Are You Infected With the Money Disease?

Although we live in a world where a certain amount of money is necessary for survival and most of us, of course, want to go beyond simply surviving to a place of thriving.  There is a lot of talk in the spiritual world about abundance, but abundance is not simply about having lots of money.  It's about having all the friends, family, serenity and work that you need to make you happy.  People who focus on money as the means to that abundance are missing the point of soulful living.

Money like many things in life can become a disease if not handled with consciousness and wisdom.  It's much like food, alcohol, sex  or any other substance or activity that becomes addictive. By the way, this can happen whether you have lots of money or are barely surviving financially.  People with addictions think about their substance or activity in unrelenting ways.  It is always on their minds and is their constant companion. Addictions, of course are not good for the soul.

Any addiction will in time, make you sick and will destroy your soul and kill off your spirit and the joy in your life.  Now some of you may argue with this as a certain amount of money is necessary for life on this planet as it is now lived - few of us live on farms or out in the country where we can grow or hunt our food.  In the modern world money has to be earned, inherited or given to us in some way so that we can survive.  So yes, we need money.  But just as we need food, we don't need to become obsessed with eating to the point of obesity.  Nor is a beer on hot afternoon or a nice glass of wine with dinner a problem either, but if you can't go without alcohol or you abuse it to the point of drunkenness or use it to medicate yourself out of dealing with life's challenges, problems and difficulties, then that's not a healthy relationship to alcohol. The challenge of living a soulful and purposeful life, the point of this blog, is to balance your actions, your thoughts and your focus on what what your soul calls you to do with your life and it never calls you to an addiction, regardless of what kind it is.  Too strong a focus on the material things of life can throw you off your soul's course. Money is one of the more insidious ways to go off course, since we need it to live and yet we know in our hearts, if we just go there and listen for the call of our souls, that we can be happy and satisfied with life regardless of how materially rich or poor we happen to be.  As the ancient Greek philosopher Democritus said, "Happiness resides not in possessions, not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul."   So take this quiz and see how you are doing where money is concerned.

Take this quiz to see if you have a money addiction

1. Your daily thoughts and conversations are about money or what money can buy - 10 Points
2. You have fears around money either that you don't have enough or that somehow you will lose it or you will be ripped off by someone or some financial disaster will happen - 20 Points
3. You judge other people by how much money they have or don't have - 10 Points 
4. When you meet someone new you look for signs of wealth - cars, jewelry, fine cloths, home, career, who they know and where they are going in terms of money - 20 Points 
5. When you talk about other people you always mention them in terms of their money and status -10 Points 
6. You worry about family money - either by talking about it or trying to control how it is spent by the elders in your family - 20 Points 
7. If you have parents with money, at some point you begin to push for some kind of control or say in it - 20 Points
8. If you are not financially well off you envy those who are and see them as better than you - If you are financially well off you see those who are not as less than you -
   30 Points 
9. Your self-esteem is tied to how much money you have or don't have - 30 Points
10. If you know wealthy people or people who are celebrities you name drop and call attention to the fact that you know them in your conversations -10 Points
11. You have a fascination and even an obsession with what money can buy or how it can elevate your life 10 Points
12.  The magazines and books you read feature people with wealth or are money magazines such as Money and Forbes - 10 Points

If you score high on this test then money is your God and your addiction and this is not a soulful and balanced way to live.  Now of course, if you have a certain amount of money, what we used to call "being comfortable" or even if you are wealthy like Oprah or Bill Gates this does not mean you have the money disease - you may or may not.  The way to know is to honestly assess your relationship with money.  Use the above list as a test - answer yes to the things that you truly do in terms of money and no to those things you don't do.

People who get a high score on this test are obese with the disease of money just as someone with a food addiction is obese with rolls of fat and clogged up arteries.  The difference is that a food addiction is not pretty to the eye - many of us see these people as gluttons with weak self control.  I see them and those with other addictions as having an unconscious relationship with their souls.  A money addiction, on the other hand does not offend the eye, but it does offend the ear.  People who are focused on money and have conversations that always come back in some way to money are not enjoyable to be around.  They zap the spirit of others with a kind of poisonous gas that leaks out of them from every pore.  Make sure you are not a zapper of energy in this way.  As Martin Luther King once said, "It's the content of one's character that counts, not the color of one's skin."  Well, I say, it's the content of one's character and not the number on your bank statement that says what kind of person you really are, so take this quiz and see how you're doing.

Scoring:  This test is worth 200 points - the lower your score the better.  Total your score - 200 -170 points major addiction.  150 - Serious addiction.  120 - You need to look at and make changes in your attitude toward money.  100 or less points is in the gray area - I suggest a thoughtful consideration of your beliefs about money.    

Blessings,  Lorraine