Sharing - God's Economy

[Chris Burns and Llyn Peabody]

Here's a post we just put up on our new blog: www.sharing-GodsEconomy.blogspot.com/ We'd love to hear your responses/replies here, or on the blog itself. Be well, Chris and Llyn

Money Should Work For Us (Not the other way around).

What is money? Do we need more of it to solve the world's problems? Or is money the cause of them? The following quote, which I will use as the launching point for this blog, comes from an interview with ex-banker Bernard Lietaer in the September issue of Ode magazine.

According to economics textbooks, money is value-free. It is nothing more than a means of exchange and is regarded as having no effect on transactions. Lietaer contests that view. "Money isn't at all value-free," he argues."The monetary system is programmed--albeit not deliberately--to cause certain behavior. It promotes competition and short-term thinking; it forces economic growth; and it undervalues care, education and tasks crucial to maintaining a society. Economics theory teaches us that people compete for markets and raw materials; I think, in reality, people compete for money."
This competition is a direct consequence of the manner in which money is created. Banks put money into circulation by means of loans. For example, as soon as someone negotiates a 100,000-dollar mortgage, money is created and begins circulatiing in the economy. But then the bank expects the recipient of the loan to pay back a total of 200,000-dollars in repayment and interest over the next 20 years. But the bank does not create the second 100,000 dollars. The recipient of the loan must get hold of that money--the interest--one way or another, and this forces him or her to compete with others. It's simple: Some people must lose money or go bankrupt in order to put others in the position to pay off their loans.
At the same time, this collection of interest results in a concentration of wealth: Those who have money "automatically" get richer. In addition, the system forces society into an endless loop of economic growth: New money must constantly be put into circulation to pay off old loans. Lietaer says, "My conclusion is that greed and the competitive drive are not inherent human qualities. They are continuously stimulated by the kind of money we use. There is more than enough food and work for everyone. There is merely a scarcity of money."

Our economic system is based on debt and the interest needed to pay it back. Losers are built into the system. Just as, in the Great Depression (how's that for a contradiction in terms!), it wasn't that the world was out of work to be done, food to eat or the means to produce the goods and services people need. It was that money had so deflated in value that it took a wheelbarrow of cash just to buy a loaf of bread. Buckminster Fuller said that you can't expect the majority of people (the masses) to make the "right" decision, just because it's right, but if you make it as easy, or easier to make the right decision than you'll get cooperation. You see this with curb-side recycling programs in the Pacific NW. It's just as easy to throw the jar or, can or bottle in a recycling bin as it is to throw it in the garbage can (well, a little harder if you count rinsing it out...) but it ends up saving the household money because, since less garbage is going in your garbage can you can pay for a smaller can. In the NW, we have huge level of compliance with the recycling system because it's so easy to cooperate.

What would it be like if people had easy alternatives for getting their basic needs met. Alternatives that worked as well or better than our current monetary system. At Heliotrope (the demonstration community for the Full Circle Family (see the Full Circle Family link in this blog) we aim to offer just this kind of alternative. People who become members bring what they have, in terms of skills and material assets, and by joining others with similar values, are able to lift themselves up to a higher standard of living and enjoy a lifestyle full of opportunities for creative, healthy expression. Their whole lifestyle is set up to make it as easy or easier to 'do the right thing' (environmentally, socially etc).

In future posts we will explore ways that people can begin to make the transitions needed in their own lives and communities (Without having to uproot here). For example there are already some very successful barter systems you can join, regardless of whether you're living in community or not. For now, this will have to do. Llyn

[☼Royce☼]

You have brought up such a good topic as always. I love reading what you two write. I love the ideas of a barter system all over the world. Thanks for continuing to work our brains.
Blessings,
Royce

[Chris Burns and Llyn Peabody]

Royce, you are an excellent moderator, helping to draw us out and feel heard. I wanted to clarify something from the writing in this thread and have re-written the last paragraph. Here it is: Blessings, Llyn

In future posts we will explore ways that people can begin to make the transitions needed in their own lives and communities (without having to move to Oregon). For example there are already some very successful barter systems you can join, regardless of whether you're living in community or not. I want to make it clear that, what we're proposing for the Full Circle Family is NOT a barter system at all. When we have dealings amongst ourselves they are in the spirit of "each giving according to ability and receiving according to need." We are giving and receiving not giving and taking. When we have dealings with the "outside world" we will still need money or some form of exchange but in 'God's economy', there is no accounting of what one has put into the system to establish one's 'worth' (such as in a barter system) where value is assigned to goods or services ('man's economy'.)

