The decision against usury
These decisions are not for everybody, however, because usury separates as nothing else can separate. It separates rich from poor, and teaches the poor that the way forward lies in becoming rich. Usury enshrines the notion that the purpose of life is to aquire money itself and at the same time it devalues the non-purchaseable qualities of character which usury-free economies used to value, i.e honesty, integrity, courage, generousity, concern, humility, compassion etc. and perhaps most importantly, contentment. And most important of all is the loss of tranquillity that comes from an active, productive and non-frantic approach to seeking our means of livelihood. This has been supplanted by the acceptance and even laudability of a life-style of greed, selfishness and pride – an arrogant self-congratulatory praise of oneself as the the ultimate cause of monetary success.
- Mahmud Lund
(Banking- the root cause of the injusticies in our time)
“usury separates as nothing else can separate. It separates rich from poor,”
Jct: Yes, usury is the great divider, to those who have abundance will more be given and from those who have no abundance, even what they have will be taken away. Fortunately usury-free banking is spreading through the local community currency movement and there’s nothing the bankers can do to stop Africa from trading with mobile phone minutes, Arabia trading with phone cards, LETS, Ithaca Hours, all trading without paying usury to the banks! I’m watching the non-usury volume grow and the debt-served volume go down.