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A New Myth of Money
Can we heal the wounds at the heart of our economic system? Writer Charles Eisenstein and currency specialist Chris Lindstrom talk with Daniel Pinchbeck about introducing a new story of money.
To see the extended version of this video, including more discussion about solutions, join RS Backstage.
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Zeitgeist, Slavery, and the Monetary System...
Wow, I love the new feature! Anyway I was wondering if anyone here has seen Zeitgeist Addendum - http://bit.ly/8skz0p - I thought it was amazing and is totally in tune with what you guys are saying.
The movie details the process of so-called money creation in banks, suggesting that society is manipulated into economic slavery through debt-based monetary policies by requiring individuals to submit for employment in order to pay off their debt.
It then goes on to consider the international policies of the US - that we all know are driven by economic gain, and finally considers how the world today could do replace the monetary system. I don't know much about economics, so I would love some people more sure of themselves to give an opinion...
The Zeitgeist Movement
Yes MindScape, the Zeitgeist Movement is certainly in tune with many of the thoughts, concerns, and consciousnesses of many RS'ers (so far as I have read from comments, etc.). In fact, as I understand, Jacque Fresco (an extremely important figure within the Zeitgeist Movement and founder of The Venus Project) will be attending and speaking at the upcoming 2012: Tipping Point conference in Cancun in January. This is a very exciting time! Also, I strongly suggest that everyone learn more about Jacque Fresco and his amazing life work, The Venus Project.
Have a wonderful day and a wonderful eternity! :)
The Zeitgeist Movement, indeed
Ryan, I can certainly vouch for your statement about The Zeitgeist Movement being in tune with the paradigm of RS'ers. In fact, it was through my involvement with TZM that I discovered Reality Sandwich just the other day! I'm excited to continue to explore the RS archives and the new features. I'm spreading the word about RS among my community out here on the West Coast and among fellow advocates of The Zeitgeist Movement. What a fantastic resource for thought this site offers!
Hope to see some of you at Z-day 2010 in NYC.
suspension
As We Learn To Gift
And in the end,
"it only lives if you give it away" per Bruce Cockburn,
and thus, some are living the gift economy, today:
http://gifteconomypost.ning.com/
~ blessings of blissings ~
http://communityvisionblog.ning.com/
Moving
Why backstage? Why elitism,
I think I understand where you are coming from
I think I understand where you are coming from, honestly. Just would appreciate some clarification. What kind of elitism or money, for instance, are you referring to?thanks,
M
I understand now
Oh, I understand--you have to pay something to view the full video.
gotcha,
m
elitism etc
as a commentator notes below, we have up to now done this site for a loss. i have put some of my own money into it, of which i don't have much, plus a huge amount of my time. other people on our staff have worked for nothing or for a really tiny amount of money and eked out a survival. We are doing this project out of belief in the importance of creating independent media that supports an alternative paradigm. We definitely wlil not be able to keep going for much longer without financial support from the community. Also, if we have some funds we will be able to produce more impressive content that will reach a much wider audience. i am hoping that the community will look beyond their narrow prejudices against supporting a media site financially, and recognize that we have created a forum that allows for a huge number of new voices to gain a platform and some prominence, and we will continue to do this as much as humanly possible.
i really am disappointed in these comments - but the trolls are always much more voluble than those who are supportive and helpful.
"Will the transformation."-Rilke
The rest of us get bored
The rest of us get bored with commenting and Internet debates, and actually go out and take a some swings at bat, try to make a little difference...which leaves us with little time to blog. ^_~
Don't let'em get'cha down, you guys are doing good work.
"You must *be* the change you wish to see in the world." Mahatma Gandhi
Capitalism/Communism dichotomy and Hegelian freedom
add-on comment
my own geneology
Also wanted to add--I identify with the gentleman on the left and his feeling of connectedness/trauma to his ancestor. I myself am descended from President Buchanan, who is the 2nd least favorite of the Presidents, being blamed for not doing enough to prevent the Civil War. Just wanted to say that we are linked to our ancestors inevitably, in strong ways that we can barely comprehend. I wrote a poem about my own grandfather, who recently passed away--its at my blog
http://mekdahlpoetry.blogspot.com/
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Not the best promotion for "backstage"
I have to agree. I don't know why anyone would pay to watch the rest of this interview.
