Debt: A Gift Or A Problem?
First, you need to know the intent.
As I planted tulip bulbs, I thought about how beautiful they would look when they bloomed in the spring. Planting the bulbs took a lot of work because the ground was hard clay and mud.
By the time I finished, I was very wet and muddy.
But, what kept me planting was the picture of how much we would enjoy them in the future.
My present self was giving my future self a gift.
Consumer debt, on the other hand, works the other way.
Debt suggests, “Why not enjoy this now? You can pay for it in the future.”
By doing this, our present selves give our future selves a problem.
This is not to say that all debt is wrong. There is “good” debt.
There is debt that sets up a provision for a return that will also benefit the future self.
Good debt can provide a home, transportation, or the basis of an ongoing business that will grow into the future.
Like getting muddy for the moment, we know that time will bring a reward for our work.
It is the intent behind the debt that counts.
We need to ask ourselves if we are following our intent or someone else’s.
Discovering and uncovering the underlying intent takes some serious time and thought.
We are constantly bombarded by intents for our lives, most of which we are unaware of having chosen.
These can be our intents or intents selected for us by others that we have accepted as our own. Or what the world intends for us.
Unconscious intents are choices we can make because of life experiences.
Often, they are not intents based on wisdom. Instead, the intent is based on a skewed view of our life experiences.
From this skewed version of what happened, we make choices.
We may choose never to love again, give too much, remain invisible, or be poor, too fat, or too skinny.
Intents chosen for us are based on labels like sex, culture, age, or society.
Worldview intents can range from buying more than we need while living our entire lives in the mesmerism of “not enough” and the fear and behavior this induces.
The intent behind debt profits from this worldview and the fear it produces.
It promises current satisfaction since there may not be a future to enjoy.
It tells us that we deserve it now.
This point of view and the intents that grow from it are like weeds and need to be uprooted and destroyed in each of us.
Another way to see our lives.
In the fall, I watch the leaves of the tree outside my office window slowly flutter to the ground. With each dropping leaf, more of the tree is revealed.
I can see the cardinal’s nest they made in the summer and birds making their way through the branches, eating the tree's berries.
Trees are willing to let their leaves go.
They know that their leaves will return in the spring. Not because they make them appear but because it is part of the renewal process.
As humans, we hold on to what we have.
We become afraid that we will never get something like it again, or we need it to remind ourselves of something in the past.
When I first returned to the East after living for years in California, I dreaded the winter and the sight of trees without leaves.
When I expressed this thought to Del, he said, “But naked trees are beautiful.”
Looking at it from a new perspective, I saw what he meant.
Without leaves, we can see the tree's whole structure, which was hidden and is now revealed.
It is as if we can see the intent of the tree.
The tree's roots intend to provide a base of support and nourishment. From this intent, the trunk grows to support the leaves, which provide food for the trunk and the roots.
The tree's beauty and shade are by-products of its intent to grow.
Let Go Of Old Intents
As we let our old leaves fall—those intents we don’t need anymore—the complete structure of our lives stands revealed.
We all have a personal intent, which we carry into each moment of our day and every decision we make.
Conscious intents produce conscious choices.
When we learn to choose consciously, we will no longer be swayed by the intents of our past selves, other people, or worldviews.
Let’s give our future selves a gift, not a problem.
We can trust that living fully conscious of our intents today produces gifts for our future selves, just as the leaves returning to a tree result from its intent to grow.
If choosing debt now is wise, we will know that it is.
Otherwise, we will choose to say “no.”
In both cases, we will be gifting our future selves.
I love what you said about planting tulip bulbs as a gift to your Spring-self (I can just imagine the colors of the beautiful flowers!) And that if a debt would make our future selves happy, then that's a gift.