The Currency in Heaven?

The summer days are starting to have an autumnal feel. The last of the fruits in the trees are ripening – apples and figs in my yard. It is a bit of a race to put all the fruits that are available to good use – the birds get the lion’s share (even if that sounds incongruous!) and I have given away a few to people around Alex. Needless to say, I have been getting a few things in return. I begin to realise there is an interesting process going on in my dealings with folks around Alex.

As I walk  or drive around, a beautiful, sunny evening with clear blue skies, surrounded by lovely green grass, mountains and the blue mist in the distance, a certain awareness of peace, gratitude and contentment takes over me. It lasts for a few moments until I suddenly realise from the news in the papers, the radio and TV that a lot of people and countries around the world are in deep trouble.  They owe too much money to others. For many there is no realistic chance of repaying – since debt is the one thing that grows without limit as time passes. The number of atoms in the universe is a finite number – there is a limit to it, but not the national debt of many famous nations. Those can and are growing exponentially (since compound interest is an exponential function). It is the tyranny of numbers.  We learned to try and watch for the trap of the exponential growth when we learned mathematics.

I can see the stress in the faces and actions of people all around. I can see the artificial attempts of ‘world leaders’ and government spokespersons to put on a smiling face and use complex words that sound reassuring. I can see them put off hard decisions or not telling it like it is. I see wonderful people, not able to pay off their debts, and struggling to live decently.  Some around the world are paying for the mistakes or the misdeeds of others – their own governments or retirement funds or investment ‘advisors’ and they neither had nor have a choice about it. For most, there is something about owing money that eats into the human soul and does not let one sleep easy.

Now, in my little personal world, a world away from all these turmoils, there is a certain domain where life is great, wonderful and pleasurable. I can see most others around me in Alex also have their own such worlds, all overlapping. There is a lot of trade going on in this parallel universe; truly I should call them exchanges or interactions. There is a ‘currency’ to this trade. It is truly a currency of Heaven!

It is inflation proof. After 2 or 20 years you only owe the same, not more. It is not measured in numbers! (Don’t get me wrong – I love math, working with numbers as a mental challenge, but not as a social one.) It is measured in feeling and is surprisingly accurate.

If you ‘borrow’ too much and don’t pay back sufficiently, it surely shows up – you and others will surely feel it. To trade in this ‘zone’, you just need to be tuned to your feelings and others’ feelings. In fact, if you are well tuned to other’s feelings, they become tuned to yours. If you care about them, they will care about you. If you want to make them feel special they want to make you feel so. In fact, it seems odd that you always get more than you give out and everyone involved feels the same way.

It is a currency in which you look forward to repayment, with interest and with pleasure. You don’t mind when you get deep into debt, sometimes you are flooded in this marvellous currency. You don’t mind, so long as you have the right currency yourself, you know you can and will clear the debt. It is one currency in which people look forward to lending, nay giving more and more, because they know, by a certain law you will get back all that you put into it and a bit more – a priceless feeling. Sure, there will be times when you will be cheated in this currency, and seemingly lose a lot. But it is not really your loss; it is the greater loss of the one who took advantage of you. You will have to learn to deal a bit wiser.

So what is this heavenly currency on earth, you ask? It is ‘Goodwill’, my friend.  Never leave home without it.

We are quite rich and well-to-do here in these parts around Alex.


Copyright  (c) Kannan Narayanamurthy 2012

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