Our Story - What Happens When I Burn Money?

Burning £20 note
Photo by Jonathan Greet.

What Happens When I Burn Money?

This long academic essay (20k words) delves into the intricate and often unsettling question of what truly happens to money when it is burned. By focusing on the money itself rather than the person performing the act, it unveils profound insights into our conceptions of money and the ideologies that shape them.

The exploration begins with a categorization of the dominant logics surrounding money: Economic, Accounting, and Financial. Each framework offers a distinct perspective on the fate of money when it is destroyed. The essay meticulously examines these viewpoints, revealing their contradictions and limitations.

Next, the focus shifts to the functions of money—medium of exchange, unit of account, and store of value—the conventional definitions that dominate mainstream understanding. An ontological and historical scrutiny of these functions exposes an underlying illogic and irrationality, raising a critical question: what purpose do these functions truly serve?

Transitioning from these frameworks, the essay investigates the intersections of money with theology and psychoanalysis. Traditional economic and scientific approaches often overlook the mystical and transcendent dimensions of money. Philip Goodchild’s 'Theology of Money' is referenced to argue that a true understanding of money requires acknowledging these deeper aspects.

The discussion then circles back to the central issue of money’s duality. Historically, money has been perceived both as a commodity and a social relation. Insights from early Greek philosophers such as Parmenides and Heraclitus enrich this exploration. David Graeber’s suggestion in 'Toward an Anthropology of Value' posits that we needed first to believe in Parmenides’ notion of a fixed, unchanging reality to appreciate the ultimate truth of Heraclitus’ idea of constant flux. Our struggles with money are mirrored here. We experience it as a thing but understand it as a process. The opposition of the visceral and intellectual, of matter and mind, are the core misalignment that explains the limitations of economic thought and the insufficiency of mainstream conceptions of money

Here, at this nexal point of dynamic conflict we can find the profound value in Simmel’s insight that the fundamental quality of money is ambivalence. It can contain oppositions and, indeed, multitudes. And so the question of what is money reveals itself as an infinite loop. The essay regrounds itself by a reminder that our focus must shift from the impossibility of dispelling the mystery of money toward the immediate challenge of how we can better live with it. And this of course precisely describes the mission of our Church.

This essay is available exclusively to subscribers to The Vestry.