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Spititual Medicine (Part II)

Philip Incao, M.D.

Dr. Philip Incao has more than 40 years of experience in medical practice. Since 1972, he adopted Anthroposophical Medicine as the approach in his work with patients. At Crestone, Colorado in June 2007, Dr. Incao gave 2 lectures to participants of Lapis Lazuli Light workshop. The following is 2nd installment of the transcript, lightly edited by Ashyea.

Today, I’d begin the lecture with a quote from the Buddha.

“Do not believe of what you have heard.
Do not believe in the traditions because they have been passed down for many generations.
Do not believe in anything because it is rumoured and spoken by many.
Do not believe merely because a written statement of some old sage is produced.
Do not believe in conjectures; do not believe in that as truth to which you have become attached by habit.
Do not believe merely in the authority of your teachers and elders.
After observation and analysis, when it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and gain of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”

Some people have questions when I spoke about karma as a source of illness [in my previous lecture]. Let me elaborate a little and see if it addresses the questions.

What is a healthy attitude to an illness?

We should respect illness but we should not fear illness. Illness is like a dangerous animal; if you fear it, the fear might make it more dangerous. However, we should always respect an illness. We should not surrender to it, but we should surrender our personal self and recognize that in the illness, our true self is trying to manifest.

We will place what Dr. Mitchell May calls the Personal Self at the level of Soul. And what he calls the True Self, we will place it at level of Spirit. In illness, we need to get our Personal Self out of the way so that the True Self can come in. And we must always assume that the illness has a good reason for visiting us, even if we have no idea what that is. We may realize the reason much later. If we have no interest in the reason, the illness may keep coming back in one form or another until we learn to take more interest in our health.

We need good judgment and discernment in evaluating what kind of practical help we need in the course of an illness. Some illnesses are self-healing – they burn themselves out like a fire that runs out of fuel.

Anyone who wants to help and support an ill person, must never, never, never blame a person for his/her illness. We also should not encourage the belief that illness has no meaning, that there is nothing to learn from illness.

Those of us who try to help another – healers and doctors – should never assume that we can know exactly what the lesson or meaning of the illness is for a person. We should support and validate any ill person who wants to find and discover for themselves the meaning or lesson of their illness. The doctor must never assume that he can know this patient’s karma. So the doctor should forget about karma and do everything possible within reason to preserve and prolong this patient’s health and life.

No doctors can change his patient’s karma but we can change our own karma by making the changes in our attitudes, thoughts, feelings and habits that our True Self wants us to make. The healer or the doctor can support and encourage the patient to make those changes.

The different kinds of illness

The 4 basic realities of spirit, soul, life and body can combine themselves in different ways. Generally, they combine themselves in 2 different ways to form a polarity. This polarity evolved, and it is similar to the ancient polarity of Yin and Yang, though not exactly the same.

One form of polarity lives in the human head. The other lives in the human gut, digestion. This polarity comes from above. As above, so below. The human being is designed in the image of God. In the ancient times, people perceived a God in the sun. They didn’t believe that the sun was a God. They perceived that the sun was a God because they had a certain amount of clairvoyance. And they saw two aspects in the sun – one aspect was light, the other was warmth. They recognized and we recognize it too, that without the sun, all life on earth would die. They perceived that in the light lived wisdom, and in the warmth lived love.

Wisdom in the Light

When these spiritual forces work themselves down into matter, they create different kinds of matter. The light shines on the matter from the outside and it gives wisdom and form – a pattern along which the matter can form itself. Just like silica.

The wise man said, “Silica is formed by the light and for the light because it’s transparent. And it reflects the light.” These are formed in certain geometric patterns. It is a divine spiritual geometry that comes down to earth. That same formative principle is what forms in the human body, the nervous system, the brain and the sense organs. In forming a crystal, the light gives it its direction. But the crystal is then formed out of physical substance. It is a substance which can reflect, just like the brain can reflect the thinking, the crystal can reflect and transmit light.

