Howdo Bagg
Your reference to Oedipus is interesting, but what relevance to an investors development? First on four legs, then on two, and lastly on three. I’ll think further on that.
When I had the shop (sold around 600 books per month) the books on money languished on the shelves, in an area where people would lay by purchases over $5.
Yet the feng shui books and charms, particularly the ones for money and success, sold like hot cakes.
OK. Here are my observations after hundreds of conversations about this and other deep and meaningful subjects:
Most people do not seek success because they are afraid of the responsibility of the success, and that the failure after success is the more spectacular.
Most people do not want to accumulate the money (there were recent posts about the ‘greedy bastard’ syndrome) but can contemplate ‘winning’ it with a clear conscience. Knowing the likelihood of winning is remote, it is a harmless fantasy which doesn’t require any preparation or responsibility.
Most people secretly feel that they don’t ‘deserve’ success and money, and that it would be presumptive to want it.
Most people are brought up with the concept of ‘sharing’, so if you have money you should share it with your little brother / sister / long lost third cousin / etc
In other words, money will set us apart from other people, and actually make us an easy target for the ‘spongers’
Personally, one of the strongest influences on me for success has been a lesson from Sunday School, and various versions of this story of the Three Servants are told in Parables and also in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew.
It is the story of the Vineyard owner who, prior to leaving on a trip, calls his three most trusted servants. To one, he gives one talent (coin), to the second, five talents, and to the third, ten talents. When the owner returns, the third servant has increased the ten talents by another ten talents, the second has increased by five, but the first servant, so afraid of losing the one talent buried it, and thus incurred the wrath of the owner, and was banished. The other two got the fatted calf, feasting, and promotions, and in one version of the story, the most productive servant was then given ten cities to look after, thus compounding his wealth and station in life even more.
Now, Bagg, I don’t know whether it was the threat of banishment, the promise of the fatted calf, or the enticement of the ten cities which influenced me, but certainly I have always felt that we have the inherent responsibility to do the best we can (really, the best!! we can) and to go forth and multiply. Not, to use an old fashioned term, in vain glory or seeking wealth and power over others, but simply to use the talents we were born with in the best possible way.
However, the other conditioned restrictions of always eating the burnt chop and turning the other cheek have certainly played a significant part in undermining the impetus of the primary motivation. As a result the coffers are perhaps not as full as they could have been. But as life is a journey I am starting to disassociate from the concept of ‘deserving’ success, and can feel the gears slowly starting to shift into a more definite forward motion.
At the end of the day, I would hope that I have financial independence in my old age, am able to leave enough money to pay for my funeral, that there is a ‘little something’ left over for my children, and that during my lifetime I develop the capacity to make an active difference to my community, without feeling that I have taken from my family to do so.
My view of money is that it is elastic and does somewhat resemble plasticine. Like the Irish Shilling, there’s always enough, even when it appears that there isn’t. But money in and of itself is sterile and useless. In working on Myrtle Cottage, it has given me great pleasure to provide work for other people, and to recycle the money through the local economy. But like the Gambler’s Song, (you) never count your money while you’re sitting at the table, there’ll be time enough for counting when the dealings’ done.
So, (and I could have said this 1,000 words ago) my motivation is the action, and the money will always come.
By the way, perhaps the question should have been where is the wound for Chiron to heal? Oedipus, after all, did not have a problem with money.
Oh and Bagg, don't forget to 'share' your own experience with this one - where is your limitation?
Cheers
Kristine