http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj2s6vzErqY
See also
http://liberating-values.blogspot.gr/2012/07/1-meaning-of-liberating-vaues.html
Here are some thoughts and values for an alternative economic system.
In short:
Economics may become a very insidious influence in the experience of our life. For a minority may become also a very positive experience.
There is positive will and negative will in the societies. Progressive (benevolent) economics and regressive (malevolent) economics. Regressive (malevolent) economics may become a financial weapon of mass economic destruction.
Here are some forms that money interplay is experienced in our life
Money experienced as
1) As share in the goods of the planet
2) As means of transactions
3) As measure of human working activity
4) As raw material to organize business and group activity, or operational power (capital)
5) As constraint of debt in activities, or friction in production activities.
6) Conversely when in abundance, as measure of freedom in personal activities
7) As measure of social power
8) As means of persuasion
9) As macroscopic "temperature" of social activities
10) As means to regulate fair agreements, deals, etc
11) As embodied value of precious metals in the coins.
12) As difference of prices of same goods between different nations with different currencies.
13) As only the liquid part of the economic value of fixed assets, like real estate etc In other words in a society, money is only the smaller part of the total economic value or wealth, both for the individual or the public sector.
People used to believe that economic transactions and actions exist in the realm of win-lose or lose-win. The more they are educated, we realize the truth that economic transactions and actions are to exist, mainly microscopically in the realm of win-lose, lose-win, and mainly macroscopically in the realm of lose-lose, win-win.
We live in an over-debt crisis, therefore discovering the proper values in economics may become very important.
Let us start again from three significant values for the individual and the society that we have stated before for other spheres of life, and think what they entail for the economy too:
The individual is to
1) Have responsible freedom of self-determination
2) Become truly self-confident and free to be responsible as much as possible for the self, without being coerced to accept some higher institutional authority, or allow private groups to degrade the quality of public and private life.
3)The critical and important decisions about the road that the individual and the civilizations is headed in economics, technology and power, cannot be taken outside the individual, transparent social developments, and outside transparent democratic politics, in a secrete way, by private groups , enterprises and power secrete state-based groups (e.g. terrorist groups, and some times "anti-terrorist" groups, central banks etc) , more powerful than the governments and democracy.
Regressive (malevolent) economics may become a weapon of mass social destruction, through an artificial financial Darwinism. .
We see directly that the above values are in plane contradiction with the alienation and even subtle tyranny that over-debt is creating to households, enterprises and states.
And the guilty institutions and procedure is immediately evident: The privilege to print money that before the 17th century belonged only to the people and the public sector, now belongs to groups of powerful private interests that are the non-revealed owners of the central monetary banks. And according to their interests, force the flow of newly printed money through sequences of lending from larger bank to smaller bank till the final end of households, enterprises and public state.
Because of the above systematic practice of the central banks, at best scenario, the average enterprise has 2/3 of its assets as liability capital and only at 1/3, they own financially their business. A clear financial (not legal) alienation. They work financially for their lenders.
In this way every central monetary bank for each state or group of states with the same currency, may become, metaphorically speaking "the Minotaur or Tyrannosaur Rex of the kingdom": a monster that consumes the childrem of the country.
On the other hand, if the privilege to print money is returned to the people and the public state, then the flow of the newly printed money can be ruled to be mainly through public investments, subsidies etc; The power of economics through its financial organisations, should not be stronger than the power of public politics. In such a normalized monetary system, the average enterprise will have liabilities less than 1/3 of its total assets. In other words financially mainly responsible and owners of their business. The above in very simple terms is the cure of the over-debt of the monetary system. In a cured from over-debt monetary system, "banking" and the re-distribution of surplus money, need not utilize fractional reserve. The dominating mode of financing in a cured from over-debt, monetary system is not lending (non-ownership) but rather investing (co-ownership). The development of new laws around the crowdfunding through the internet may facilitate the passage from lending to investing, in financing.
Is society over-monetised? It seems to me that it is. Is the current tendency of the civilization to de-monetise many significant goods and services in the society? It seems to me that through the development of the internet, and the voluntary offer of the cognitive surplus of millions of people in the web, there is indeed a tendency of de-monetisation.