We human beings have inner light within us. We have light in our thinking. We have light that strings through our nervous system. That light is spiritual and cannot be detected with physical instruments. Yet the spiritual light in our thinking, brain and our nervous system break down into electrical impulses that can be detected with physical instruments. This is one aspect of the divine spirit.

Love in the Warmth

The other aspect of divine spirit is warmth or love. It doesn’t just stay on the outside of the matter. It loves matter and it dives right into matter. Then the matter gets warmer and begins to burn. This is a sacrificial fire. In all ancient religions, people burned a sacrifice to appeal to the Gods. Smoke would rise to the spiritual world. Ancient wisdom said, “Fire attracts”. In burning the sacrifice, they hoped to attract the divine spirit to come down and bless them.

It is a destruction when the spirit works this way: it goes right into matter, burns and destroys the matter in order to attract more spirit. It is a death in order to make a rebirth. And this process goes on in our body continually because all our cells are continually dying. It is the fastest in the digestive system and in the muscles, continually replaced by new cells. Working in this way, the spirit would continually destroy and remove the material body. In 7 years, all the cells in our body would have died. All of you who are sitting here now were not here 7 years ago in your physical bodies. Spirit keeps forming based on these two principles so that we are still the same person even though all our substances have changed.

It is fascinating to see how that wisdom appears in different cultures. There was an ancient Greek philosopher, before Socrates, named Empedoeles who also had a little clairvoyance. He saw the same polarity and he called it ‘cosmos and chaos’, ‘hate and love’. In ancient alchemy, it was salt and sulfur. Salt also forms crystal. Sulfur burns. The German poet, Goethe, called it ‘contraction and expansion’. Rudolf Steiner called it ‘cosmic antipathy and cosmic sympathy’. In the human soul, it is ‘thinking and will’. In the human body, it is nerve and blood. In human illness, it’s sclerosis and inflammation.

The American poet, Robert Frost, also artistically perceived the same two cosmic principles and he wrote a poem called “Fire and Ice”. I’d like to read that poem for you.

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

I’d like to quote Steiner from his book:

“There is no absolute truth. Each truth has its particular mission at a certain time. Truth evolves as does everything else in the world. Truth is the form of the divine spirit. But the divine spirit has many forms. It is our duty to enter into what another person says. We need only make clear to another person that we value him at that stage of truth where he stands. Everyone has to learn for himself and that’s we shall become tolerant for every form of truth. Love is higher than opinion. To be interested in another person is a form of love. If people are interested in one another, the most conflicting opinion can be reconciled.”

Every illness is an exaggeration of a normal process in the body. There is the Yin and Yang; there is warm and cold. Our belly needs to be warm in order to digest in a healthy way. It’s hard to digest when the belly is freezing cold. Head needs to be cool in order to think. You can’t think when your head is very, very hot. We continually have an energy in us that is warming us. It lives in our blood, circulation and our heart. We also continually have an energy in us that is cooling us. That energy lives in our brain and our nervous system. If this warming energy goes too far, it creates inflammation in the body. If the cooling energy goes too far, it creates hardening, scleroses.

What is an inflammation?

An inflammation is a pimple on your skin. A sore throat. An influenza. Pneumonia. It is all of the diseases that we call infections. The word ‘infection’ is new, only since the time of Louis Pasteur. Now we don’t use the word inflammation, we say “I have an infection, virus or I have bacteria.” But the virus or bacteria is not the true cause of the problem.

There are 4 cardinal sciences that have been known since ancient Greece, ancient Roman and, I am sure, in the East also. The 4 cardinal sciences of inflammation are fever, pain, redness and swelling.

The inflammation is trying to destroy because it’s the fire process, the warmth process. In the warmth process, spirit destroys matter. It’s trying to destroy the matter in our body that is old. Our body is like a house. We are constantly remodeling all the time. But if we get lazy and we don’t want to repeat remodeling the house, we leave it alone. Then when the material of the house gets old, it begins to decay. When it begins to decay, our spirit says we have to get rid of that stuff, it’s turning rotten.

