Are you living in poverty? Do you dislike the poverty lifestyle? Do you have $25 ($30 at the door)? Then you might want to check out tonight’s talk by Houston Vetter, “Bust Loose From Poverty,” at CenterPoint, 1920 Hollister, 713-932-7224. (CenterPoint is described on its site as a “spiritually based, non-profit educational center for mind, body and spirit.”)
So who is Houston Vetter? Well, he’s a “Human Potential Expert” who helps people discover their “unique power to attract boundless prosperity, optimum health, and lasting happiness.”
I called up Vetter (whose first name is Gerhard) to ask why he’s charging people to learn how to “bust loose” from poverty.
“You’re thinking,” Houston said, “…from the concept that money’s real and that money’s limited.”
He was of course correct. I was, in fact, thinking that money is “real.” Which just proves why I need to go to his lecture tonight.
“You just asked the question as if money’s hard to come by,” he continued, since I was still trying to wrap my head around what he just said. “You asked the question as if there’s only so much pie and that you can’t make any more pie.”
It was getting worse. He clearly knew my weakness for delicious baked goods. Now that’s all I could think about. Screw poverty.
When I finally snapped out of it, I managed to steer the conversation away from pie and back to finances. Crossing my fingers that he wouldn’t mention donuts, I asked him to please clarify why he was charging people who might meet the legal qualification of poverty.
“[They] probably wouldn’t come to the class,” he said. “They’d probably spend the money on whatever else they’re spending the money on – food, cigarettes, drink. Whatever.”
Or possibly pie?
Then, he got all symbolic on me: “Someone whose arm is not broken doesn’t need it set, OK? And only someone who’s been looking for a doctor to set their arm will go to a doctor…in other words, if you don’t need it, there’s no sense for anybody…to go to the class. If someone doesn’t think that they need to bust loose or get out of the money game or get out of poverty…there’s no need for them to go…”
That’s when I asked him why he kept on referring to it as “the money game.”
“Because everything’s a game,” he said, adding, “human life is a game. It’s a metaphor….language is a game, it’s a metaphor. Language is designed to hide, OK? Pictures reveal, words hide.”
That’s true. And sometimes they just don’t make any freaking sense. – Craig Malisow
This article appears in May 22-28, 2008.
