Redefining Money (for people who hate money)
Does money feel like a dirty word to you? If so, you are far from alone. Money is a highly emotionally charged subject. Many of us have a love-hate, fixation-avoidance relationship with it. In particular, people who gravitate toward me as clients often have anti-capitalist views, usually rooted in altruistic values such as justice, human rights, and environmental sustainability.
I get it. I rejected capitalism from an early age, philosophically, and in many ways behaviorally. However, neither my own rejection of capitalism, nor anyone else's that I know of, has yet created a democratic socialist utopia. While my rejection of capitalism led me to perspectives and experiences that have shaped me in ways I am grateful for, within a capitalist society, rejecting the dominant paradigm often causes little more than personal inconvenience.
The capitalist system does not suffer, learn, or change from your willful poverty or financial ignorance; it relies on it.
Sadly, I have seen too many aging anti-capitalists end up ignobly behind their peers in their financial literacy and under-resourced in an already strained and competitive world. Worse, because of their sense of money as evil, corrupt, or disgusting, and their reluctance to deal with it, many put themselves in positions of disadvantage, ending up financially exploited by abusive partners or underpaying jobs. They end up deprived of what they want, need, and find fulfilling in life. Although they may envision an ideal world of mutual aid, those who would be mutually aiding them are too busy working their similarly under-paying jobs to have much time or energy to contribute.
If this sounds too familiar, perhaps it is time to redefine money.
Consider for a moment one of money's other names: currency. Roll this word around in your mouth a bit until it becomes current. Think of money now as a current, like a river. Like water. Water flows between all things, carrying particles and nutrients and redistributing them throughout ecosystems. So, too, does money.
Consider for a moment what money represents: value or worth. Now roll this word around in your mind. Value. What we value. Values. Matters. Principles. Priorities. Importance. Significance. Worth. Worthy. Worthwhile.
What do we do with money? We invest. Invest. To believe in. To support. To actively seek to create more of or enable.
What does money give us? Purchasing power. Power. Empowerment. Autonomy. Assets. Resources. Fuel. Nourishment. Life.
What symbolizes money? The balance scales. This equals that. Money is impartial. Neutral. The judge. The observer.
Play around as you see fit here.
So, what if money is a current, like water, that wants to flow, move through life, share resources, spread them around, redistribute them?
What if how we relate with money represents what we value and what matters to us? What if to allow ourselves to receive money abundantly, or at least sufficiently, is to allow ourselves to matter, and honor that we have worth? That our dreams, wants, and desires matter?
What if money is, itself, agnostic, morally neutral? What if we can use it to water metaphorical weeds or flowers in the gardens of what we grow in our lives? What if money reveals what we value, and our distribution of it reflects what we wish to see more of in the world?
If money is a neutral current that carries what it is exposed to, then do we think of it as corrupt because it has been polluted by the thoughts, energies, and intentions of where it has been and what it has been utilized for? If that is the case, who better than us to purify that current by allowing it to flow through us, and redistributing it where we see fit?
My aim here is not to plead the case that "conscious consumerism" can save the planet. I do not believe our actions to be that powerful in the grand scheme of climate change, mass extinction and human injustice. I wish to speak to a more humble level, where we as individuals make decisions about how we choose to view and engage with money, even if I may be approaching this in an esoteric manner. I say this not because I believe that doing so will have a large impact, but because I believe it will help a few people on an individual level. For those few people, views of money from your youth may be currently impeding you in whatever stage of adulthood you may find yourself in. My aim is to help you liberate yourself and give yourself permission to update your views if it helps you.
You are not going to cause any further damage in the world by engaging with money. Money is already flowing around the world like water, in quantities as vast as the earth's oceans, rivers, and clouds. The fact that some water in the world is polluted should not stop you from drinking when you are thirsty. If you have the means to purify your own water, by all means, do so. If you have the means to water your own garden, by all means, do so.
Consider the possibility that the more money you allow to flow into your life, the more power you have to direct that current in the ways you best see fit. On a shoestring budget, your options are limited. Your budget is not likely to reflect your values, character, or interests, so much as it is to reflect your bare necessities (rent, utilities, ramen?) and flawed coping mechanisms (beer?). When you allow more money into your life, you can direct more of it toward the things you want your life to be about: supporting local artist and small businesses; paying for more ethically produced goods; donating to causes of your choosing; learning about other cultures through respectful participation or travel; purchasing high-quality goods built to last, rather than wasteful, cheaply made items that will break down sooner; supporting loved ones in need; being able to be spontaneous, carefree, or generous; and so on, and so forth.
Although financial empowerment may not be the only kind of empowerment for you, financial disempowerment is still a form of disempowerment, no matter how you slice it. You may be wise to ask yourself if that is a limitation that helps you in any way at this stage in life. If not, feel free to update your views and redefine money in a way that better aligns with who you are now - and where you want to go.