We only have to remember the hierachy of the human needs by A. Maslow as below, and realize that the upper needs and levels are mainly de-monetsied through the web:
Free communication, free enterainment (music, films, books etc), free education, free creativity etc. The game of making money so as to spend them for over-consumption, as a means of fulfilment in life (and out-in approach) is not a panacea, and creates a childish subjectivity and a low-life idea for the values of living. I do not say that using high quality tangible goods, does not support spirituality too, but is only one side of the coin.
Let us focus again on the value : Truly self-confident and free to be responsible as much as possible for the self, without being coerced to accept some higher institutional authority, or allow private groups to degrade the quality of public and private life.
It is immediate that the individual experiences this value easier if he seeks to make his living as an entrepreneur, and create his own wealth, rather than as a public state or private company employee. By utilizing his (her) 1) Assessed creative options , 2) Persistent activities 3) His passion to realize for himself and the society the non-money content of his business he (she) is going avavoidably to succeed.
Each individual of this planet , as birth right, from his (her) childhood till old age and death, without even being obliged to work is entitled to have the basic and minimum money for
He is also entitled to have shelter.
Nevertheless, as long as he (she) is healthy, he (she) has also the responsibility to participate in voluntary social work (at a maximum of 50% of any free part of his normal 8-ours working time. In other words if he (she) is working 8-hours in his own business , there is no obligation for voluntary work. But if he chooses not to work at all, then his has to offer at maximum 4 hours voluntary work. The minimum depending on the community needs).
For any more of household or enterprise wealth, he must become an employee or do business to acquire it.
This means that even the basic first two levels of the A. Maslow hierarchy are de-monetised. (in the sense that the they are offered essentially for free to each individual)
The present state of the working for the industrial-military complex creates a terrible waste of human work , energy and time, for "consumer goods" of highly questionable real value in human life. We live in a, in vain over-active system. By re-engineering the production and the work, the resources of the planet, and the existing technology are more than enough to provide this "de-monetisation" of even the first two levels of the A. Maslow Hierarchy of human needs.
Buying human labour is not so much different from buying human beings (slavery). Although buying tangible objects, or even financial services with money seems natural, buying with money human labour is not natural. Human labour is an intangible service , that should not be pressed to correspond and be measured with money. Even in an economy where you cannot buy human labour , the process of capitalization is possible, as a strong motivation (through the operational social power of the capital). Other incentives can be used for labour like
co-ownership through shares etc.
For objections to buy human labor with money, see e.g. the articles and books of Rudolf Steiner
e.g. http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA340/English/RSP1972/WldEco_index.html
Maybe a new economy is emerging which starts at the level of households (bottom-up change), that can be aggregated in to unconceivable hitherto social power, with ways similar to the aggregation of creative e-products, that is emerging in the internet.
E.g. The properties of households, can be divided in to strictly private, and publicly sharable. In this way, each person may have access to practically abundant property, and utility.
Money also can be substituted or paralleled with electronic voting (each person has the right of a maximum number of votes per year) and so the rights of social operational power (hitherto capital) can be conducted through accumulated number of received votes.
(see also e.g. The sacred economics by C. Eisestein
http://www.realitysandwich.com/homepage_sacred_economics )
Are the current factors of wealth distribution based on
a) Operational negotiation power
b) Highly unequal distribution of natural resources
the best for a fair, happier and prosperous society?
Should we not always reconsider the issue of fair and best distribution of the wealth based on principles like
a) Equivalent rights of basic needs of individuals and groups.
b) Fairly assessed contribution through work, talents, expertise and other private resources to the collective good.
c) Universal equal rights and obligations of humanity on the critical global natural resources of the planet (like drinkable water, sea, forests , basic animal diversity etc) .
d) Universal equal rights and obligations of humanity on the critical global artificial resources of the planet (like currency issuing, critical technology etc).
?