If RS wants people to pay for content I think that is fine, but they need to deliver something of more value than these sophmoric ramblings.
On criticism
We all have great insults on standby, ready to be whipped out and wielded at a moment's notice. The pot-smoking hippie put down is a classic. But it just doesn't say anything. It's too easy. Yes, this video is light on content, but the point was to open discussion on a general topic. I found it interesting to hear Chris' perspective on his great grandfather.
I'm attracted to Reality Sandwich because overall it seems the participants are more thoughtful and less cynical. That's the kind of evolution we need to see happening.
Knew the Subscriptions Would Start Some Crap. =)
I understand the concern about the premium content; but server machines, routers, bandwidth...these things cost money; not to mention the time consumed looking for and creating quality content for regular updates, etc.
The more traffic, the more money it costs. There's nothing anyone at RS can effectively do about that -- or, at least, not just all at once, *snap* money isn't necessary anymore. This site has been free for the longest time, and there are now a whole crap-ton of people that come through here on a regular basis...that's a good thing!
I'm in the web business, and trust me: it is impossible to keep something free on the Internet once it reaches a certain size and traffic volume. Chances are, these fine folks have been eating a very serious loss, as far as money goes, for a very long time now. Do we not become a little bit of what we claim to despise if we expect them to continue to do so, with no help whatsoever even from the community that benefits, forever?
Is that the way community functions? A few provide everything for everyone else, who get to just kick back, enjoy, and toss in the occasional criticism and/or complaint?
At some point, the cost to keep it going becomes too immense. It has to start to keep itself going -- whether by advertising or subscriptions -- at least a bit. We must operate in the world as it is as we move to create the world we wish to see. And, personally, I would rather have subscriptions than f----ing advertising.
Divine save us from manipulative marketing. =P
The idea is to build bridges and carve a path towards something better, not cling to pie-in-the-sky ideas of sudden revolution and change. If everyone who was waiting for the revolution to start actually got moving and participating instead, we might start to make some real progress. Every journey starts with a single step -- followed by many, many more.
I gladly subscribed to this site, as I am happy to help support this endeavor in what ever way my humble means allows. I would have paid for RS as it was...the attempt to give a little added value as an incentive is just a bonus, as far as I'm concerned.
Keep it up guys. The video was good. I like the honesty of it, the willingness to be personal -- to be just people, having a conversation. I won't say I wasn't hoping for a bit more as far as new information...but I guess there's really only so much to say, and now it's more a factor of spreading the message as far and wide as possible, and repeating it to ourselves till it sinks in deep enough to really take root.
"You must *be* the change you wish to see in the world." Mahatma Gandhi
Wow!
Story Idea I emailed to editors
What is to be done?
if you can do better, please go for it.
hi naga,
if you can do better, lets see it.
if you want to see us produce very effective video content that can reach a much wider audience, please support the project generously. It is extremely difficult to create professional-level video content on an extreme low budget. If you find the project valuable, please support it.
"Will the transformation."-Rilke
If you don't like the job Obama is doing then run for office.
I did not expect such a reactionary response. Not exactly in line with the evolved concsiousness RS claims.
So, if I am not willing to do someone's job I have no grounds to criticize them? This seems disingenuous.
How about this? If you don't like the job Obama is doing you should run for office. If you think Avatar is hollywood garbage why don't you do better?
Yes, I understand how expensive it is to produce a video. However, I did not take issue with the production quality. I took issue with the content of the video. I think if you are going to spend the money to produce a video the talk you record should be worthwhile.
