The Appearance of Wealth

This is a culture that idolizes the appearance of wealth.

Why do we all want to appear wealthy when we are not?  Because we think being wealthy means something about us.

What does appearing wealthy mean about me?  Why do I admire wealth, aspire to wealth?

• It means I am safe.
• It means I do not have any problems.
• It means I am admirable.
• It means I am “successful.”
• It means I am better than others.

Because money is a store of value, the appearance of more money means the owner has more value.  We are higher in the imaginary hierarchy.  These are feelings of superiority, of being a “good” person, of external validation.

And… when I am attached to feeling superior, I am vulnerable to feeling inferior.

It’s a vicious trap.  A set-up.  A construct we believe.

Because…what does appearing poor mean about me?

• It means I am a loser.
• It means I am unsafe.
• It means I have problems.
• It means I am not admirable.
• It means I am not “successful.”
• It means I am worse/lower than ______.

And this is simply too painful to contemplate.  So, to maintain the illusion of wealth, and therefor to maintain the feeling of superiority, we twist ourselves into knots and go to extraordinary measures to create and protect and maintain the illusion of wealth by doing things like:

• Accrue debt to keep up appearances, and buy unaffordable things, simply to impress others.
• Live unsustainably.  Too fast. Too busy. Too stressed out.  Too much.
• Live out of integrity with our deeper truth for the appearance of success.
• Judge ourselves and others for our own and their appearance of wealth.
• Do immoral things - like lie, cheat and steal, and even kill.

Living within this system of superiority/inferiority, of hierarchy, is a set-up.  It keeps us mindlessly consuming and perpetuating, chewing up and spitting out, but never actually satisfying the hole on the inside.

Because trying to satisfy the internal ache through external means is impossible.  Any thing (on the outside) that would make us feel better about ourselves (on the outside) is a compensation for not feeling whole on the inside.  A substitute for feeling whole on the inside.
It’s the wrong remedy.

The underlying belief in the hierarchy is not actually true.  None of the external possessions or appearances or beliefs touch our innate wholeness, we have just lost touch with our deeper truth and wholeness.

And when we feel whole on the inside there is no need or interest in external validation or approval.  There’s simply no place to put it, and other people’s opinions and perceptions are meaningless.

And all of these behaviors and beliefs go against our innate equality.  Because underneath the belief in inequality (which is predicated on a belief in superiority and inferiority) is a deeper truth: that we are all divinely sovereign and equal.

We have just lost touch with this wholeness by participating in the external hierarchy and validation cycle.

And these compulsive behaviors and beliefs will never work, because external validation and internal wholeness are mutually exclusive. It’s a made-up construct that keeps us controllable.

Exercises
1. Look at the hierarchy clearly, and all the ways in which you participate. 

• What are 5 things that make you feel superior in your life? 
  
• What are 5 things that make you feel inferior in your life? 
  
• What do you do the protect and maintain, or abandon and reject, those things?
  

​2. Once seen clearly, release the energetic pattern of hierarchy, and restore the connection with your innate wholeness. While feeling into the feelings within the body that the energetic pattern activates, say or write the following statements:

• “Please help me.”
• “I have carried this pattern, this belief, this energy, this construct for so long.”
• “This pattern keeps me small.  It keeps me disconnected from my wholeness. It keeps me believing terrible things about myself and others.  It keeps me in a cage.  It keeps me disconnected from my wholeness.”
• "This pattern keeps me petty, judging myself and others, and busy maintaining and protecting and upholding this system of harm.”
• “This pattern keeps me disconnected from life.  Emotionally unavailable to myself and to the life all around me.  It keeps me pursuing and living a life that is unsustainable.”
• “This pattern, this belief, this construct, this energetic pattern is a barrier to my awareness of my wholeness, my awareness of my True Nature.”
• “This pattern was acquired.  It was inherited in my DNA.  It was learned in my family.  It was learned in my community.  It was learned in my culture.  It was learned through pain.  And I repeated it.  I believed it, carried it, perpetuated it and repeated it.”
• “I carry this pattern, I believe this pattern, I repeat the pattern out of loyalty.”
• “I am ready to grow up.”
• “I see this pain.  I see this energetic pattern.  I see this cage.  I see this belief. I see this barrier. And I honor this pain.  This pain that this body has carried for so long.”
• “I now choose differently.”
• “This pattern is a barrier to my awareness of my wholeness.  This pattern keeps me disconnected from the life all around me. Keeps me emotionally unavailable to the life all around me.”
• “I now choose differently.”
• “I choose to be free.”
• “I take complete responsibility for carrying this energetic pattern.”
• “I take complete responsibility for releasing this energetic pattern.”
• “I take complete responsibility for embodying full awareness of my wholeness.”
• “I take complete responsibility for releasing the energetic pattern.”
• "I take complete responsibility for my freedom.”
• “I dissolve this ancient energetic pattern.  I dissolve the ancient energetic pattern, completely and permanently.  I dissolve the ancient energetic pattern, completely and permanently, at the deepest root source and connection.”
• “I dissolve this ancient energetic pattern, permanently and completely, at the deepest root cause and connection, and release it to be free.”
• “I dissolve this ancient energetic pattern, permanently and completely, at the deepest root cause and connection, and release all of the accumulated energy  I release the energy to be free, as all energy is meant to be.  I release the energy, to be free, as all energy is meant to be.”
• “I dissolve the ancient energetic pattern, permanently and completely, at the deepest root cause and connection, and release all of the accumulated energy.  I release the energy to be free, as all energy is mean to be, and return it all back to the Highest Original Source, and back to the Energy of Life.”
• “I release, I release, I release, I release, I release.”
• “With honor for all.”
• “Namaste.”
• “Thank you.”
• “Amen.”