATTENTION.
As I listen to ongoing debates about "Capitalism" vs. "Socialism" in America, the same kind of CONTRIVED OBLIGATION permeates the air. Some banker drives his Lexus or his Beamer through the center of town, and he sees a bum sleeping on the sidewalk. He shakes his head and says: "Something has to be done about this." Does he mean that something must be done about POVERTY in America, or is he saying that someone needs to THROW SOME MONEY at that bum, so he'll stop cluttering up the streets of his town?
The real POVERTY that exists throughout America is a POVERTY OF SPIRIT. And it's not measured by how many bowls of free soup or sandwiches are given out weekly by Union Rescue Mission. That's incidental, but it's not the core of the issue. The ROOT CAUSE OF POVERTY in America dwells in the fact that PEOPLE OF MEANS have STOPPED INVESTING in their neighbors. They've taken off the "uniform" and they've chosen to identify with something or someone else.
I don't believe that the majority of folks who depend on welfare ENJOY the fact that society is supporting them. But they do have to eat, and they need places to stay......so they accept whatever folks around them are willing to give. As days grow into months, and months become years.....their ongoing shame, neediness, and despair forms a callous around a broken heart.
What folks are truly "hungry" for today is a sense of PURPOSE, a MEANING for their empty lives. Those who have never had a life purpose wouldn't know one if it came up and bit them on the nose. At the other end of the spectrum, those whose lives are FILLED with purpose tend to die prematurely because they forget how to relax. The banker in his Lexus and the Bum on the street have at least one thing in common. People who show up in physical space together ALWAYS have something in common, even if they can't figure out what it is. What these two share is the internal belief: "There isn't enough."
Why else would Wall Street Investment Bankers charge, headlong, into a host of shaky business deals---designed to turn a quick buck, so they can inflate their already bulging bank accounts? What they had "wasn't enough." Politicians call it greed. The Reconnections call it POVERTY OF SPIRIT. The bum lays down and gives up, because he was never affirmed in life. No one ever said to him: "I see value in you. Come do "business" with me, and we'll make money together." Or, if they did, at some point......something happened to discourage him to such a degree that his spirit broke, causing certain parts of him to roll over and die.
The real issue in America today is not "Socialism" versus "Capitalism." Every healthy society throughout history has BOTH ELEMENTS working within them, at some point. We socialize National Defense, Medicare, and Disaster Relief. There is no shame in it. Effective Leaders, during times of crisis, tend to choose what WORKS, not just what fits into their personal philosophical framework.
Right now, people NEED to eat and have a place to stay. If you throw money at that need, they'll accept your help because they want to survive. But sandwiches and places to put up a tent don't go deep enough to meet the CORE NEED which exists at the heart of those who have fallen into poverty. What's the word we use today? DISENFRANCHISED. Yes! That's a perfect word. It means OUT OF BUSINESS. Defunct. Spiritually, Emotionally, and yes.......Physically BANKRUPT.
Throwing money at needy folks WITHOUT investing in them.......without PUTTING THEM ON, WEARING THEM, IDENTIFYING WITH THEM.......gives the message: "Here. Take this, shut up, and go away." No wonder Conservatives are balking. No matter how much money we throw at poverty, how much welfare we fund, the result is always the same: IT ISN'T ENOUGH. That's because we're not addressing the ROOT of the problem. We're only treating the symptoms.
Is it possible that we could treat a SOCIALISTIC PROBLEM in a Capitalist way? Absolutely. All across this nation (and the world, for that matter) there are ASSETS going to waste. We have geniuses growing up in underfunded schools, BORED TO DEATH...... would-be inventors with no one to finance their "widgets," and future Presidents organizing Street Gangs in the barrios, just to keep from being eaten by "sharks" who swim regularly through poverty-stricken neighborhoods. Young people deal drugs because it seems like an easy way to do battle for bread and prestige in a world that doesn't care to know they're alive.
People of Means have a choice today. We can keep backing away from American Productivity and Industry, moving our businesses to other (cheaper) countries, stockpiling money in "offshore accounts"..... or we can take honest stock of what we've been OVERLOOKING, right under our very noses. I'm talking here about NEW GENERATIONS of possibility, innovation, and passion. I'm talking about REVIVAL OF INGENUITY, right here at home.
Education, Social Services, and Opportunity Sharing is NOT an expense. They're an INVESTMENT. And, it seems, they're an INEVITABLE INVESTMENT. Money that is not spent early on........ developing masterful, happy children..... will be "taken" from us later on, to add on Law Enforcement and support an ever-expanding Prison System.
To whom much is given, much will be required. Judgment Day is coming. Indeed, it is already upon us. Whether we believe in a vengeful, angry God, meting out punishment for sins of OMISSION as well as COMMISSION, or we tremble at the thought of what Karmic Recompense might befall us for turning a blind eye to human suffering and need---an alarm bell is sounding, throughout the town.
The Reconnections have their own view of the situation. All time is now, all space is HERE, and all faces I see around me are reflections of some part of SELF. An Angry God thunders within me, every time I find myself living like an animal, rather than expressing the Divinity that is at the heart of my Oneself Nature. All KARMA is now, as well. I love my neighbor as myself, because my neighbor IS myself. And if everything is ME, who is there that must be paid back, at some later date?
But really.........looking at things in a purely Capitalist way...........how can let ourselves continue to miss out on all these lucrative and heart-expanding INVESTMENTS that linger all around us? How can we close our purse, and look the other way? All humanitarianism aside.........isn't that just BAD BUSINESS?
Copyright, 2009, by Daniel Jacob. All Rights Reserved. Special thanks to Aven Thomas for permission to use copyrighted Star Child Art. Writings may be copied and shared, for purposes of personal growth and/or research, so long as the above URL and this copyright are included. All reproduction for profit, by any means, requires the written permission of Reconnections, Inc.