Some more details and remarks:
Wealth creation involves a very importnat transition phase for the individual:
It may start as the desire of a physical persom to create household wealth, through some kinfd of business, but as the business grow, usually they cannot be stopped (as it contains issues of emploees, sociaties demand etc), so it creates a surplus (and social) wealth from the point of view of the household , which is usually re-invested to grow the business and the enterprise. The transition from the household wealth creation to the surplus wealth creation is also a transition from mainly private interest to mainly social service interest and contribution . It is not in to the inner goals of all types individuals to make or to want to make, this transition.
There is here a nice parable based on the universal law of attraction.
One day a professor of sociology, lecturing in a class from engineers and mathematician, put his hand in the glass of water in front of him, and threw the water from his fingers on the surface of the whiteboard. Many smaller or larger drops of water where shaped.
He turned to the engineers and mathematician and said:
----Most of you would think ,through a way of mental habit, that the statistical distribution of size the water drops on the surface can be described with a normal or gauss distribution.
(Remark: A normal statistical distribution has a symmetric hill-like shape with the majority of the cases accumulated at the maximum which its centre (top of the hill). For this shape see e.g.
This would mean that the sizes of the water drops would be of course different but the majority would have an average size, neither the smallest neither the largest.)
----You would be wrong! The professor continued. You may call it divine intervention though nature's laws, or you may call it what ever, but the true statistical distribution for the sizes of the water drops is that of Pareto's
---- This means, continued the professor, that the grand majority of the number of the water drops are the smaller ones, but that the grand majority of the volume of the water is concentrated on a small minority of larger water drops. Actually the 20/80 rule of Pareto holds: More than 80% of the water is concentrated in less than 20% of the water drops.
----- Vilfredo Pareto discovered this law while measuring the wealth distribution in the society:
More than 80% of the social wealth is concentrated in less than 20% of the citizens.
(Remark: There are more similar statements like
1)“More than 80% of the total power in the planet is consumed by less than 20% of the countries”
2)“More than 80% of the problems in a company are created by less than 20% of the employees”
3) “More than 80% of the internet pages in the web are concentrated in less than 20% of the sites”
4) “More than 80% of the population in the palnet is concentrated in less than 20% of the cities”
5) “More than 80% of the stellar mass in the galaxy is concentrated in less than 20% of the stars”
This effects seems to be the result of the universal law of attraction and laws of evolution. )
----- So does this mean that such a distribution of the economic wealth and resources in societies is fair? Asked one from the classroom.
------ I did not say that, answered the professor. I only pointed out to you that the distribution of the wealth in society is under the same distribution as of other physical phenomena under the universal laws of evolution and attraction.
----- Personally , continued the professor, I believe it has nothing to do with fairness, but rather it has to do with lack of regulation, lack of evolution, coexistence of the little evolved with the more evolved, and lack of conscious human social design intervention. The jungle is full of monstrous violence and killing each other for food, and this might be considered a fact. But e.g. inside a herd of the same species, like in a population of horses or in a population of ants, there is not killing and direct violence, and such violence would be considere unfair. And this should be so with the human society. By decreasing economic inqualities, we eliminate violence, lack of trust, mental diseases and many other social diseases. The more we deviate from the distribution of Power and Pareto, toward a more uniform and equal distribution, the more the society has developed and is happier.
See e.g. how economic inequality harms the society in the video
Here are a list of 7 principles and 21 values for a better self, society and life
V1: For the individual and the nature:
The principle of the right for a free and prosperous life
1) No other individual or group has the right to determine how the individual will think and feel about himself (herself) without his (her) consent, other than the individual itself.An individual human being , at a final deeper analysis, belongs neither to family, nor to community, nor to church, nor to state, nor to society. A human individual is not property. This does not mean that each individual must put an emphasis to his (her) self, above others, the society, and the world. The individual being part and being responsible for aspects of the whole of humanity and the planet is a healthy attitude, as the fates of both are correlated.
2) The survival of the individual and the survival of planetary nature are in a win-win interplay. The civilization is to refrain from exercising violence and indirect destruction upon nature, instead is to conduct eco-sustainable practices. Animal rights are respected and sentient animals are honored The adopted energy model is of CO2-clean, ubiquitous and cheap renewable energy. An unconditional minimum income from childhood to old age should guarantee the decent survival and minimum living standards for each individual either he/she is working or not.
