[theALLOWANCEoftheFLOW] Earning and Spending Soul, Rabbin

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Earning and Spending Soul, Rabbin

Earning and Spending Soul

B Y R O B E R T R A B B I N

ALL

OF MY LECTURES and workshops revolve like planets in tight orbit around a

central theme: how do we express and demonstrate our spiritual understanding?

What do awareness, consciousness, and realization look like when those words

take shape and move into the world within a body of values, choices,

commitments, and actions?

This area of inquiry is what I term engaged spirituality. But even as I write

that phrase, and every time I say it, I hear in the back of my mind something

Mark Twain once said, “Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a

member of Congress; but I repeat myself.” Authentic spirituality does not

require the qualifying adjective “engaged”—it is repetitive.

Authentic spirituality is automatically engaged: insight and action are as

inseparable as flower and fragrance. The only way to impede the natural

movement of insight toward corresponding action is if one builds delusional

dams of such naïve notions as there is no self, the world is not real, and

nothing matters, everything is pure consciousness.

Just as we work to refine our inner sight, we must work to clarify our outer

actions, so that they accurately and appropriately reflect our deepening

insight and wisdom. This inside/outside work is what I call spiritual activism,

and it implies a high degree of personal responsibility and honesty about our

values and our choices. Spiritual activism refers to all the ways in which we

actualize—make real through action—our spiritual understanding.

I’ve encountered considerable resistance to this notion of insight and

action being one and the same within spiritual communities. People don’t

always want to look at the relationship between what they say and what they do.

There is a lot of unconsciousness in this area. There is a lot of hypocrisy.

Awareness and action are one thing, and we must speak of them as one thing. We

must hold each other accountable to this truth, and to whether there is the

same truth in our actions as in our words. In this regard, I cannot do better

than to quote Ralph Waldo Emerson, " What you do speaks so loudly that I

cannot hear what you say. "

Money is perhaps the biggest blind spot when it comes to awareness of, and

responsibility for, our actions as expressions of our spiritual insight. MONEY.

The word alone is enough to take your breath away, isn’t it? Until we

look at our relationship with money square in the eye, until we wash each penny

earned and each one spent with our full awareness and conscious choice, our

spiritual light will be dim, our spiritual power will be weak, our spiritual

heart will be closed.

In our culture, money stands proudly on the same podium with religion,

politics, and sex as hot buttons for reactivity and trapdoors for good

intentions. Money is hot-wired to a lot of emotional and psychological buttons.

Money triggers life and death issues for us, since it is connected to our

physical survival and well-being. Money triggers egoistic issues, since it is

connected to status and privilege. Money triggers entitlement and abuse issues,

since it is connected to power and authority. Money triggers self-esteem

issues, since it is connected to an individual’s worth. Money triggers so

many things, doesn’t it, and I wonder how many we are aware of? How many

issues around money do we look squarely in the eye, and then do the same deep

work we do as when we are trying to find our way to the soul?

Our beliefs—conscious or unconscious—about money will determine

whether or not our life choices and actions are a real and true expression of

our inner understanding. How we earn and spend our money may be the surest

compass with which to locate the North Star of our spiritual journey to

Oneness, and to wisdom, love, and compassion.

As spiritual beings, we say we are generous, but are we? We say we are

compassionate, but are we? We say we are selfless and concerned for others, but

are we? We say we care about the environment, about fair trade and socially

responsible business practices, about social justice—but do we? I think

that how we earn and spend money tells us the truth, and it may be a truth

we’d rather not see. I wonder what we might learn about a person if we

were to simply watch how they earned and spent money for one month, without

being able to hear anything they said.

I remember an interesting lesson about being conscious with money. Years ago, I

was reviewing a project budget of several hundred thousand dollars with my

spiritual teacher, Swami Muktananda. He asked his customary laser-questions,

all of which I was able to answer. I was able to account for and explain every

expense and entry. But then, as I was leaving his room, he asked me about the

leftover lunch money which our produce buyer had turned in to petty cash after

an all-day trip to Manhattan.