When I saw a new video had gone up and that RS now had a very reasonable subscription service I was very excited. If the video had been of the quality of the videos RS produced a while back I would have signed up immediately. I apologize if I have been harsh, but I know you can do better. So, I will check in as always to see if you have anything I find interesting. Perhaps then I will sign up for backstage.
I see your point
Naga Raja, but you come off pretty strong too.
I don't know. Perhaps this isn't the best video Daniel has done.
Asking for some funding I find perfectly alright, though, as you. There is a path and each of us are trying to find it our way. Through living.
Tonight I saw Daniel's speech at Burning Man in 2005 for the first time (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3SGt3HEI1g) and it is absolutely breathtaking. I'll back up these waves of clarity with every the little bit I have.
I just joined backstage to see what the fuzz is about ..
Walk the Walk
Actually, Rushkoff is
Actually, Rushkoff is discussed hereabouts reasonably frequently. Seriously, put his name is the site search bar and check it out. He's good stuff, quality on the mention.
They do try to do things differently around here. I've been hanging around for a good while now, sometimes more active than others, but a couple of years all told. They try it all, and have good success sometimes...and not so good, other times. Mostly, they are doing great and trailblazing some really difficult terrain.
The fact that we have not necessarily perfected everything invalidates neither the questions nor the quest for answers. The general idea is not to replace money per se; but rather to change its place as a focal point of life's purpose. To relagate it once again to what it should be -- a means, rather than an end. And there are several instances in which alternative currencies have thrived. I invite you to study the history of the previous Great Depression. Indeed, complementary currencies have a long history in this, and other, countries during hard times, reaching back about as far back as you can trace money itself.
Perhaps read up on the Swiss WIR system, for starters. It's probably the single most famous complementary currency currently around, followed probably by the Ithaca HOURS. Or maybe that's just in my world. =)
Anyway, the problem is this: Any currency or method of exchance is inherently built upon trust and agreement. We can come to agreements in our own little community here, and with others who are of like mind...but there is a larger world which encapsulates us at the same time. And we cannot expect all of them to agree with us, or to trust us. And so, our version of money is no good to them.
Unfortunately, this includes the major manufacturers of the nice gadgets that make the Internet go, as well as the power companies and Internet providers -- and most of the people who hold the resources to even begin their construction. They trust only a few, very certain, kinds of money, and they hold virtually all the power in certain critical areas right at the moment. Not forever, necessarily (and hopefully)...but currently.
Sure, eventually -- perhaps, with success and a nice helping of luck -- the nice RS people might have the resources to provide what you suggest...after a good deal of time, and with many, many more standing behind them in support and as a community. But that is not now -- and, hence, not possible just at the moment. Resources do not simply materialize from the aether. They must be built up through effort.
I believe it is all about a gradual dialectic of progress, a gradual progression of perspective and action. Cresting the mountain changes your view forever, but you come upon it one step at a time. There are occasionally moments when you run, instead of walk...perhaps even jump! But you never change the distance from here to there. You can't skip ahead without traversing the intervening terrain.
It's not like they're blocking people from viewing the site if they don't pay. Just offering a little more to those who are willing. Trust me, they have to get the means some way.
And it's not like no one is trying, and have tried many times, to find a way around this nasty little bump in the road. But, currently, the big-bad boogie-men of server storage space, processing power, RAM, cooling, data storage space, routers, Internet bandwidth, maintanence personelle, etc -- coupled with the fact that we pretty much all have bills to pay, whether we want them or not -- have won the day each time....
....Viva la resistance! =-)
"You must *be* the change you wish to see in the world." Mahatma Gandhi
Ok, let's talk about alternatives.
First of all, we need to look at the hosting fees. Most of the people that do hosting have to work with Internet Service Providers who work primarily with telephone companies. The money for bandwith goes not only for profit but also for maintenance of the lines that carry the data. As a rule these ISPs or telcos don't accept anything other than cash.
Now, even though most people are willing to work for free for this(which is basically what you are asking for, for them to work for free, or for "the good of the Dream" which is free), not everyone is willing or able to. So we have to be able to either supply them with money or a means to obtain food, shelter, medical care, and at least some small progress towards providing these things when they aren't able to work anymore.