3) As human beings we have the right of responsible freedom of self-determination and we seek to become truly self-confident and free to be responsible as much as possible for our self, without being coerced to accept some higher institutional authority, or allow private groups to disorient degrade and jeopardise the quality and true values of private and public life. The quest for freedom of will goes deeper and deeper. Individuals have basic bill of rights respected by other individuals, authorities and communities, that include the right of survival food, drink, cloths, shelter, health care, freedom of expression and basic education.
The more the human individuals and society evolves, the less the usual power structures (even as above) are needed. The more the human consciousness evolves, the more the hierarchical power structures in the society, (either in enterprises, or public state services.) are realized and perceived as abuse to the human consciousness, and abandoned and substituted with other non-hierarchical interplay. Almost, as in the ideal republic of Kalipolis of the ancient Greek Plato. The more evolved individuals and society we become the more we shift from the pattern of win-lose (controlling) or lose-win (being controlled) to the pattern of win-win (what mutually we seek), and lose-lose (what mutually we try to avoid).Win-lose (or pray-predator, or domination) modes, lead to waves of self-destruction. Win-win modes (or cooperation modes) lead to stable and permanent happiness.
V2: For the sexual life , and the family:
The principle of sexual happiness
4) Sexual life is a significant part of human happiness, and is respected and encouraged in its private different forms, as long as in its turn respects community and social life.
5) The choices of the details of sexual practice, and the modes of couples life, like agreed monogamy, agreed polygamy etc are entirely the responsibility of the involved individuals and are not forced by religions, society or other groups. The erotic life is liberated from fear, feelings of guilt, humiliation, superstitions, lies, pretence and deception.
6) Family is encouraged as long as there is parental and social possibility of decent survival. The children growing up is protected.
V3:For the community experience and society:
The principle of ethical social life
7) The main ethical values in a community are spiritual freedom, economic freedom and moral freedom. Also truth, trust, mutual support, responsible participation, and a similar experience of life of shared values.
8) The basic principles of what democracy means, as a win-win interplay of the individual and the collective, are respected and the details of how it is conducted are re-decided according the size of the communities.
V4: For human relations , love, emotional life and happiness:
The principle of love
9) The keys for a non-violent and happy life in intimate relations are truth, and respect of any explicit agreements for the time interval agreed, plus love free from, lies, fear, humiliation, guilt, pretence, hypocricy, and violence.
10) The diamond rule:
--- Do not do upon others what you do not want they do upon you and they do not want to do upon them, after making sure that this does not damage the society as a whole.
--- Do upon others what they want to do upon them, and you want they do upon you, after making sure that this does not damage the society as a whole.
11) Emotional life, is very important for most of the people, and cultivation of higher virtues like hope, faith, enthusiasm, loyalty, optimism, fairness , sympathy, kindness, cheerfulness, humour, altruism etc. is a primary orientation
V5: For economics, communication, creativity, and reputation:
The principle of creative human being
12) Each one receives according to its needs and constributes according to its abilities. Wealth must be acquired by the application of (scientific) power from humans to the nature and matter (progressive economics), not from humans to humans (regressive economics).
The more the truth, trust, fairness and responsibility are developed the less the use of money is necessary. Although society is evolving through cycles of decrease of economic differences and centralization and of increase of economic differences and decentralization, the long term perspective is the decrease of the economic differences. Money was means of facilitated relative fairness, and now it has become means of crypto-piracy , power abuse, manipulation of the democracy, and social mass destruction of values and quality of life through artificial financial Darwinism. The more evolved individuals and society we become, the more we shift from the pattern of win-lose (controlling) or lose-win (being controlled) to the pattern of win-win (what mutually we seek), and lose-lose (what mutually we try to avoid).Win-lose (or pray-predator, or domination) modes, lead to waves of self-destruction. Win-win modes (or cooperation modes) lead to stable and permanent happiness.
13) Creativity is to be respected and desired both in the life of the individual and in collective community activities. Creativity is one of the most significant expressions of our spirituality.Creativity may act as norm and discipline in daily life, may cure alienation and facilitates individuation.
