The covid pandemic has been one many ongoing and connected crises that that demonstrate two human responses to crisis. The first is defensive — a fear-fuelled retreat into control, shoring up resources, separateness, some form of shut-down/escapism, rigidity or frantic doing, denial, clinging, aversion. The second is open — the crisis becomes an opportunity for creativity, agility, connecting with others and connecting of dots, seeing more clearly, a going-towards. The defensive response, paradoxically, while seemingly being about securing our existence, has the opposite effect of pushing us and other species over the edge of extinction. How, then, amidst all this volatility, insecurity and loss, can we tap into humanity’s true creative power?
I believe that part of the answer lies in our relationship to money and in our bodies. Over the past seven years, I’ve been exploring a practice developed by Peter Koenig to transform our relationship to money called Money Work. It is simple but it reaches deep, impacting the human psyche and nervous system in ways that have given me huge hope for a much needed boost in human capacity to respond to today’s challenges.
In this piece, I’m going to start pulling together some threads that need connecting to explain why and how. Broadly, these threads are to do with culture, money, fear of death and our nervous systems, and in this first piece, I am going to focus on the first three. Further down the road, I will explain what all this has to do with our nervous system and say more about the practice of Money Work. This, and the next part, are also intended for those of you already well versed in Money Work, as I believe death anxiety and neurobiology are fundamental to understanding our practice.
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