No matter how much money you have you are subject to death at any moment
and somehow we know that, because we see it all around us.
But we have this hope that if we can accumulate enough of a barrier between ourselves and death, then we will be safe and we aren't.
It seems to me the issue of financial insecurity is something that is consistent and it seems like it is consistent around the world, but
I was watching a documentary the other day and they were talking about the level of insecurity people have about finances.
It doesn't necessarily mean they don't have much in their bank account
meaning that
you know, somebody might have 400.000$ in their bank account and there is still some threat of insecurity about it
and I think that is an interesting line when it comes to finances and money, because it has its own kind of energy
and maybe it also reflects how we operate in life in general.
But I actually just wanted to start off with what the idea of security is.
Is that your experience Gangaji - and you have spoken to so many people -
that that level of insecurity is there all the time?
Well certainly, financial security is tied to our basic survival.
I mean money is just a substitute for a guarantee of survival.
And in most of the cultures, not the cultures where they are still living literally hand to mouth,
but in cultures where you use some form of trade.
What you have to trade means how secure the possibility of your survival is.
But we have discovered in our very affluent society (the Western world and the U.S. in particular):
after a certain point it doesn't matter. You're still insecure about the reality.
Finally, the world is an insecure place.
And that's the reality that no matter how much money you have, you are subject to death at any moment
and somehow me know that, because we see it all around us,
but we have this hope that if we can accumulate enough of a barrier between ourselves and death, then we will be safe and we aren't.
Because there are people who literally have to look every day for food or shelter,
which means literally to look every day for means of their survival.
And it's only at a certain point when you have enough of that
that we can even have this conversation.
Because to someone who has nothing of course having more means everything.
But when you have had 'more' for a while, which is true of everyone who is listening to this program,
then you recognize that it is never enough.
So it's not really about that, it's about some deep-seated fear of dying,
fear of the pain of being hungry, fear of the pain of being without shelter, without protection.
And it's a legitimate fear, it's very deep in our animal natures.
That's a perfect place for me to pick up my first question for you.
The question is: I don't have much cause to worry about homelessness, but I have to admit that I have that underlying fear.
When I really look at it it seems crazy, even so it is a fear that sits in the background.
And the question is: is there a way to work through it?
And you were pretty much addressing that: it's about facing death, right?
Well, I wouldn't call it 'working through it' though.
I think it's really a willingness to recognize that that fear is a part of our animal nature,
which is an alert system to the real possibility that we may die.
And so if I concern shifts from being 'how do I get rid of this fear?' or 'how do I get rid of this anxiety?',
'homelessness' or 'not enough.'
and actually our concern becomes: 'What is this?'
To not get rid of it, but to actually explore it, to open to it.
Then, quite naturally and effortlessly you do meet the fear of death,
but not meeting it as a way of getting rid of something.
Because then it becomes just another trade item. I'll trade in this and I'll get some relief from my fear of death.
It doesn't work like that and we have to grow up enough to recognize that it simply doesn't work that way.
I want to shift gears a little in the world of money.
And I just want to bring in the second question and it's just a different angle on it.
The question is: I've always had struggles around money. I constantly feel like I'm just keeping my head above water,
but I also see people who seem to accumulate money easily.
I try to picture myself experiencing abundance in life, but it's hard to hold that viewpoint consistently.
I wonder if what holds me back in that area mostly has to do with my ability to receive.
Do you think that some people are just born to make money?
I think we put too much emphasis on money and that's the problem.
Once the emphasis comes on money, then we are counting how much we have and how much the other person has
and then we are deciding 'we have less, because we are such and such,'
'they have more, because they are ...' or that can be reversed:
'we have more, because we do this and we think this and we get this, and that God loves us.'
I mean there are certain people that see 'If you have a lot of money, that is the proof that God loves you and has blessed you.'
It's all superstitious thinking!
So you don't have to think about that! Don't think about the money,
think about: what is it that you want to do? or: how do you want to spend your life, and not: how do you want to spend your money?!
And then you can actually shift the conversation to: what does abundance mean?
Is abundance having the car you want, having the clothes you want, or having the job you want?
Or is it having a heart this is filled with abundant love?!
Love won't save you from death either, but at least you will live a life in abundance.
And other than that, to me it's a big mystery.
It's all a mystery.
Some people do have the magic touch, some people do seem destined to live right on the edge of things.
But I don't think that we serve anything by overlaying that with the latest theory of what makes some people get more and some people have less.
Is there any validity to you? It sounds like part of her question is 'What if you just don't deserve money?'
So you are constantly going in a loop.
Well that's ...
Maybe you don't deserve?! Who deserves money?
I mean still the question is about money. Do you deserve love?
Many people don't feel they deserve love and love is the true abundance.
So maybe money - in many cases - is simply a substitute for a deeper question,
because it's an issue / an item that is so tied in to what we do need for our daily bread,
and it's easy to deflect from the deeper questions: What do I have? What do I have enough of? And what do I have more than I could ever use?
And do we deserve that which we have?
Well, let's assume we don't. Let's assume it's grace!!
And grace is beyond any question of merit of deservability ... or it wouldn't be grace.