A Time To Consider
These questions are more common and out in the open today than at any time in our history. It is an evolution of thought around the issues of money--wealth, earning and acquisition--that is pointing us back to our own souls. We are being faced with the choice of being a consumer or being a contributor. It is this evolution of money/life consciousness that makes this a truly modern struggle. Many of us are fully cognizant of this tension between means and meaning, and we are left to negotiate our lives within this tension.
Many in science today portray man as nothing more than carbon-based machinery, whose belief in immaterial matters is nothing more than some sort of epiphenomenon. Biologist O. E. Wilson wrote, "Consciousness is no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules," and that the hidden operations of our mental activities give us "the illusion of free will."
Science can't help us in this struggle. This "illusion" that we feel on the inside to do something significant, to make a difference, to touch our fellow man, has its eyes on both our wallets and our souls. Religion, philosophy and "life coaching" are the sources of inspiration that we will seek to resolve this tension, not modern science.
In the eight inches of space between my too-large ears, this "vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules" tells me, in fact, that it is more than a vast assembly, and that the yearning for earning and the leaning toward meaning are long-separated friends destined to connect in our lives and to do great things together.
We are not all fools on this planet. Many have learned to distinguish the voices around them from the voices within and to discover the vast territory that exists between having made it and having it made. I am convinced that our generation will traverse this territory and experience what all creation yearns for-the amalgam of means and meaning.
©2008 Mitch Anthony. All Rights Reserved. Mitch is the president of the Financial Life Planning Institute and Advisor Insights Inc. He is an industry leader in training advisors on building life-centered relationships. His numerous books include The New Retirementality and Your Clients for Life. He can be reached at [email protected].