There are other causes of inflammation like any toxic chemicals that we absorb. The cigarette we smoke provoke inflammation in our lungs. As we absorb substances (tar from the tobacco), they are in our lungs, and our spirit does not want anything foreign in our body. So we get bronchitis or pneumonia. Then spirit starts to break down matter in our body, not only the tar but the cells in our body that have absorbed the tar. And it creates a lot of toxicity in our lungs through the process of destruction.

In your kitchen, if you don’t clean up after you make a meal, leaving the food out, it starts to decay and attracts a lot of flies. Then the scientist comes to your kitchen and says, “I have the solution for this. I will kill the flies.” But he does not clean up the kitchen. That is what happens when you take an antibiotic. You go to the doctor because you have smoked cigarettes and you have bronchitis or pneumonia, fever. The doctor takes a culture of your sputum and he says, “You have a bacteria in there, we should kill it. So here is this antibiotic.” And you say thank you because you are getting very frightened about that bronchitis or pneumonia.

The antibiotic kills the germs which were stimulating the immune system to create the fire. The fire (the inflammation) is created by the immune system. The germ is only the stimulus to create fever, pain, redness and swelling. All of that is produced by the immune system. This is an inner fire and the fuel for the fire is the tobacco tar that we took in. The germs are there too, because they like all that garbage. When the immune system creates fire that kills the germs, it dissolves the tobacco tar, pushes it out of the body and we cough up brown mucus. When we take an antibiotic, that whole process is shut down. All the toxicity that was trying to come out goes back into storage in the body. And it stays there until we get the next bronchitis. If we keep going to get antibiotic every time we get bronchitis, after a while we don’t get bronchitis any more. Instead, we will get lung cancer.

Healing versus Suppression

There are two ways to treat inflammation. One is to help it comes out of body and the other is to push it back into the body. The first method, which is to draw out of the body, is healing. The second method, which is used in modern medicine predominantly, is suppression. If you keep suppressing toxicity that wants to come out, you push it deeper into the body and eventually it can become, not always, a cancer.

When the inflammation is acute, which means we will have a high fever, (This is the way pneumonia behaves in the old days before antibiotics), the fire would burn very strongly until it would discharge and the patient would have a soaking sweat. After the sweat, the fever will be gone, and the pneumonia will be gone. That is still the way large part of the world treats inflammation. I once had a young man in my medical practice. He was born in Africa. He looked very healthy, radiating. And I asked him, “When you got a fever, when you were a child, what did your parents do? Did they take your temperature?” He laughed, “No, they wrapped me in blankets until I broke a sweat which would take a long time. After the sweat, I was better.”

The other side of the problem is that when you have an acute inflammation that is burning, it can heal itself or you can die from it – either the spirit pushes out all of the poison, or the spirit leaves and you die. The job of a doctor is to figure out which one is happening. If it looks like the spirit is going to leave, you need antibiotic. It is usually not that difficult to tell. As a patient who is going through an illness, if you are not paralyzed with fear, you can sense how severe your illness is. You can sense whether you have the forces to push out the poisons or whether you are overwhelmed and you need help.

About taking an antibiotic: If you take it on the first day of the illness, you will suppress the illness. If you take it after several days of illness and you really feel you have no energy left, then perhaps you already purged out 80% or 90% of the illness, and you just need help with that last 10%. Here, you take the antibiotic, suppress not the whole illness but only 10% of the illness. And you can always work out that 10% at a later time.

When I was practicing in upstate New York, I saw a lot of children with fevers and inflammations. Most of the time, I was able to help them through the infection, inflammation without an antibiotic. Once a mother called and asked me to visit her house as her little girl was violently sick with a fever and inflammation. You can sense from the intensity of the process that she was overwhelmed by this inflammation. And I knew that either I have to send her to the hospital or to give her antibiotic. I gave her an antibiotic and she responded it and the inflammation cooled down. This was around the time of her birthday. After that was over, the mother said she’s not herself. She’s irritable, feeling really uncomfortable in her body. But she wasn’t sick. The inflammation was over. Yet she was a little bit irritable. This inflammation was pneumonia that cleared with the antibiotic, suppressed. A year later, again around the time of her birthday, she got another pneumonia. This time, it was not so violent or intense. I said to her mother, “I think we can get her through this without the antibiotic.” That was the last 20% of what she did not work out the first time. She worked it through the second time. And the mother said now she’s acting like herself again. So you need to find a doctor that understands the difference between healing and suppression.