How much was it? he asked. I didn’t know, but guessed it was around a

dollar. He looked at me with a gaze I couldn’t return, and could hardly

endure. He asked if my work as one of his foundation managers was too much for

me. No, I said. He asked if I respected the money he had entrusted to my care,

on his behalf. Yes, I do respect your money. And round and round we went. He

couldn’t fathom how I wasn’t aware of what happened with the dollar

or so of returned lunch money. For him, awareness of Self and awareness of a

dollar were not different. He was forever telling us that money was the shakti,

the spiritual energy, of the world. His respect, care, and consideration for

money—not the concept, not the abstraction, but each and every

penny—were absolute. You could watch him make money choices and know the

true state of his heart, motives, values, and character. His example and

teachings in this area of awareness of money choices is a level of non-dual

attainment the current crop of non-dual teachers can’t even imagine, and

more’s the pity on that score.

It’s easy to see how our money choices fertilize our attitudes and

nourish our habits. It’s also easy to see how our money choices enable

and empower social institutions. Every time we spend money, we are saying yes

to a galaxy of cultural values, assumptions, and structures: from the

exorbitant salaries of CEOs to the quality of education to the availability of

affordable health care. Half of every one of your tax dollars goes to the

Pentagon, and you are proportionately responsible for everything the Pentagon

does: you have enabled and empowered its choices with your money. It would thus

be wise to help determine what the Pentagon does with your money—your

spiritual energy—wouldn’t it?

Money is an expression of our attention and intention; thus, what we do with

our money demonstrates the quality of our attention and the clarity of our

intention. How closely aligned are our money choices with our most important

values and our aspirations and hopes for ourselves, others, and for the world

in which we live? Our money choices are a form of worship, and our money

choices show us what we honor, respect, and love.

When you attend a lecture or event with a “by donation” entry fee,

what goes through your mind? How much, or how little do you donate, and why? Do

you go through the same process when you fork over nine dollars for a movie,

and another nine for popcorn and a soda? What is behind your complaints, fears,

and withholds around money? Do you believe in abundance, or scarcity? Do you

believe you’re a better person driving a BMW than an old Honda? Do you

feel that you “own” people to whom you pay money? Do you get mad at

poor people? At rich people? Do the tides of your self-worth and

self-confidence rise and fall according to your cash reserves? What dreams of

passionate self-expression have you betrayed for financial security? How much

money is enough? How much is not enough? Can you look a street person in the

eye as you pass by? What does the money you have serve and support, other than

your own personal needs?

It’s a good idea to find out if your money choices speak for your truth

and stand for your heart in this world. Looking into all of this is hard work,

I promise you. It’s a lot easier to blow the whole thing off, but in so

doing, you would also blow off your soul and the possibility of living a truly

meaningful, noble, and majestic life.

I urge everyone to begin looking at his or her relationship to money squarely

in the eye. Work with some of the questions I’ve posed in this article,

or come up with some of your own. Ask your teachers to tell the truth about

their relationship to money, if they can. Don’t cut any corners on this

inquiry. By all means, sit like granite or glacier through a hundred years of

silent meditation, but spend as long seeing into the buying and selling of

soul. Become aware of the countless effects your pennies and dollars have, in

your name.

Money is a sacred emblem of our heart, and our money choices are as true an

indication of our spiritual character as can ever exist.

© Rabbin, , 2004

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rabbin is a writer, speaker, and solution architect whose passion for

radically engaged spiritual wisdom is expressed in his workshops, lectures, and

column of social commentary. In 1969 he began to research the world's mystic

traditions while practicing meditation and self-inquiry. In 1973 trekked

overland to India,

where he met meditation master Swami Muktananda, with whom he studied for the

next ten years. is the author of numerous books and articles, and a

frequent speaker at national conferences. He is also the creator of

TruthForPresident.org, a revolutionary news service whose purpose is to influence

coverage by the media and elevate political consciousness. For more

information, please visit www.robrabbin.com.