Here and back again

Its been really interesting to see the comment thread which has commenced since my last blog post.  I have learned quite a lot from each of you contributing and thank you.  I would ask that we refrain from the "How qualified are you" discussions because I don't feel they help. I hope your qualifications are apparent in your contributions and would rather talk about solutions than get a down and dirty resume.

When talking about the integral map and the whole "Altitude Challenging" you mention, I deeply feel that such tendencies will decrease if you refer to altitude last when you describe the integral map.  By explaining levels second in the process one tend's to create an achievement oriented mentality of "How enlightened am I." Pure achievement ego.  I actually think this is one of the trends which has put off a number of integral women I know.  If you explain levels after states, types and lines, it is easy to see how complex the altitude thing is rather than being able to place an achievement oriented label of "I'm Turqouise" over your whole consciousness.  The first smart thing I heard Ken Wilber say was, "I spend most of my time at Beige."  I think this is brilliant.  We all eat, sleep, breathe, etc.  These realities happen so frequently it is hard to acknowledge.  Sometimes I bring my second tier self into the bathroom, but my basal self finds it to be a distraction.  

So back to the money: 

I really don't think that a gold or precious metal based currency will be the way to go.  When I first heard the statistic 10 years ago, Bernard Lietaer told me that 1/4 of 1 day's trading in value is held in Fort Knox.  We might not be generating economy in a way to help the planet, but there is a lot going on and it needs to keep happening if possible. 

When I talk about changing to another currency, don't think I mean this in anything less than a quantum level of change.  I absolutely fear that billions of people might die in this transition.  Most people have less than a week's worth of food stored and most grocery stores only hold 2 week's worth of food.  If there is a problem with our exchange system, these companies might crash quickly.  One mainstay I hope will help us stay afloat is the Terra. http://www.terratrc.org/ This currency is meant as an international exchange currency.  It is based on and backed by diversified commodities.  Some commodities store value such as gold while others are better at exchanging value such as wheat and oil.

I think it is possible to prevent cataclysm when we change currencies because now we are becoming educated enough about money to consciously conceive of a healthy, interdependent and Integral currency system.  I think the difficulties will be when we try to deal with the current value that is exchanged on a regular basis through business and life.  We need a way to account for current value in order to create a transition to a new system.  A lot of this is done already.  Companies audit themselves to establish share value.  The average crop yield might vary from year to year, but the revenue generating potential of the fields are very well understood.  I go to my job every day and provide value to the companies I work for.  I take my earnings and spend them to make the life I want to live.  The payment for my time is in dollars right now, but those behaviors are not dependent on dollars, only the transactions.  If we could find a way to collectively value our assets and cease creating debt based money, we could move to a healthier money system.  Understanding these interactions and dependencies is a large part of our work at www.inside-money.org.  We are striving to help people understand their relationship with money.  I believe if we could create a money supply which motivates us to help ourselves and others in creating value and exchanging that value with each other, we could create a money supply which motivates creation, love and brotherhood while accounting for what we are taking and giving back to the planet.  

An alternative currency will not be sufficient.  It will have to be a system of complimentary currencies.  Probably one to store value and the other to exchange.  Complimentary currencies are in no way illegal and are also not taxed.  This includes everything from frequent flier miles to Ithaca Hours (http://www.ithacahours.com/).  From the punch card at your local coffee shop to LETS exchange systems.  There are about 30000 complimentary currency systems in the world.  This is the way we have run our currency for time immemorial.  When one currency becomes unuseable, people find another way to exchange.  If someone is willing to exchange with you for a currency with the belief they will find a place they want to spend that currency, its valid money. 

The core reason I started the last blog post was to try to contemplate what an integral currency would look like.  After hearing the Integral Economics piece, I felt more aware of how many pieces of transition there were before my dream/nightmare of a new currency system will take place.  We need to value our resources and understand when we are taking opportunities from our grandchildren.  I believe that we have evolved enough to assume the responsibility of Stewards of this planet.  I believe this is the trans portion of the fall from the garden of eden.  We are not like the other animals, we choose to work and create.  We do not live only at beige.  We can create art, music and poetry.  We can create the internet and the wonders of the world.  We can now utlize our consciousness to both help and hurt the planet.  Its our choice.  Unfortunately it is so hard to take the time and space to find the wisdom to assume this responsibility. 

We need to start generating economy for the planet rather than taking her resources saying they were ours in the first place.  I want to glimpse what an Integral Economy would really look like.  I see many first tier usages of money, but am yearning to see what system wouldn't motivate greed and scarcity.  We need to value the assets in the world around us, not the numbers in a bank account which are a future potential experience.  We need a way to value the life which we take every day. 

I mentioned earlier that money is a Perfect Artifact.  I don't want a currency system which reflects back how much I can help myself with what I've saved.  I want a currency system which motivates me to help others and receive help in return.  I firmly believe millions of mitzvas are done through the money system every day, but why do I have to lose something in order to help another person when I give them a storable value?  That doesn't seem integral to me.  Why can't they contribute and earn without taking anything from me? 

When I've been to Bernard Lietaer's lectures at Naropa, I expected to listen to a lecture with graphs with moving curves and everything I had learned about economics.  Instead he speaks about how we have a masculine currency system and we need more feminine currency systems such as the Ithaca hours and time dollars.  He used Jungian psychology to identify an absence of great mother in our monetary profile.  He spoke of how one of the birthplaces of money was in the temple of Juno Moneta and how the festivities there revolved around sex, death and money.  This temple was an establishment both for death and for the world's oldest profession.  He notes that at this point our culture has begun to explore our unconscious issues around sex and death.  Money is the next one coming up the pike.  It creates equity, but is not value neutral.  There are a variety of ways to exchange value and debt based currency is not the only nor the best way.

Who wants to help me find a better way to exchange value?

-o-J