Qondio
Front
Intel
IntelMart
Shares
My Qondio
Account
DreamWoven > Intel > Money Made from Money

qondio.com/IH4J PRINT EMAIL

Money Made from Money

By Dream Woven of DreamWoven

Money made from money.... ( a rambling....)

I recently watched a film called "Surfwise" about the Paskowitz family. It is the story of a man who graduated Stanford, became an MD and at some point, made a conscious decision to change the way his life was going. He married (again) and he and his wife raised 9 children in a camper and then founded a school of surfing.

The film is a documentary and was released this year. I enjoyed it. The rebel part of me nodded in agreement through a good portion of the fathers discussion of his life and the change he made. This 84 year old still surfs every morning and still stands by and practices the beliefs he adopted when he decided to change his life. The movie moves forward and interviews the 9 adult childrein. About mid-film you start hearing the discontent, the 'I need to blame someone for the way my life is' of most of these adult children. During this portion of the film I kept thinking, "I've raised my two children, now 26 and 19 and I heard/hear that from them too, and funny, I remember going through that period myself as I grew into adulthood". By the end of the film the family is rejoined, and there is no blame, just a wonderful sense of family, a sense of something very special because of the way they were raised and how they were taught and each adult child seems happy with his/her life choices. A good film, that left me feeling good.

One of the things that Doc Paskowitz talked of in the film was the idea of 'not making money from money'. This was one of the things that he had decided he would not do. The thought of "not making money from money' has rattled around in my head since I saw the film. What does it mean? What does it mean to me? Is it a feasible way to live? How closely could I get to following that precept?

The idea of making money from money, most especially in this country, is to become a usurer. What occurs here in this country, with banks, credit card companies and most large corporations is nothing short of usury (definition: usury n. , pl. -ries . The practice of lending money and charging the borrower interest, especially at an exorbitant or illegally high rate. ) The other name for what occurs is 'loan sharking'.... which usually connotes some sense of gangsters/mafia. We, as a nation have become gangsters in the handling of our business affairs....(as well as in alot of our other dealings with people & countries).

After doing a google search on the phrase "not making money from money", I came across references to this throughout written history. The Quran, the Talmud and the Torah all have restrictions on usury. I found this article on "Principles of Islamic Banking" to be a good read.

I particularly like this principle written about in the article: "Money is only a medium of exchange, a way of defining the value of a thing; it has no value in itself, and therefore should not be allowed to give rise to more money, via fixed interest payments, simply by being put in a bank or lent to someone else. The human effort, initiative, and risk involved in a productive venture are more important than the money used to finance it." We sure are a long way from this.

I am not wealthy. I am better off then quite a few and nowhere near as wealthy as others. Somewhere along the line I became what use to be called middle-class and which is now called upper lower class. I dont have huge savings accounts or stocks and bonds and I dont have a nest egg other than my home, to fall back on. I would gladly throw everything away in order to be happy and content. I find that having lots of things eventually winds up being an anchor that will sink me.

I'd like to think that I might be capable of living by a principle like "do not make money from money" and be content.

This intel first appeared on: http://thisandthatandtheothertoo.blogspot.com

External Links

Principles of Islamic Banking | Surfwise

Images



Contributed by DreamWoven on October 17, 2008, at 2:08 AM UTC.

PLEASE VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S WEBSITE
Wearable Art with Attitude
Art For Your Head and Body
DreamWoven.com

Reactions

No reactions yet.

Rate This Intel

Please login or sign up to rate this intel.

Comments

Please login or sign up to add a comment.

Share

Copyright Notice

The copyright for this content entitled "Money Made from Money" has been specified by the contributor as:

All Rights Reserved

This content may not be copied, distributed or adapted by anyone under any circumstances.

Login Here with
Any Email Address
Any Password
No account? Sign up.

Intel Contributor
This intel was contributed by DreamWoven


DreamWoven

Qondio Archive
May, 2012
123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031


2008
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2009
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2010
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2011
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2012
January, February, March, April, May

Sign Up
Not a member yet? Qondio is a powerful network for making it online. If you have a website to promote, we can help. Sign up and get in on the action.

About Qondio
Welcome to Qondio! Discover the awesome power this network can deliver by going to our About page. Or you could skip straight to the Sign Up form.

ABOUT
SUCCESS GUIDE
FEATURES
FAQ
ADVERTISE
CONTACT
USAGE POLICY
PRIVACY POLICY


TWITTER
FACEBOOK