Time-honored methods of treatment

In many traditional medicines, there are three time-honored methods that have been used for thousands of years to treat inflammation. These three methods are designed to bring out the illness. There is an old saying “You must bring out what is within you. If you bring out what is within you, what you bring out will save you. If you do not bring out what is within you, what you do not bring out will kill you.”

One of the real causes of illness is chronic resentment. Resentment is an anger that we don’t let out; we hold it inside for years and years in time. The healing of resentment is to let it go and forgive. If you do that, it will save you. If you bring out what is within you, what you bring out will save you. If you do not bring out your resentment, it can become a cancer and kill you. Poison on the consciousness or soul level eventually becomes a poison on the physical level. Resentment works in us like a poison in our soul. Eventually the soul wants to get rid of it so it pushes into the body and then it becomes a cancer. Just like the rain coming down onto the earth; the resentment is the cloud in the sky, but when that falls down to the earth, it becomes a sclerotic, contracting, hardening illness because resentment is hard. Forgiveness expands, resentment contracts.

The first method is the one that the African patient told me – sweating. The second method is fasting. And the third is purging the bowel. These work very well. Usually when I had a person sick with the inflammation, I told them to get in bed, get warm, sweat and take laxatives. I told them not to eat any protein. The old saying: “Starve a fever.” If you have a fever, don’t eat eggs or meat or fish or even tofu, just take very light food.

If you have a tendency toward the cold diseases, toward storing your feelings, then the best thing that could happen to you is to get a good strong fever. A fever is the natural enemy of cancer. It can prevent a cancer. If you already have a cancer and you are able to get a fever, it can break down the cancer. Not just cancer but other sclerotic illnesses.

Back in 1922, there was a psychiatrist in Europe who won a Nobel Prize for healing what was up until then incurable syphilis sickness with fever therapy. Syphilis is a disease that starts as an inflammation but ends in a sclerosis in the brain. Now in this country and all over the world, we have lyme disease which also starts as an inflammation but can sometimes ends in nervous system as a sclerotic problem. It starts on the hot side and progresses to the cold side, so it was a form of degeneration. It de-generates the nervous system. This doctor injected the patients with malaria. His patients got high fever and he healed thousands of patients in that way and he won a Nobel Prize. That just demonstrates the principle that a fever can cure something that is stuck in the body. If you have this (holding a big piece of crystal) that’s stuck in your body, it is very uncomfortable. You should pray for a fever and then this dissolves, you cough it up and spit it out. This (crystal) is resentment.

To be continued in third and last installment..

Further reading:
For articles by Dr. Philip Incao, please visit www.philipincao.com
For works by Dr. Rudolf Steiner, please visit www.rsarchive.org

The Seven Levels Of Illness And Healing- A Modern Fable

Philip Incao, M.D.

Once upon a time in a far-off realm, seven students of the art of healing were gathered for their final examination. Their mentor, who was old, wise and greatly loved by his pupils, led them to the bedside of a patient they had known well in life. Alas, he had just given up the ghost, and as the students contemplated with sadness and wonder his lifeless form, the master posed the question.

The students were among the best and brightest of that realm, and they pondered deeply the master’s question, but hesitated to speak. Finally, one student, who had been in deep meditation, spoke.

1. “Honored teacher, you have taught me much, and I have also learned from the wisdom which the stars speak to me. It is clear to me that our friend and patient had lived out his destiny. He had completed his karma for this life. He freely chose his path and followed it to the ends of his god-given capacities. He could make no further progress within the limits of the soul and bodily constitution furnished to him in this life. So he—his spirit–departed his body for higher realms, to begin work on a new body affording his spirit and soul further progress when he returns. It was ordained by his own higher will and of course by God’s will.

