| | Money is not profane. If a tree is sacred and a baby is sacred and if even baby shit is sacred—if everything is sacred—money certainly must be as well. It is part of the stuff of life.
Money is among our most sacred things because it is actually a representation of life force itself. The key to understanding this is to take a step back and ask: What is money really? How do I get it? How do I use it? A particularly insightful question to ask is, “How much do I make?” Your answer will most likely be something like “I make $10 per hour” or “I make $45,000 per year.” And what that answer would clearly show is that you exchange time itself for money—the time remaining in your life. While it would be going too far to say that money actually is life force, it certainly represents it and is a primary means by which we exchange our life’s energy with that of other people. It is often how we ex-change our life’s energy for the energy of the earth it-self. How can money not be a key spiritual aspect of our lives?
When we receive money from our jobs—from ex-changing our precious and finite time and energy for it—we don’t hoard it. We use some of that money for our survival needs and some for special treats. Maybe we save some or invest in a business or in education. When we spend money, we give it to other people in ex-change for their using their precious time and energy to serve us. We pay people to bake us bread, build us homes, teach us, pave our roads, design our Web sites, and make us chocolate bars.
When we incur debt, we literally owe parts of our lives: time that we have not yet lived that must be given up to repay that debt. “Wage slave” takes on a whole new meaning. What is paying for a home, or a car loan, or a student loan, or a credit card but literal indentured servitude? How much of hating our job is due to knowing in our bones that we are slaves unable to escape our masters?
How much money (time, that is) does it take you to live the lifestyle you are living? Many expenses don’t serve us, like that light bulb that is still turned on in the next room where no one is. How much less would it take to live if you cut out most of the waste? How much would it take to meet your needs if you spent every possible moment working on the truly important things in your life?
When we spend money on something that is good for us, that helps us grow, and that contributes to our community, we are affirming life. What about when we waste our money? It does not add to our lives to spend money on electricity for a light bulb nobody is using. In fact, it hurts us twice: once when we spent our time working for the money that we wasted, and again with the negative social and environmental consequences that come from energy over-consumption. Every expense we incur is paid for by a bit of our lives.
Imagine that a rich relative left you an inheritance. There is enough money that you never have to work again if you keep your expenses low by sharing an apartment with roommates, using the bus instead of owning a car, cooking your meals at home, and so on. What would you do with your time? Would you work at all? Learn to play the piano? Crisscross the country attending antiwar demonstrations? Be a full-time parent? Can you make some changes to your lifestyle to rebuild your life around your passions? Will you?
钱非俗物。如果说树木神圣，婴儿神圣，甚至连婴儿屎尿都是神圣的——如果一切都神圣，钱当然也神圣。因为钱是生活基本要素的一部分。
钱是最神圣的东西之一，因为它实际上代表了生命力本身。理解这一点的关键是退一步并问：钱究竟为何物？我怎么挣的？我怎么花的？一个尤为深刻的问题是：“我挣多少钱？”回答极可能会是这样：“我每小时挣十美元”或“我年薪四万五千美元”。这样的回答清楚表明你是用时间——即你的有生之年——换取金钱。就此而言金钱即生命力，也许有点扯远了，但钱肯定代表了生命力，而且是我们与他人交换生命能量的基本手段。我们与大自然之间的交换也常常如此，钱怎能不是我们生命中重要的精神部分呢？
我们做工挣钱——用宝贵而有限的时间和精力换取金钱，但我们并不将其蓄存。我们用其中一部分维生，一部分用于娱乐。也许我们会存一些钱或用于投资和教育。我们花钱，即把钱给别人以换取他们的宝贵时间与精力为我们服务。我们付钱给人为我们烤面包、盖房子、上课、修路、设计网站、做巧克力糖。
我们欠债实际是欠下生命的一部分，那是我们未来为偿还债务而必须腾出的时间。“薪奴”的全新含义就在于此。支付房款、车贷、助学贷款或者信用卡等不是契约工又是什么？我们讨厌工作不就是因为深知自己是奴隶，无法逃脱主人么？
你花了多少钱（也就是时间）才过上现在这样的生活？许多花费并没有为我们带来益处，比如隔壁房间没人却还亮着灯。如果省掉大多数的浪费，生活能少多少开支？如果把所有可能的时间都花在生活中真正重要的事情上，那么满足需要会花多少钱呢？
我们把钱花在有益的地方，那就有助于我们成长，也有利于社会，我们的生命就有意义。如果浪费金钱呢？无人时还花钱开着灯并不能给生命带来什么。实际上，它会带来双倍损失：首先，浪费了我们花时间工作赚的钱；其次，由于能量过度消耗导致对社会及环境的负面影响。我们的每一笔消费都是以生命的点滴时间来支付。
设想一位富有的亲戚留给你一笔遗产，这笔钱足以使你无需再工作，如果你维持低消费，比如和别人合住一套公寓，不买车只坐公交车，在家做饭吃等。你会怎么安排时间？你会工作吗？去学钢琴？在全国巡回参加反战示威游行？做全职家长？你会改变生活方式，根据激情重建生活吗？你愿意吗？
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