Also eventually a central space is needed for RS(everyone doing stuff from their house is fine, but when you reach a certain size, you have to get a physical office).
The list goes on and on, I'm sure, but those are some of the starting points that need to be adressed.
Would he were fatter! But I fear him not:
Yet if my name were liable to fear,
I do not know the man I should avoid
So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much;
He is a great observer
Co-Creating the Unity Paradigm using Oneness Blessing
I am responding to your statement about materializing things out of the Ether. The whole problem is that our whole thinking Paradigm is one of fear, lack, separation and control and until people awaken sufficiently into the Unity or Oneness Paradigm and embrace our own Dark Side to stop projecting it outside of ourselves and just love and heal it and stop the old Paradigm programming from coming back in our holy minds through all the choices we make every day and begin to consciously co-create in groups the New Unity Paradigm and Pay It Forward Gift Economy Ecolonomic Businesses very little will change, especially if we still keep making most of the wrong choices. Even awake people keep doing this, myself included, but i am finding the way out and how to live like a Sovereign, simply and as free from the system as possible. Capitialistic society the way it is now structured forces us to behave in this way. Thank God it is falling apart because of all the Light flooding the Planet. We don't like to change until we are forced to and now we are. The Oneness Blessing really helps in this awakening, but we still have to do our inner work after It and heal the past within and call in the best possible future for all of us. If you don't know what the Oneness Blessing is you can google it in your area to find who is giving It or click on this link https://www.onenessnorthamerica.org/find_deekprov_other.cfm?country=US. It is free and It is your own Higher Christ Self waking you up with Divine Love. You learn to live in your higher heart instead of your mind. You know instead of think! We are all different but in these groups Oneness is experienced and carried into each person's daily life.
The reason we all lost the power to materialize our thoughts is two-fold. One is that the Universal Divine Order or Nature has a built in safety mechanism and we can't just materialize anything we want, especially very spiritual people who are usually not well off financially. It has to be in harmony with God's Will and Plan. Besides, if you create like the Dark Ones do, you will have to uncreate your creations or create anew. Many people keep doing this and getting nowhere. This is what is now happening. If and when you awaken sufficiently to know God and intuit the Divine Plan, the second problem is no Master can infringe upon the free will of human beings not yet awake. That is why Jesus said, 'Cast not your pearls before swine.' He meant that the ignorant cannot hear the truth yet and that is why He also said, 'Father forgive them for they know not what they do.' They don't! They even believe they are doing the right thing, so thick is the 10,000 year old or so programming that has been building since the fall of Man. Our goal right now should be to get in groups of awake individuals, just like Jesus did with his 12, but don't limit yourself to just 12, and begin to co-create the Unity Paradigm and New World we know in our hearts is right and must be in harmony with the Divine Plan we know and each member of your group must share this vision. When we do this our power of materialization will return as we are co-creators with God and each other, or our Greater Self. Then, since we will not be infringing upon anyone's free will, at least not in our Group Soul Family, on pieces of land locally that our Group Soul Family can obtain (hopefully it will be donated by a member of our group and we will materialize what i call Shambhala Communities on that land that set the example of perfection and how easy life is when we live in harmony with the Divine Plan). So wake up or ask to wake up from your dream of separation and the mass human consciousness dream into God's Divine Dream or Plan and remember to know and love God behind that one as well, and it is easy, and then ask for your Soul Mates and Group Soul to join your group. They will and then start co-creating with them. This is the only thing that will work. Nothing else will. We all have to get back to the land and become One with Mother Earth as well. If you don't think this is so you are mistaken. Once this happens however, Nature and the Devas will reciprocate our love and produce true abundance. We block our abundance by believing in all unnatural things.