The master was silent, but another student spoke up, a bit impatiently.

2. “Yes, yes,” she said, “we know about karma and reincarnation, but there is a more proximate cause of death here, one closer to the reality of this fellow’s life as he lived it.” The others regarded her expectantly, as she continued, “The spark had gone from his soul, he had lost all interest in life. He had given up, he had lost his will to live. That’s why he died.”

3. They all pondered her words in silence. Then another student summoned the courage to speak. He began hesitantly, “We all know that our spirit and soul have a guiding influence on our health in the course of our lives, but it was his body after all that failed him in the end. For weeks before he died his pulses were so weak I could barely feel them. His chi, his life forces were utterly exhausted, and his organs had no energy to function. His adrenals especially were shot. He was utterly stressed out, fatally depleted of the force and energy of life.”

4. Now a few students began to speak. “Yes, I agree, I agree” said one, “but we’re neglecting the most important factor, his lifestyle. He was a very gifted man, but he neglected his health terribly. He ate, drank, smoked and used drugs to excess. He would work, or party, at night and sleep during the day. Women loved him and he greatly and frequently enjoyed them. His life consisted of chaotic highs and lows, totally lacking in any rhythm or consistency. And he never got any fresh air or exercise. It’s no wonder he exhausted his life forces!

5. Now the students became more animated. “Yes, he was very complex and very talented,” said one, “an intense and passionate soul. We will certainly miss him. But I agree that his lifestyle was torture for his body. I’m sure his cells and organs were so stressed that they were unable to properly carry out their breathing, digesting and self-cleansing life processes. This caused stagnation and congestion, leading to a build-up of cellular wastes and toxins. I am absolutely certain that the levels of toxins in his blood were sky high. And that’s what killed him in the end—he was utterly toxic. He died from his own toxicity, and his exhausted organs were unable to eliminate the poisons in his body. He could no longer detoxify, so he died.”

6. The remaining students spoke at once, excitedly. The master’s eyes widened, but he remained silent. One voice broke through, “Yes, one could see from his tongue and from his eyes that he was toxic, but what follows toxicity as night follows day …? Why, infection of course!” he exclaimed. “We all know that as surely as garbage and manure attract flies, much of the toxicity and waste matter in our body will attract the bacteria and other vermin that normally live in, on and around us. I am sure he died of an infection. He had a very high fever, he was septic!

7. Now, all had spoken save one. The last student looked at her colleagues with admiration, and spoke slowly and thoughtfully. “I can’t disagree with anything that has been said,” she began, “but I have been studying the most recent research, and it seems we have neglected the ultimate and most proximate cause of our friend’s demise. Yes, he had an infection, and was septic, but in the end it was his own immune system that killed him.”

The other students were incredulous. “How can that be?! That’s impossible!” they exclaimed. A faint smile crossed the master’s face, but he remained silent.

The last student continued, “Yes, until recently the immune system was thought to be always protective, except of course in autoimmune diseases. But now science has discovered that our immune system produces chemical agents in our body that can sometimes harm us and even kill us. These agents, called cytokines, are of many different types: the interferons, the interleukins, the tumor-necrosis factors, and others. Some of these cytokines create and intensify inflammation in the body and other cytokines inhibit and shut down inflammation when it has done enough of its cleansing work. When our body works harmoniously, then our cytokines create just enough mild inflammation to destroy excessive microbes and to maintain the ongoing detoxification of our bodies, without causing symptoms. But just as the same fire that warms our home can also burn it down, so too, when our immune system is grievously provoked by severe imbalance, toxicity or infection, it can aberrantly unleash a “cytokine storm,” a massive outpouring of cytokines into our blood stream. These then cause a systemic inflammation to flare up in us and rage out of control, causing high fever, septic shock, or generalized sepsis and a severe dysfunction or shut-down of major organs often ending in death. That is what finally killed our dear departed friend and patient.”

