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Scapegoating Money

Unfortunately, at this time the King of France, Philip IV, was running short on funds. Known as Philip the

Fair, the king was ruthless and vain and had an insatiable appetite. He was a tyrant of the worst kind.

Knowing that the Templars had possession of the greatest source of wealth, he set his sights on

attaining it. Because he knew how beloved the Templars were, he realized he could not wage war

against them, so he set out on a path of merciless persecution, convincing his people that the Templars

had obtained their wealth by making a pact with the devil.

As a consequence, in 1310 C.E., the Templars were publicly tortured into confessions and burned at the

stake. In the aftermath, the Christians lost the Holy Land to the Muslims. This story, as well as the story

of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible, has been interpreted as a sign of God’s wrath over the sins of the

people. Again…all over money further deepening the collective psyche that money is bad and people

with money are bad.

After the demise of the Templars, the battle between the church and the state of France over who

would control the Templars’ fortune began in earnest. Within a year, because of the severe financial

abuses of Philip IV, the French empire collapsed, and both the pope and King Philip were dead – leaving

yet another lasting impression on the collective psyches of humankind.

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