The worst thing that could happen to our economy–and to ourselves—is to allow economics to rule our souls. Joy feeds our souls and when times are tough or scary, the first menu items to go are often those that bring us the most joy. Even when these items don’t cost anything, our tendency is to go into self-deprivation mode. We tell ourselves that we don’t have time for the things that bring us joy because we are too busy trying to survive. Our fear says we must choose between survival and joy. While that may seem the “logical” solution, starving our souls won’t heal our economy. 

We need to ask ourselves what brings us joy, and to distinguish those things from what merely boosts our egos or impresses our neighbors. Anything that brings forth joy connects us in some way with Spirit: it inspires us, expresses us or lifts us up. But this is an area in which we must practice discernment—to distinguish between things that genuinely nurture the soul and those that merely act as a substitute for spiritual enrichment. At the same time, it is important to realize that what one person uses as a status symbol can be a genuine source of joy to another. That which feeds soul is fulfilling while that which feeds ego creates debt.

What is true on the individual level is also true on the global scale: when we give up things that bring us joy in mass proportions our economy plummets further. Fear becomes our ruler, telling us that we can’t have what we desire until the economy stabilizes while we unconsciously contribute to its destruction with our very mindset.

When we choose between survival and joy we are imagining ourselves playing a win-lose game. We are assuming that what we need is in competition with what we desire and that only one can prevail. Moreover, when we are locked into this “zero-sum” mindset, we tend to see our neighbor’s gain as our loss.  But there is an alternative: when we see reality as win-win, we are free to desire what is best for ourselves and for all involved with harm to no one and surrender the final outcome to Spirit. Even when we don’t know what is best we can find comfort in knowing that Spirit has the answer.

As former US President Bill Clinton stated:

The more complex societies get and the more complex the networks of interdependence within and beyond community and national borders get, the more people are forced in their own interests to find non-zero-sum solutions. That is, win–win solutions instead of win–lose solutions.... Because we find as our interdependence increases that, on the whole, we do better when other people do better as well — so we have to find ways that we can all win, we have to accommodate each other.

Wired interview, December 2000 

The real bottom line is that we all need Spirit on our board of directors if we desire access to win-win possibilities. Spiritual direction is imperative because we quite literally create our lives with our thoughts and feelings: if our choices are in expectation of the worst it is because that is all our minds can envision; if our choices, individually and collectively, are in expectation of the best possible outcome, we open to Spirit’s vision. 

How Have I Contributed?

According to Wikipedia the word "economy" derives from the Greek and means "one who manages a household." If we apply the macrocosm/microcosm principle from Socratic/Platonic philosophy, we see that we are not as powerless as some would lead us to believe. 

In The Republic, Socrates mentions that this virtue is “spoken as a virtue of an individual, and sometimes as the virtue of the state” and that it would be easier to discern its essence if one looked at the State because it would have a larger quantity of it and then proceeding back down into the individual to see how it appears in the smaller unit. 

Today we sometimes refer to this principle as our individual consciousness contributing to the larger collective consciousness or, put another way, “as above so below.” This philosophy can be applied personally, nationally and globally. So if our economy is a collective reflection of our individual households, then we can benefit from exploring how economic affairs affect us emotionally. Addressing our personal debt will contribute to the healing of our national debt.

What Can I Do?

“What brought down the markets? Bad choices, greed—and never learning from past mistakes,” wrote Paul Barrett in his September 17, 2008 Business Week article. The facets of the economy born from bad choices, greed and stupidity were born from a win-lose mentality. This mentality is crumbling, but responding to the fall with more of what brought it down won’t bring it back. However, if we learn from our financial mistakes, they can actually serve as a springboard into greater joy by bringing about growth and evolution.

One place to start is to notice what bothers you most about the current economic crisis, what really gets under your skin. These are often the exact things we don’t like about ourselves being reflected back at us. On the other hand, pay close attention to any stories from the macrocosmic economy that fill you with warmth, admiration or hope because your response signals the reflection of a quality that you want to bring forth in yourself or an ethic you would like to adopt. Understood in this way, the national economy can help us to heal our personal economies and from healthy micro-economies will emerge a healthier macro-economy. 

Making New Financial Choices:

In order to facilitate the shift from win-lose (displacing debt) to win-win (eradicating debt), we must slow down and act mindfully and deliberately rather than automatically. We must regularly pause, reflect and ask ourselves some serious questions prior to spending such as:

1. Is this money I am about to spend constructive or destructive to myself, those around me and the environment?
2. Am I motivated out of love or out of fear?
3. Do my possessions serve to uplift me (feed my soul) or merely to impress my neighbors (feed my ego)?

When the motivation behind any act is love-based, we have consideration for the highest and best for all involved, including ourselves, intending harm to no one. The problem is that in this time of transition it can be hard to know what is the highest and best. When in confusion, simply direct your will towards the good, surrender the rest to Spirit, wait for a response (intuition) and then make your best choice. And sometimes we aren’t sure if we are listening to Spirit or ego until we make that choice and plant both feet in it. It takes practice to develop intuition and discernment but a sincere desire for good is always a positive contribution to humanity. 