The students were silent, alternately lost in thought and gazing at one another in wonder, reflecting on all that had been said.

Though reluctant to break the rich silence, with great emotion the master finally spoke:
“My dear pupils, your words and thoughts have warmed me to the core of my being, and brought joy to my heart. Though I have but little knowledge, I believe that all that has been spoken is true. Before my wondering soul, you have unfolded a continuous chain of causation from the heights into the inner depths of the human body, stretching from spirit into matter. At each link of the chain, we might discover a different way that the human spirit, soul and life force can work together harmoniously in the body to create health, or work in conflict with each other to create illness in the physical body.
You are now ready to go out into the world as healers. My teaching is done, you will learn from your patients now. But remember always the seven levels of illness you have learned today. None of the illnesses you will encounter will have only a single cause. Many levels work together in health and illness, and you must never judge on one or two levels alone. You must remain aware of all levels of causation from highest to lowest, regardless of whether you can see through them or not. That will give you the necessary measure of humility to truly heal.”

Then the seven students, having passed their final examination, bid farewell to each other and to their beloved teacher and went out into the world to practice the art of healing. They were unsure in their knowledge and understanding, but their will to heal was strong. And they learned much from their patients, and they healed many, and they grew in understanding.

Why Do You Go To Work Everyday?

The Dragon Tribe Of Long Island (The State That Needs No Money) Series
Zhu Lan

Walking along familiar streets, but the blue skies and sweet air have already revealed that this is a foreign land. Looking around, the whole street is covered with lush green trees and fresh flowers while images of buildings and transportation vehicles all feel very pleasing to the eyes. There is not the slightest tinge of luxurious extravagance. The integration of the entire environmental co-ordination is simple, succinct and natural. Passer bys are of different ethnicity and skin colors but they all seem so happy and delighted. One cannot help but smile upon seeing such overflowing joy and happiness. Though I am not clear where this place is but intuition tells me that this is a good and beautiful place.

As I walked on, I felt a little thirsty so I leisurely strolled into a coffee shop round the corner. After drinking a cup of thick, fragrant and delicious coffee, I left my seat, prepared to make my payment. The genial service personnel who seemed a little stunned, asked, “What is money?”

Even more stunned, I decided to first clarify exactly what country I am in. There is a bookstore not far away. I walked in quickly and went straight to the map section. I discovered that this is an enormous state but it does not match with any of the countries on Earth. Is it not on Earth??? But I have never heard of any findings on human habitation in other planets.

I returned to the streets, totally confused. I took a deep breath of fresh air, reorganized my thoughts and arrived at a supermarket. The first thing I did upon entry was to check if there are any cashier counters. I saw many customers carrying their goods waiting in queue near the exit. This familiar scene greatly set my mind at ease. I conveniently picked a few daily items and went to queue at the end of a waiting line. When my turn was near, I noticed a strange phenomenon. The working staff only focused on organizing and packing the customers’ items swiftly and did not have any cash register operations. My mind felt blank. I put my items down and left the supermarket quickly. Once again, I stood lost in the street.

Where is this place exactly?

How is it that all things here do not have a price?

How can a society possibly not have money?

Totally mystified, I could no longer think but only stood wherever I am. Suddenly I saw a smiling, well dressed gentleman walking towards me. He introduced himself as my guide and welcomed my arrival. Seeing the bewildered look on my face, he smiled even more deeply and inquired about my needs and what I would like to see, understand or experience.

Stabilizing myself, I sat down with my guide and started the multitude of my questions.

I asked, “Don’t you have something called money here?”
Guide asked, “Money? What is money?”

I took some notes and coins out from my wallet and placed them in the open. The gentleman guide took a look at them in detail for a while, then asked, “What is the use of these little dirty pieces of paper and small tinsels?”

How does one then explain money to another who lives in a country state, where money is not required? I really don’t know where to start, so I barely sorted out my ideas and answered, “In the country I live in, we do some work and we get paid in the form of money. Everything has a price, whether buying or eating, we have to pay through money. So without money, one cannot live.”

