Debt Crisis

I've never thought that spending money that wasn't mine was a good idea. I've never been comfortable with debt. I'm one of those people who carefully budget and save my money until I have enough to spend on the project that I'm choosing. For example, as I landscape around my new home, I am saving money each month through the winter so that in the springtime, I will have money to spend on plants and other supplies for my garden.

I live simply and I live within my means.

I love everything, so I never feel 'poor' because I am surrounded by a wealth of being, of beauty, of all that is in abundance. I can't adequately express the depth of my joy at simply being, not having... being.

Having said this, I just this morning read an article about Estonia. Facing a financial crisis in 2008-2009, they implemented an austerity budget on themselves. It wasn't easy for them, but they are coming out of those years with very little public debt and signs of growth in their economy. As a nation, as a society, they believe that you shouldn't spend money that you don't have. If you can't afford something, you should do without it, or save your money until you can afford it. If your income is low, you should look for ways to increase it. They are not 'in crisis' and they are not 'in the news' because they didn't get themselves into a huge hole of debt from which they were then unable to extricate themselves.

The Goldman Sachs of this world come across, for me, like loan-sharks with metaphoric baseball bats, threatening to break the legs of those who can't repay the loans that never should have been made. But it takes two to create a loan, lender and borrower. Shakespeare said it, "Neither a lender nor a borrower be." Good advice, in retrospect.

With no debt, I am free. My husband and I counsel others on how to reduce their debt so that they too can be free.

So, my view of the debt crisis is that it is a great opportunity for people to come to deeply understand what being in debt means for them. If we demonize the 'bankers,' we fail to take responsiblity for our own well-being. We blame it all on those evil and greedy ones. We are responsible for our own well-being. It is not bankers or politicians who are responsible for my well-being, my health and my happiness. I am responsible for these things.

And when we demonize and blame the very wealthy, we also lose a great opportunity to practice unconditional love and to bring ourselves to accept even those Goldman Sachs executives and others who appear to oppress and rob us.

Let us breathe deeply and see the divine in all things.

Let us choose freedom and move forward in the knowledge that it is we who provide it for ourselves.