14) The individual's creativity or collective creativity is parallel to the natures creativity (growth of life, birth of children etc), and is the response of the human spirit to the nature's creativity. Creativity may be regressive or progressive. Creativity, if progressive, it is to be compatible with healing the nature, the society and the individual.
15) Through creativity there is the opportunity to seek for excellence, pioneering peak performance, and through communication find esteem and reputation in the community and beyond. Communication is both a right and a virtue. Individuals are to be treated with courtesy and respect by everyone else; If they are treated discourteously or disrespectfully , it is a reflection on the others not on the individual as long as he (she) does not accept their treatment of him (her) as right.
V6:For intellectual life, education, arts, sciences and controlling our fate:
The principle of happy intellectual life
16) Basic education is a right that every body has from the moment of his birth. Through on going life-long education we acquire skills, practical expertise and information about the world. Through on going life-long self-education we are uncovering our own talents, and are lead to self-improvement, and spiritual inspiration. With a living education we have an opportunity for honouring the self, and others, for loving, for better relations, of accessing the unlimited collective intelligence, for spiritual inspiration and for disciplined practice.
17) Through education, intellectual life becomes possible, and with it, scientific research and power. Thus we may control more and more our fate and become happier. Scientific practice may be regressive or progressive. If progressive, it is to be compatible with healing the nature, the society and the individual. The quest for knowing and controlling physical reality leads to deeper and deeper levels of it.
Scientific technology must be
17.1) free from deception for other people,
17.2) free from the will to apply it for the good of few only, instead of all,
17.3) free from any crypto-piracy to open democracy and its principles
17.4) free from any tyrannical dependence to any alien civilization.
V7:For spirituality and the cosmos:
The principle of a free will, eternally improving, spiritual human being
18) Ultimately human beings are , spiritual beings. We may think of breathing as a metaphor for the spiritual interplay.Life would not be worth living without self inner analysis and perpetual improvement. Inner-attention, inner-listening, cultivation of visions, meditation, or praying, self-knowledge, cultivation of positive mental and emotional attitudes etc, are primary goals.Science seeks to produce effects with the horizontal causality within the material density-reality. But as spiritual human beings we have also miraculous abilities of producing effects through vertical-causality (spiritual intention) among the different material densities-realities and levels of consiousness . To become balanced spiritual human beings we have to balance those two different ways of producing effects.
19) The paths to spirituality, religions and the search for the sacred and non-sacred are many. We value freedhom of religion.
20) Attending the world with a more true knowledge is changing ourselves for the better. We value the research of the origins of humanity, civilization and different life-forms. The values of interplay between different communities and societies apply as well for different planetary civilizations of the galaxy.
21) The critical and important decisions about the road that the individual and the civilizations is headed in economics, technology power, and galactic affiliations, cannot be taken outside the individual, outside transparent social developments, and outside transparent democratic politics, in a secrete way, by private groups , enterprises and power secrete state-based groups, more powerful than the governments and democracy.
A timely sequence of the evolution process of creative changing or creating the self based on the choice of new values, is as follows
The private space:
1) The Wandering:
Where we come from, why, our purpose and gathering our "tools".
2) Initiation:
Preparing our own path, each one different and hopefully centering.
3) Honoring:
Understanding the Source of our creation. Recognizing the sacred in oneself.
4) Stating Intention: Realizing and acknowledging ones true purpose to create Self.
5.1) Surrender : Letting go of control to allow vulnerability. To learn what is already known.
5.2) Embrace our own hidden-self :
Walking into the unknown parts of Self. Being and becoming the Void.
6) Lighting the Flame in the Heart: Connecting to Self and finding meaningful, honest, ritual.
7) Transformation: Climbing the ladder of self-responsibility, to hold a vision of Being in One-ness, Being the vision that alters all perception.
8) Becoming Human: Empathy and compassion toward all. Being in truly responsible relationships.
9) Walking The Path: Integrating all of life's experiences. Being a teacher by Being.
10) Service: Discarding the illusion of separateness. Total approach to life in humility and joy.
11) Believing in , honoring, and service to the deeper Existence:
Giving value and practice to the Existence is the creation of Self.
