Money: Past, Present, Future

People have always believed that the Jews have a special secret for “attracting money.” Kabbalists were particularly accused of this. Alchemists attempted to formulate a “golden formula” based on learning ancient Jewish mystical teachings.

In some ways these people were right. Kabbalists truly know the “secret of money.” And the secret is their bestowal.

Only little children do not understand that everything in the physical world has its own value, its price—the required amount of effort invested to acquire what is desired. Money is a measure. But how is it possible to measure the inner efforts of a person, his happiness, sadness, importance?

We need to constantly measure our connection with each other. People actively exchange the results of their labor. The emergence of money as universal equivalent of our efforts replaced the exchange of goods.

Money, as well, is the equivalent of universal human desires. If I want something, I am ready to give everything for it. It may not be of material value (for instance, the memory of a beloved grandmother), but I would pay for it materially. Everything depends on individual requests.

The wisdom of Kabbalah has always studied and investigated the source, our nature itself. It is necessary to pay (through money or effort) for pleasure. The word “money” (Kesef in Hebrew) has the same root as the word “yearning” (Kisuf), meaning a covering (Kisui) of my egoism. I cover my desires to satisfy them by placing a Masach (screen) over them through their correct use. In our society, direct reception based upon egoism is impossible.

Therefore the concept of money (Kesef) is linked to the Masach that the person places over his desires. Thanks to the Masach and the desires, he can carry out what he wants according to the size of the Masach, meaning according to the value of the money.

When a person wants to acquire something, he must pay an equivalent sum of money that the seller stipulates. This is the version of relationships between us in an egoistic society. How is this arranged in altruism, when the exchange scheme—money for commodity—doesn’t work and we buy not what suits us but what gives pleasure to someone else?

The world is gradually reaching a new economy: money no longer works. Already there are countries in the world in
where you can take a bank loan with zero and even negative interest.That is, you give back less than you took. This is evidence that money ceases to play the role as the universal equivalent for reception and gradually is beginning to play a role as the general equivalent of bestowal.

Here a purely Kabbalistic principle is working: receiving in order to bestow. All of humanity is gradually moving toward this model. This transformation is not understood by our egoistic intellect.

The world bankers are seriously considering giving more money to the population so that the economy will be stimulated. The consumer society is coming to an end. Previously we were encouraged to consume, and now, on the contrary , to give.

Society has reached a state in its development in which it is possible to supply everyone with what is needed and money no longer plays a role. It has lost its value.

Coming to the forefront are relationships between people, and people are beginning to search for fulfillment and pleasure in society in connection with other people, not in material terms, because we have become too dependent on each other.

The world is advancing toward general production. And the most important product of this society is the right mutual relationships. Money is losing its value before our eyes.

We see drug addicts supplied with 10 grams of drugs so that they will not yearn for money at all, or the unemployed who are not seeking to earn money living from the welfare provided by the state to cover their minimal  requirements.

In this way, from bodily pleasure, we are moving to spiritual fulfillment. Society cannot yet to weigh and understand this, so people become depressed. In fact, the previously purely egoistic universal equivalent—gold coins, jewels, slaves—is above the material, a spiritual equivalent.

How much as a person can connect people to each other is what will be appreciated. He will be judged by his direct participation in the arrangement of society, in the public “factory.”

So the next form of money will be the Masach itself, meaning the right relationships between people. Through connecting, bringing one’s share, and giving to his fellow man, each one of us “pays” the very “spiritual money (Kesef)” and covers (Mekaseh)the common desire for fulfillment. How much I can offer, give, and bestow to another, this is the measure to which I will also be able to receive.

This is exactly how trade will look like in the future because the most important element in the process is to exchange one’s participation in the general “production” of common desires for the collective overall fulfillment.

We live in the world where the Light is unlimited. But the size of our Kli (vessel) depends on the degree of the connection between us. If the connection is negative, the vessel has no fulfillment, we live in materiality and constantly strive for self-fulfillment, like an animal.

If the connection is zero, then we are almost at the transitional level between an animal and a human being. When our connection is positive, we attain a complete degree called Man (Adam, from the word “Domeh” – similar to the Creator). We move on to a completely opposite function of money, measured not by how much I can get but by how much I can give.

The problem is how we move from the material state to the spiritual state. This is the transition we need to make with money, where it will turn into an equivalent of bestowal instead of receiving.

In this world, things that fulfill us are always in somebody else’s hands. So, in order to satisfy myself, I have to pay for pleasures. This world is just a game. In the eternal state are absolute delights, fulfillments, which are also in the hands of the Master, the Creator, nature.

How can we get these pleasures? The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches this. This wisdom is named from the word “Lekabel” – “to receive.” However, receiving is very interesting. Kabbalah teaches us that just as in this world where we pay for what we want, in the spiritual world we have to pay for what we get. Nothing is given for free!

So what do we pay with? We pay with our desires. The Creator sets the price for “endless pleasures” that are available only under one condition: being able to endlessly receive from Him. In other words, the size of our desire should have no limits. Until we reach this level, our will to receive is fulfilled or not filled, there is pleasure or the absence of pleasure.

The law leads us to obtaining perpetual enjoyment of existence beyond the parameters of this material plane. “I want to give you the entire universe, my dear guest, if you can consume all of it!” – as if the Host, Creator, tells us. But how can we make our desires endless?

At some point, after we satisfy all of our material desires, we start dealing with a qualitative evolution of the desire, thus ascending to spiritual needs and pleasures. At this point, the law of similarity of properties steps in.

Initially we are created with “small desires,” the desires of this world. They are finite because the filling is limited. But when we connect with nature using the methodology of Kabbalah, we acquire huge desires since we manage to embrace Infinity. I get fulfilled for the sake of fulfilling Him.

I receive to fulfill Him. For there is none besides Him. Where is money in the picture? It reflects various states between us. It is a huge screen that is placed between people. What do we pay to the Creator for immense pleasures He give us? Our payment is our intention to fulfill Him through accepting His gifts. All we can do is to repay Him with our positive attitude to Him.

In the future, money will work in reverse; it will be used for bestowal. We will share fulfillments with each other. We will fully invest in society, which will be the “bank” of mutual efforts to provide each other mutual guarantee. This kind of a bank is called the soul. In it, we will sense the Creator, mutually fulfilling each other endlessly.