When the motivation behind an act is fear-based we only have our own best interests at heart. Fear often leads us to try to exercise control—over others, over ourselves, or over our environment. When you find yourself controlling, look to what you are trying to protect yourself from, what you are trying to prevent from manifesting.  The irony is that by avoiding the thing you fear, you are in fact feeding that fear which makes it more likely to actualize. You block yourself from Spirit when fear is your ruler but acknowledging your fear, asking for the highest outcome and surrendering it all to Spirit are the first steps down the win-win path.

Trying to discern the spiritual value of a given expenditure requires above all that we be honest with ourselves. For example, a car or home that is purchased to prove to others that you are successful is a non-soulful choice because it is based on fear that others see you as inferior. Any choice such as this is ego-based. A car purchased because your heart desires it and has asked that it come in a way that is for the highest and best for all involved with harm to no one feeds the soul. It is a choice based in love. The same goes for a house: it can be a home, a place of nurturance, creativity and peace, or it can be a McMansion way beyond the means of the buyer— and we have seen where that has gotten us.

Behavior that feeds the ego reveals debt because it is based in debt (the feeling of lack) and is an attempt to hide the debt—the perceived absence of personal value—inside ourselves. Feeding ego is not unlike attempting to feed an insatiable monster; it’s like throwing money into a black hole. We overspend ourselves into debt because we are trying to fill an emptiness that can’t be filled from the outside. It is like robbing Peter to pay Paul: a “zero-sum” mindset. Attempting to fill the emptiness inside ourselves from the outside is fruitless—it just creates emptiness someplace else. On the other hand, filling the emptiness by retrieving something inside of ourselves that has been lost or abandoned is a “non-zero-sum” solution. We use the debt as a messenger to retrieve some of our lost value and emerge with more of ourselves.

Thinking of our purchases as investments (much as we think of stock and mutual funds) can help us get perspective by elongating our timeline. Instead of choosing instant gratification, we can choose that which yields long-term dividends. This will lead us towards more ethical choices in our own lives, which will be reflected in the larger economy. When we are only looking for the “best deal” in the short-term we come from a place of greed or fear of lack. On the other hand, when we are looking simply for “the best” we are coming from a place of riches.

An example of an investment would be money spent in support of mental, emotional or spiritual wellness, or money spent on the arts. These kinds of expenditures are investments in long-term well-being that positively impact everyone they touch. Moreover, feeling good about ourselves magnetizes good things to us, so this kind of purchase reaps far-reaching benefits. The feeling associated with a short-term purchase that feeds ego such as “retail therapy,” is akin to an adrenaline rush while a long-term investment that feeds the soul such as a piece of art that uplifts and inspires, produces joy—it’s the gift that keeps on giving. 

Healing Bad Choices:

When we give up a part of who we are in our efforts to belong it creates a debt inside ourselves. This often occurs during our childhood. And if we continue this practice in our adult lives we create more debt, more emptiness. And if we try to substitute what we’ve given up with material items in an effort to fill that emptiness, the debt will begin to manifest outside ourselves and to accumulate as we continue to avoid the true source of our debt. It just becomes displaced.

When we make bad decisions or suffer the consequences of bad decisions, we need to move through a process to seek self-understanding. It is useful to ask ourselves: 

1. Did I act in full consciousness, or have I been investing in a façade to hide the emptiness inside myself?
2. When I am confused do I pretend to have the answers or do I have the courage to seek guidance?
3. When my choice causes harm, do I take time to learn from it or just hope it never happens again?

Our behavior gives us information about how we are feeling. What do your past spending behaviors say about how you feel about yourself? When you realize that you are looking to inflate ego you are being presented with an opportunity to explore your own inner emptiness—some inferiority inside yourself. One of the hardest truths to face is when we have made choices out of low self-esteem.

People with low self-esteem often make bad choices to replenish their supply, even if it means stepping on others or doing harm to themselves or the environment. We must learn, heal and grow from our past behaviors rather than repeat them. Only then can we make new choices with more mindfulness and support from Spirit. Fulfillment comes from healing the feelings of inferiority. So if you are in debt it is likely that you have some healing opportunities hovering. From the healing and growth we emerge fulfilled and joyful because our soul is more whole—we have literally redeemed the debt. And from this position we can make healthier choices.

What is happening right now in the national and international economies is the collapse of façades. While this process is tumultuous it is making room for more authenticity. Façades are a denial of the truth, an attempt to cover up, to disguise. If you regularly spend beyond your means, what stories do you tell yourself about your spending to justify it? Who do you hurt? How do you excuse it? Will you really be happy once you buy that house? Will you really be at peace once you have “x” number of dollars in your bank account? 

Conclusion

Your world is a reflection of you. Work with Spirit and this reflection will be awe-inspiring. Attempt to trick Spirit and your world will reflect your deception. The principle at work is not one of reward and punishment: it is the principle of reflection. These are complex times; the issues we face can threaten to overwhelm us. The solution is to take one step at a time out of win-lose—zero-sum—displaced debt and into win-win—non-zero-sum—fulfillment territory.

Since we can’t always know what is best, it is more important than ever to involve Spirit.  Sending despair out into the world won’t heal anything. But acknowledging our feelings of despair and helplessness and asking Spirit for help is much more productive because it sends love and hope out into the world instead. In order to heal, we need to hand our confusion over to Spirit and ask for the highest outcome with harm to no one. And we need to value joy. Denial has gotten us nowhere. Maybe truth will finally set us free. You have a choice. One thing we can be sure of is that Spirit will always come back with win-win solutions. If it’s not win-win, then the solution is coming from some place else.

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