I recommend all of you who have not yet read the 9 books of the Ringing Cedars of Russia Series of books by Vladimir Megre about Anastasia so you can experience how someone who remembers her Vedic Roots and was never brainwashed in the System thinks and creates and lives by Divine Vedic Rites. Vedic means Knowing in Divine Love. Now we have to uneducate ourselves back to our childlike purity that simply loves divinely and knows only God and His/Her guidance and lives by it. We must learn to live in the Theta state of Awareness, or Delta if we can remain awake, and never fall from It and this is why Theta Healing is such a great tool like the Oneness Blessing. This is the Second Coming of Christ and is the only thing that will save mankind and it is! People like me are doing it all over the Earth. I know many of you.
I am new to websites and social networks. Hopefully i will very soon get on all of the great Social Networks. Right now is the time to use the Internet and connect with each other because in 2013 the Internet will be over and telepathy will have taken over so that we can no longer hide any dark thoughts ane will not be able to keep them and the Internet will seem stupid like everything else we created since the fall. That is how great this awakening is! Enjoy it! Please take and use my ideas in your area. There are no truly original thoughts, but it takes an incredible amount of clarity to know God's Divine Thoughts that we all share and feel our Oneness through.
My website is up at www.soulmategatherings.com and it is crude and needs to be made more user friendly. Hopefully that will occur soon. Hopefully you are doing something as equally visionary or doing the same thing in a different way. This is important so if you want guidance in this you can contact me at devadivine2013@yahoo. com but learn to live on only your direct inner guidance more and more until you are fully standing in your Divine I AM Presence or God Self and calling all other such individuals to yourself to do your God-given work. It is up to each of us to co-create the Unity Paradigm to replace the old falling one, but it is a challenge since we all still have to pay our bills and haven't yet fully mastered precipitation of our needs by living on total faith in God, but this is what is required. We are all learning this lesson, but fear not. With so many of us waking up, with the support worldwide of the ever-growing Oneness Blessing Community and so many other things like It now that are free and enlightening we cannot fail if we begin to get together in Master Mind groups. We must now get together in groups of awakened individuals who stay wide awake and co-create our Unity Paradigm work. We can all being to hold or join local Group Soul Co-Creation Meditations as often as possible, especially of retired peoples who don't have to work or get websites and Internet businesses up and going for your group members that grow your group and create income while you are all focusing all the time on co-creating in your divine group. A great place to start is at the Oneness Blessing to wake up if you are not yet awake. Unceasing Blessings of Divine Love, Bliss Gratitude, Friendship and Grace, Deva
money
We must stop {find ways to stop} using their money. Their money is a fiction {a fraud} which destroys all {it touches}, without fail. The money that God provided for us to use requires less trust {it is what it is} than paper representations of wealth. If it is a sin {1John 3:4} to collect usury, it seems to me that it must also be a sin to pay it. Interest {paid} in something implies ownership.
Malnouishment causes greed www.panprieur.com Metal Money www.goldismoney.info Serious Bible Study www.gods-kingdom.org Own your {own} planet {place}, grok the movie: Avatar
great idea, meagre execution
Sorry guys, I love reading a lot of your stuff, but this was kind of painful to watch.
Maybe I've been living in SF for too long, but some combination of the venue, the hipsterism, and Linsdrom's angsty, I'm-so-afflicted-by-my-money sentiment made me want to throw something at you. I appreciate that you were trying to bring some additional perspective to an oft one-sided topic, but this simply did not resonate with me.
(Side note: going on a "shamanic voyage" and talking about it in a public forum the very next day? I can think of better plans. Aside from the fact that Chris looks strung out, these experiences, if they are truly profound, merit serious reflection and careful consideration of how and what to share.)
I guess in the end, this video feels almost like a self-parody of the consciousness movement. As hard as it was for me to take seriously, I can't imagine mainstream America doing so.
I hope you'll try again, though. Effective videography is a skill you can develop, like anything else. And I think the concept is fundametally good (though you could host the videos for free in myriad places).
The dollar sign as an architype of deeper significance
Some wise words
From Noam Chomsky Alternatives to Capitalism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DA9q284fvs