The Spirituality of Money

School shooting.  Again. No national policy to protect our children, no cultural change. Why?  Could it be the spirituality of money.? Terrorists stealth onto passenger airliners. One Jihadist wires a bomb to his underpants. Another terrorist removes the insoles of his shoe and inserts an explosive device to blast innocent passengers into oblivion at 35,000 feet traumatizing a world addicted to travel.  Both bombs malfunction, perps imprisoned. Immediately culture shifts.  Government with airlines act. An organization immediately forms to safeguard travel. Now, underpants and private parts reveal every time you walk through TSA security. How about those shoes?  Nope. Take them off. Put your Nikes in the bin for X-ray.  Burly guards frisk grandmas, the disabled are dishonored with inappropriate touch by trained personnel they know not.  Why the haste?  The spirituality of money. Frighten a culture into not flying…industries fail. Taxes plummet. Lobbyists don’t get paid. Politicians don’t re elect.

Point and fire an assault rifle at children corralled in a school building. Kill a dozen or more at a time. Repeat over a dozen times in 2 months. Permit this for years.  No national policy. No cultural change. Why? The spirituality of money.

Money is not a means of trade and exchange. Money is our spirituality and means everything to our culture. Until we embrace the spirituality of money we will continue to enable the slaughter of children in public schools. Changing the system of open campuses exposed to homegrown terrorists with weapons of war will cost big bucks. School systems struggle to maintain budgets.  The answer to this cultural melt down taxes John and Jane Q Citizen. You pay more in taxes. The pressure now touches our spirit and we deny and avoid. Nothing changes. Why? Our money is our spirituality. Our money has become who we are and shapes our brain. The shape of our brain matter then guides our thinking and actions.

Our young men gun down children in their own community because our spirituality orbits money.

So, what steps do we take?  Acknowledge what we love.  We are in love with money. Take it away we lose our identity as a culture. During the Great Recession 10,000 known suicides succeeded because people lost the love of their lives…their money.

What if we admit our obsession?  What if the change we need begins in me…in you?  If my money connects to my spirituality, what will happen if I add self awareness and compassion to my money?  What if the love and identity I have for my checkbook takes on a different tone? This new narrative now becomes one full of compassion and awareness for our children.  I pay a small portion of my income for security for our children because they, the children, are at the core of my spirituality with my money.

I am not afraid to fly in a long tube hurling through the stratosphere at 400 miles per hour. I pay for the security that takes pictures of my underpants and private parts forcing me to remove my shoes exposing my holy socks. Moses removed his shoes and it worked for him.   Holy ground found the Israelite felon. Spirituality came down and touched him when the great leader humbled himself and connected spirituality to leather. He became empowered when spirituality integrated with his story. The world changed.

Connect spirituality to your money. You will see change. My money reflects who I am as a father, husband, and grandfather. My money must touch whom and what I love in meaningful helpful ways.

I understand armed marshals sit on the plane with me as I am flung through space.  Why? They guard what we love, our money and a world wide industry at risk. What shall we do for our children and grandchildren?

Will we invest in mental health services?  Will we form a culture of security that closes campuses and protects the child?  Will my money touch the children I love, or will I continue to deny that my money is my spirituality and remove myself from responsibility so I pay less?

I have three grandchildren and a daughter who spend the majority of their week on a school campus. I will be willing to pay my share for their security. Why? I love them. They are the focus of my compassion and self awareness with my money. Now my money and spirituality connect.

Many of you will feel immediate anxiety at paying for the security for those whom we love with our spirituality. You will resist. Let’s go further. The politician is driven by re election and the money it brings. When children are massacred, we cleanse government offices immediately. Choose to exclude our children from what we love…politician, you must go. Now. Who did not protect the child? You. Must. Go.

When the status quo faces the loss of money, they will act because their spirit is threatened. In the same way the government and airlines acted at the loss of what they love, money, you will see politicians act in fast motion.  Why? Spirituality and money are one in our culture. Threaten what they love and you will see…closed campuses, marshals or appropriate agents in schools unnoticed by everyone but the homeland homegrown terrorist.  The constant  fear of a marshal thwarting the cowardice of the video gamer turned gunman will prevent further acts of violence against the innocence of our children. My grandchildren will grow up without terror when they walk through the doors of the school. Why?  Spirit has touched money and change results.

Our money is our spirituality. Take it away and we…die. Add compassion to our money and now we connect the beauty of spirituality with our finances. We begin to become human beings of spirit and compassion. Our children and grandchildren…survive.