Ken Wilber
Right Bucks: Money and Spirituality
In dealing with this issue of money and Dharma—or money and spirituality in general—there are at least two very different items that need to be teased apart and addressed separately. The first is the appropriate monetary value of any relational exchange (from medical care to education to goods and services in general); and the second is, should monetary exchange ever be linked to Dharma teaching?
But when men began to be virtually the sole producers of foodstuffs, then—no surprise—the deity figures in these cultures switched from female-oriented to almost exclusively male-oriented. An astonishing 97% of agrarian societies, wherever they appear, have solely male deities (the “patriarchy”). Men began to dominate the public sphere (government, education, religion, politics) and women dominated the private sphere (family, hearth, home; this division is often referred to as male production and female reproduction). Agrarian societies began to arise around 4,000-2,000 B.C., in both East and West, and this was the dominant mode of production until the industrial revolution. (View Highlight)
> Nirvana and samsara are not-two; and thus one could never find nirvana by fleeing samsara: this would be like trying to find your front by running away from your back.Ken Wilber The Nondual revolution, introduced in the West by the brilliant Plotinus and in the East by the remarkable Nagarjuna, had one basic tenet: the manifest world of samsara is not an impediment to Spirit but is rather the perfect expression of Spirit: samsara and nirvana are not-two. Emptiness is Form, Form is Emptiness. (View Highlight)
But within a century of industrialization—which removed the emphasis on male physical strength (and slavery) and replaced it with gender-neutral engines—the women’s movement (and anti-slavery movements) both emerged for the first time in history (on any sort of large scale): these liberation movements were all united by the fact that male physical strength was no longer the prime determinant of cultural power. (View Highlight)
We will drag the Dharma, kicking and screaming, into the modern and postmodern world only when every single one of those “anti” stances (money, food, sex, body, earth, woman) is attacked simultaneously: they stand or fall together.Ken Wilber (View Highlight)