The gentleman asked, “So in your country, work is for money.”
I answered, “Yes. Ain’t work for the purpose of earning money?”

Gentleman answered, “We want to work for other people, for the society and also for making contributions of oneself while the things that we need in life, the society and people in it would cater back to us.”

I replied, “But with money, you can save them for future need. More savings can also bring about more luxurious lifestyle which many people in my country delights in.

Gentleman asked, “What is luxury?”
I answered, “One can buy and eat all that one desires.”

Gentleman replied, “We are also able to get all that we desire too.”
I said, “Obtaining your ordinary daily needs is not called luxury. Luxury refers to the possession of things that are very costly or having far more of what is required from our daily needs.”

Completely missing the point, the gentleman displayed an expression of disbelief. He asked, “What is the use of having more than what is required? Won’t the start of such pursuits bring about an endless cycle?”

I felt that the gentleman’s reasoning has been most logical but I could not concede defeat so easily so I answered, “However if one has savings, one would be able to feel more secure in old age or when one could no longer work, right?”

The guide who was becoming even more puzzled could only answer in question now. He queried, “Over here, we are happy to present gifts for the needs of the elderly and people who are unable to work. In your place, if such people have no money, they would get nothing?

Hearing this, I could no longer debate on my heaps of questions on systems such as annuity, so I changed the topic of discussion, “But how is a society to function without this money thing?

The gentleman replied, “Even in your country, no one eats or uses money directly right? Money is just a recognized common measurement tool for value by your people. Suppose money disappears totally from your country and everyone still continues to do what they are supposed to do, then how could a society not function?

Although I could share his logic, but I still did not think that realistically such a condition is feasible, “If money does not exist, then there would not be anybody working, our world would then collapse.”

Gentleman laughed, “The world collapses for these pieces of paper and small metal tinsels is indeed a very interesting view. However the possibility of immediate change in your country’s entire system is truly very small. What is most important and essential now is the spiritual growth of your people. You are the ones to fully decide how the future social system will look like. When you do not require money to obtain that which you want, would you be able to control your desires? Would you still go to work when you will not receive any direct remuneration from all your hard work and efforts?

I did not know how to reply the guide. He continued, “If the majority of the people in your state still hold the idea of working only for money, then there can be no real sense of consciousness progress. The purpose of work is to give, not to receive. If it is only for the reward, many problems would certainly arise. For example, no matter how much effort has made, one would always hope for the reward to be more, the better. Regardless of the work engaged is essential or not, one would never give it up in order to secure one’s interests and advantages. At the same time, the various professions, crises and problems derived from money would naturally cease to exist when there is no longer such a thing called money. As such, resources in the area of manpower, logistics and efforts restored to the society would be inconceivable.”

As our conversation continued, the picture of the money-less state is revealed even more clearly. Here, all is based on faith. The people are more concerned with how one can better serve the community and others, rather than the matters of oneself. One’s job lies in where one’s abilities are. There are absolutely no wastages, one takes only what is needed. Although the standard of living, culture and technology are highly developed, our so-called “luxury” does not exist in their world. Their wisdom is sufficient for them to realize what truly matters. They cherish resources, hence garbage is extremely minimal. There is no comparison of “what you have, I must also have.” Neither is there the competition of “I want to have more and better than what you do.” Neither is there the desire of “making one’s mark, to become outstanding.” Whether it is material or spiritual life, all possess a certain calmness and joy. We, who are lost in our endless pursuit of what is unimportant and unneeded, are a far cry in comparison to them.

Is such society created because there is no requirement for money? Or is it because such group of people exists in the society, hence making ‘monetary system’ totally unnecessary? Perhaps the most direct and important question that one wishes to ask is, “If money is not involved, would you still go to work tomorrow?”

Translated by D.D.
Original Chinese article was published in Lapis magazine (February 2009 issue);
Available online at: http://www.lapislazuli.org/TradCh/magazine/200902/20090206.html