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AW = Autonomy
Worshiper
LB = Love Dealers (in 6/07)
SC = Security
Collectors
PG = Power Grabbers

NOTES :
🔺 The variability of Money MEANINGS
Although Goldberg & Lewis focused on the following 4 dysfunctional ways people deal with money, others could be added. Also, for some people, money can have more than one meaning, such as being both a Love Buyer & a Security Collector.
For others, as they age (mature ?) their way of experiencing & using money can change, so that a Security Collector may ‘evolve’ into a Power Grabber, but eventually end up an Autonomy Worshiper.

Whatever confusion or inconsistencies we may have in our dealings with money – one thing is sure : Like all complex patterns, money attitudes & behaviors are learned – because they satisfy a person’s specific psychological & emotional needs.
Positive & negative childhood experiences, culture & religious influences & individual temperament, combine to form our money attitudes. As adults, if our dealings with money are distorted & one-dimensional, they can be modified, even unlearned, so it can become a benefit to ourself & those around us.

🔻 The high price of HIDING.  Few people deal openly or easily with the topic of money, which is not unique to any one culture to time period. An old proverb from India states:  “Never make known one’s wealth, one’s remedies, one’s lover, where one has hidden money, the good works one has done, the insults one has received, nor the debts one has contacted.”

The inability to discuss money can contribute to a variety of psychological ills, generating such painful emotions & actions as depression, hate, paranoia & self-destruction. Whether in families, in business partnerships or intimate relationships –  the hurt feelings, resentment, disappointments, anger, frustration, suspicion – might have been avoided if money were not considered a taboo subject heavy with guilt & anxiety.

Money is one of the strongest motivators of human behavior, yet because it still has such a negative meaning to most people, they deny how intensely it affects their life. And so they suffer the consequences.
Modified from : “MONEY MADNESS” by Goldberg & Lewis.

Type 1. AUTONOMY WORSHIPERS  (AW)
Their main reason for earning money is to feel free & be free. The goal is to get away from the daily routine & restrictions of a paid job. Their burning desire is to live exactly as they want, so having money allows escape from the orders & commands coming from others causing the AW anger & resentment, buying time to pursue their whims & interest.

They have a live-&-let-live attitude toward others as well, & are angry when anyone tries to restrict them. They see Power Grabbers as potential enemies, Security Collectors as  ‘slaves” who willing give up their independence for money, & Love Buyers as pathetic.

AW fall into 2 groups
a. Freedom Buyers – those who see $$ as a way to escape an intolerable life of servitude.. They accept it a necessary evil, its accumulation a passport to freedom. The more one can accumulate, the less dependent they are on the structure & limitations of a job & the dictates of other people. With more money the less time they have to work, giving more opportunities to pursue their  interests. And it provides the clout to protect them from being pushed around.

◆ Underlying issue – an intense need to not be dependent – which is what they desperately want, perhaps unconsciously, but are use all their energy to deny & precess the wish.

◆ Payoff – attractive & charming, they’re interesting people socially because they have such unconventional lives, doing things others are too timid or rigid to try.

◆ Cost – they can turn into freedom gamblers, taking big risks to get money fast, & can end up with big losses. Others experience them as irresponsible & unreliable, causing partners & other associates pain & frustration. The price is constant dependency hunger, & with age isolation & loneliness.

In this category – Many writers, painters, poets, musicians & others in the arts

NEXT : MM – Autonomy Worshipers , #2