Can We Change the Energy of Money?
We need a transition of the economy, but how? And how fast?
Recently I read an essay from Rob Wijnberg on The Correspondent: ‘The Great Paradox of Our Time’ about the transition that needs to take place in the coming 30 years. How are we going to spend these 30 years?
Are we going on with ‘business as usual’, just changing the sauce we poor over our destructive actions? Or are we serious about transitioning? Are we prepared to really change our ways? Will we restore ecosystems and learn together how to live with this abundance without harming it?
And what does that mean for our economic system? Can we change it from money-driven to purpose-driven? And is rational change enough or do we need more radical measures? Out-of-the-box measures?
This article directs your attention to projects that are actually happening in the money-field but also asks for your help. We have to learn together to find out ‘how’…
Let’s start with some quotes from the article: “Everything is both better and worse than ever before” and “It’s a contradiction that presents us with a seemingly unresolvable conundrum: the source of our progress has become the source of our downfall. Things are too good for us to change it all, yet too bad for us to leave anything as it is.”
“The source of our progress has become the source of our downfall. This is the great paradox of modern times.”
- Rob Wijnberg - The Correspondent
The article focusses on climate change, socioeconomic inequality, and the common origin of climate and wealth: fossil capitalism. It brings a clear message:
“We’re under enormous pressure to transition to a zero-carbon economy as quickly as possible. If we intend to keep global warming within manageable limits, we must reduce emissions to zero within the next 30 years.”
30 Years to go…
Well, it keeps ringing around in my head for weeks already. 30 Years to go… That’s fast! That’s incredibly fast! If you read more of my work, you will know that I work on the transition front.
I help to change business models from linear, to circular to regenerative.
I inspire young (and older) people to understand systemic thinking and be leaders in their own communities and companies.
Every day, I see wonderful entrepreneurs, teachers, designers, inventors, and government officials do great things in this transition. It’s happening right in front of our eyes. It makes me hopeful and happy to be part of it. These are chaotic times, but they are also mighty interesting… and also so very scary at times…
First of all, the transition in Europe is slowly paced. Many of our politicians are still shouting that we should buy a new sofa or car or house to help the economy thrive. Arrrggghhh… we have only 30 years…
At this moment I’m traveling within Indonesia for some of my projects. And here I’m witnessing a trend with a different flow as well. A friend from Bandung explains to me that the people from his Kampong do not want to drink the perfectly safe water from the mountains anymore. They want a city lifestyle and have a fridge full of plastic bottles of water to show that they know the ways of the world.
At the same time, the waterfall has just been opened to the public and is seeing worse waste problems every day. So it will be just a matter of time before the water from the mountain will not be drinkable anymore. Arrrggghhh… we only have 30 years…
Rational answers
How do we change course and re-invent our lives in the right direction? Is it enough to explore it rationally? Innovate our technologies in line with nature? Discuss doughnut economics? Transform entrepreneurship, scaling different business models?
Or do we need more? Alternative ways that tackle the issues on a different level, somewhere our rational mind cannot enter?
And then my heart starts to tell me that we need to change the energy of money. What? The energy of money? What is that? And would it ever be up for change?
At this moment, money has a very bombastic energetic value which invites words like Power, Competition, Fear and even Corruption. People feel a fear of not having enough to survive. It is about feeling safe, now and in the future. But it also has a feel of status to it. Comparing ourselves to others.
In all the transition stories I hear, we need to invent a fairer economic system. Sharing, optimizing the whole instead of maximizing profit for one. Local communities that create more values than money alone.
They keep money active and use the synergy of their activities as a driver for qualitative growth. This kind of money has a completely different energy. It invites words such as Kindness, Trust, Values, and even Love.
26 Richest People
There is enough money in the world, it is just not evenly divided and not spent on the real transitional activities (yet!) I keep being optimistic… From the same article ‘The Great Paradox of Our Time’ comes this quote:
“Wealth gap statistic: the world’s 26 richest people own as much capital as the poorest 3.8 billion humans combined.”
So how can we change the energy of money from being a source of fear to being a source of love? How do we inspire the ‘possessors of money’ to invest in the transition, so all the ‘have-nots’ will have a great life as well? In the meantime restoring Gaia and learning how to live a regenerative lifestyle.
Change of mindset
Pffff. This is a hell of a quest. I do not feel very comfortable writing about it. It’s completely beyond my understanding. It involves a change of mindset on several levels.
- From scarcity to abundance
- From competition to collaboration
- From maximum profit for one human to optimum prosperity for all species
Somewhere I once read that we should value our success (read in this case profit) in relation to the price we pay to achieve it. I don’t know who said it, so if anyone knows, tell me and I will correct the quotation accordingly.
To collect the profit, do we need to put in too hard labor, damaging our body? Do we need to spend time away from our loved ones? Do we spend time doing other things than the soulful things we love deeply?
Do we create pollution or waste while chasing our profit? Do we create burned-out people or inequality? If everybody starts valuing ‘profit’ in relation to ‘price’ in this way, we might make completely different choices…
“We should value our success (profit) in relation to the price we pay to achieve it” -source unknown
So could we shift the energy of money in such a way that we transition from a paradigm of destruction to a paradigm of restoration and regeneration?
I honestly don’t know if it’s possible. But I am curious and I will ask my friends who are creating their life-work in the money-field for their opinions.
Is it possible to change the energy of money? How? And how quickly can it be done in all different cultures around the world? I will ask:
- Li An Phoa, who is envisioning drinkable rivers. She inspires bankers to see money as river flows. She inspires river families who will care for their river and make her healthy again
- Mar Michelle Hausler, who gives her transformative workshops ‘me, myself and money’ in the Give & Take Lab
- Della Duncan, renegade economist, founder of the podcast ‘Upstream’ and coach for people who want to find their ‘right livelihood’
- Anna Blume, co-founder of ‘impact journey’ and ‘value instrument’. Strengthening communities and inspiring them to create their own economics systems
- Jonathan Horowitz, the shaman who so very inspiringly combines the universal, energetic world with our practical day to day life
- Satish Kumar, founder of Schumacher College where so many people learn to transition the economy with nature and spirituality
- And I don’t know her personally (yet), but I cannot leave her out of this list: Claire Dubois, founder of Tree Sisters, who combines the female principles with actual ecosystem restoration and whose programs help me a lot to get my thinking straight
So this article is really a request for help. I don’t know how (yet), but I do think changing the energy of money is necessary. Ponder on it. Come with me on this quest. What is needed to change the energy of money? I really would like to read your suggestions in the comments.
HELP!
If you want to read some more of my work before you want to react to this unusual request for help, here is some more reading.
And if you want to connect, you can find me on LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram or in a food forest somewhere in the world connecting to Gaia…
An afterthought
After I wrote this story, I received a comment about the work of Sarah McCrum. This is interesting stuff!
For me, it is easier to feel the energy of abundance than the energy of money I find out. And it is feeling warm and loving. So perhaps we do not have to change the energy at all. Just feel it for what it really is…
