Charles Eisenstein's blog

The impasse in our ability to convert nature into commodities and relationships into services is not temporary. There is no more room for the conversion of life into money. Postponing the collapse will only make it worse. We need to shift our perspective toward what we can give. What can we each contribute to a more beautiful world? That is our only security. (more)

The imperative of perpetual growth implicit in interest-based money drives the relentless conversion of life, world, and spirit into money. The more of life we convert into money, the more we need money to live. Usury, not money, is the proverbial root of all evil. (more)

When I ask people what is missing most from their lives, the most common answer is "community." But how can we build community when its building blocks- -- the things we do for each other -- have all been converted into money? (more)

The realization that property is theft usually incites a rage and desire for vengeance against the thieves. Matters are not so simple. The owners of wealth play a role that is created and necessitated by the great invisible stories of our civilization that compel us to turn the world into property and money whether we are aware of doing so or not. (more)

Money is woven into our minds, our perceptions, our identities. That is why, when a crisis of money strikes, it seems that the fabric of reality is unraveling, too—that the very world is falling apart. Yet this is also cause for great optimism, because money is a social construction that we have the power to change. What new kinds of perceptions, and what new kinds of collective actions, would accompany a new kind of money?  – The fourth installment from Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition. (more)

Why should money be the root of all evil? After all, the purpose of money is, at its most basic, simply to facilitate exchange — in other words, to connect human gifts with human needs. What power, what monstrous perversion, has turned money into the opposite: an agent of scarcity? – The third installment from Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition. (more)

My intention is that by identifying the core features of the economics of Separation, we may be empowered to envision an economics of Reunion, an economics that restores to wholeness our fractured communities, relationships, cultures, ecosystems, and planet. – The second installment from Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition. (more)

Welcome to the home page for the on-line version of Sacred Economics. This is a book that explores, on a social, political, and personal level, the transition in money and economy that is upon us today. With the agreement of the publisher, EVOLVER EDITIONS/North Atlantic Books, I am making the full text available on line one chapter at a time over a period of about six months. By the end of 2011, the complete book will be on this website. The print version will be available July 12, 2011. (more)

Humanity is only beginning to awaken to the true magnitude of the crisis at hand. If the economic transformation I describe seems miraculous, that is because nothing less than a miracle is needed to heal our world. – The first installment from Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition. (more)

Community is impossible in a highly monetized society since community is woven from gifts. Intimacy comes from co-creation, not co-consumption. We must do more than simply get people together: we need to create together. Creating gift circles can reduce our dependence on the traditional market and help us transition to a co-creative partnership of interdependence. (more)

From at least the time that Jesus threw the moneychangers from the temple, we have sensed that there is something unholy about money. At the same time, no one can deny that money has a mysterious, magical quality as well, the power to alter human behavior and coordinate human activity. [An RS Encore Presentation] (more)

Transformation is messy: your old world doesn't work anymore, it falls apart. All transformational processes have some things in common, and as these collective crises converge upon us they make "normal" unlivable. So whether we intend to or not we're pushed to a different way of being.  (more)

We are transitioning into a time that realizes the truth of the connected self, in which not only my well-being, but my very existence, my very being-ness, depends on the well-being and indeed the existence of all other beings on the planet. I am describing the economic dimension of the truth of interbeingness. To move fully to a gift model of economy would bring the form of this website into alignment with its content. (more)

How might we restore the sacred, world-creating Power of Word? Powerful words are those that create a story. Our society's stories include: America, France, money, the government, property, marriage, the War on Drugs, the War on Terror, Citibank. It is now time to tell new stories. (more)

Our civilization is facing a crisis of language when our words no longer mean anything. What are we to do when our primary creative tool in the modern world has become impotent? (more)

As the multiple crises of money, health, energy, ecology, and more converge upon us, the world is going to collapse for millions of people. We must stand ready to welcome them into the tribe. We must stand ready to welcome them back home. (more)

It is time to enter into a new story, and a new kind of money that embodies it. We are in the midst of a transition parallel to an adolescent's transition into adulthood, when physical growth ceases, and vital resources turn inward to foster growth in other realms. (more)

In the face of the impending crisis, people ask what they can do to protect themselves. "Buy gold?" "Stockpile canned goods?" I would like to suggest a different kind of question: "What is the most beautiful thing I can do?" This is an updated version of the popular article we first published on October 3, 2008. (more)