Ethics of money in Business

The current system of national currencies is a system that accumulates. It is designed to do so. The fact that interest is charged for the lending of money goes against every religious injunction, including Christianity. That injunction was over ridden and now usury is a common practice with 23% not unusual.

Why is interest so bad? From a systems perspective it is actually outside the system of exchange. For instance, if I borrow $50 from you and you ask for 10% interest, then I need to earn $55 to pay you back, that "extra" $5 needs to come from somewhere. I need to take it from someone else, presumably as "profit." This creates an accelerating loop that needs to be constantly fed, as a simple exchange won't generate enough "extra" to feed the interest machine. This is why "growth" is so important. Without expansion interest is not possible. It is therefore antisystemic.

If you are interested in learning more about our money system and its impacts, I'd suggest: Bernard Lietaer - The Future of money, Arron Russo's video: America - Freedom to Fascism, or Robert Wright's book, Nonzero - Destiny.

If you are disenchanted with the "Law of Attraction" I'd suggest you spend some time with Abraham-Hicks. This Law is such a significant part of our world, I can't tell you. It is mostly in effect using fear as the attractor. We have seen its effectiveness in Nazi Germany, Rwanda, Daurfur, and recently in this country. You may attract what your fear or what you love, but it is your mental patterns of thinking that will manifest. As a man thinketh, so he acts.

The discipline of changing your own thought patterns is tremendous and the subtle corruption pervasive in our society to be fearful is quite extraordinary. The Law of Attraction is engaged through your emotions, so feeling good, being joyful is key. Sometimes this has to do with money and stuff, but most often not. Staying out of fear while dealing with fearful things is a key skill needed today to shift our poor planet into a sustainable life. Fear is NOT sustainable.

I see all of this as an ethical issue. Ethics is all about relationships. Actions that keep us in relationship to: each other, our true self and the planet are ethical actions. Those that generate separation are not. It's very simple, but also very hard. This is particularly true for business. The focus on profit and short-term issues creates separation. The true purpose of business is to enhance human life. Business in relationship to human beings. Without being clear on the purpose of what we are doing, it is very easy to get off track.

It is how we do things, not so much what we do, that makes a difference. A company can be producing sustainable products and still mistreat the workforce, for instance. Hierarchies are inherently difficult to manage well. Telling people what to do instead of engaging them in finding the answers is another hold over that has tremendous limitations, yet is almost instinctive in us from our family up bringing. All of these need to change if we want to shift our world. This, to me, is spirituality in business.

If you are interested in learning what others are doing in this area your can listen to my internet podcast, Enlightened Business by going to http://www.ethicalimpact.com and clicking on the "Podcast Ready" button. If you know of companies that are recreating how business is done, I'd appreciate a connection.

Kathryn brings her serial entrepreneur, teaching and spiritual practice background to her work helping leaders and teams create and navigate the desired future. In her 22 years working with change in organizations she has learned the secret that effective organizations are ethical organizations. Working with leaders and teams to address the need to think differently about their problems, she has been instrumental in co-creating significant shifts in organizations. Her passion is creating communities that generate enlightened business practices.

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