[☼Royce☼]

Thanks so much. I also believe in the giving and receiving and not giving and taking.
Blessings,
Royce

[john]

i never understood y money was so important it is just coton paper used to keep people working so that we all stayed in dept and thats just not to fun sounding thanks for this i shall continue to explore another means of trade thanks again this is such a good topic to start peace and loving thought headed your way

[Chris Burns and Llyn Peabody]

Hi John, Yeah, money is one of those things that most of us are so immersed in that we just take it for granted and don't even question it, or consider there could be alternatives. There's a really great movie that's free to download from the internet, that really opened my eyes to how the money system works these days. I learned A LOT! Go to: http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/ The first movie is great but I especially recommend "The Addendum" It shows how the Federal Reserve system works. All the dollars in circulation are based on debt. They're not even backed up by gold reserves (as they used to be). Debt and bankruptcy are built into the system. There are always going to be losers (if we play that game) and the rich will only get richer. That's how it's set up. Chris and I are inspired to follow a different path - God's economy...I'm not a church-going "Christian" but I believe Jesus was a truly enlightened being and if you read between the lines, there's some really important guidance that can be gleaned from the bible. Back in his day, his disciples talk about how they set up their communities: In the book of Acts, chapter 4, verses 32-35, it is said:

32And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

33And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

34Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,

35And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

The way we interpret this is that people brought what they had (what God had given them). They shared it amongst themselves. No one had private ownership. When they turned their lives over to guidance and faith, and united with others who were walking this same faith path (as opposed to everyone following their own separate egos), they had plenty. They were provided for.

I believe barter and trade are a step in the right direction but they are still operating in the paradigm of personal ownership. The really radical leap is to step outside that system and come into a circle where each "gives according to his/her ability and receives according to their need." Away from the time-clock mentality, away from the treadmill, daily grind. Where all your actions can be in the spirit of mindful prayer and generous service. "Aho Motockoeeassan, All My Relations". Llyn (and Chris)

[Ben Corson]

Traditional cultures had what is called a gift economy. Recently, I saw a conference based on that idea, mostly with indigenous speakers, on LinkTV. An idea whose time has come again!
If you are old enough to remember the last Great Awakening, the Diggers and the communes of that time were also operating under the premise that Llyn & Chris quote from the Book of Acts in the Bible.
That is also the operating principle found in the Communist Manifesto. "From each according to their abilities, to each according to their need."
Communism got a bad rap because the PTB got ahold of the revolution and screwed it up before it got off the ground, and because in Marxist form, it denied the existence of Spirit. Lenin and Stalin and later Mao and Pol Pot represented tyranny, but not the essence of the idea. They forgot LOVE.
"Communism works with guns or with love. And you won't see any guns around here." ---a Montana Hutterite leader interviewed by Newsweek (I think it was), an Anabaptist sect, akin to the Amish. But unlike the Amish, they hold all things in common and live communally.
Communism is living the will of God, serving the People...the 2nd great commandment is to love thy neighbor as thyself. Homelessness and hunger for "the least of these", are a disgrace, therefore, to all...in a sane society.
Marx had it wrong when he called religion "the opiate of the masses". True, the established state churches served the role of spiritual terror police for the earthly Czar or King or corporations.
But the Spirit that the religions' founders were talking about, would only have us all be Free.

That Spirit is what the "counter-culture" in all its manifestations throughout the ages, has tried to keep alive and presented to the larger population, tried to manifest outwardly to the world.

The hippies of the Haight-Ashbury and the communes of the late 60s--early 70s were just one wave of the "counter-culture".
There has always existed a counter to the power structure, except maybe in pre-farming, hunter-gatherer cultures where the whole tribe was in tune with the Mother Earth...before the Pharoahs commanded the pyramids be built, before the Incas, before the Sumerians, before the terraced gardens of Babylon.

One earlier wave of counter-culture was the feminist--abolitionist--temperance--progressive "Transcendentalist" literatii of the 1840s-1880s. Such as Thoreau and Emerson and Dickinson.

As Chris & Llyn have mentioned in their writings, another was the generation of rebels who founded the USA and wrote our declaration and Constitution.

Before that, the medieval troubadours and the Cathari of southern France. The Sufi of the Islamic world.
Back in Jesus' time, the Essenes offered a light to the people versus the dead, false legalism of the Pharisees and the Saducees.

There has always been resistance to the Empire-Builders who must keep the world asleep in order for their scam to be pulled off. So there has always been repression of the Spirit. That's why "straight" views are so limited and so disappointing, and so completely off the mark of what every child knows intuitively.

All over the world, in thousands of places and in millions of souls, we are trying to build a network of "lifeboats" to counter the disaster of the industrial / capitalist great Ship having already struck the iceberg...and going down fast.
We are trying to manifest true "points of light". We are trying to get free of the Devil's Bargain.

So, as usual, Chris and Llyn have opened a very important point!

How does a loving culture operate and meet the needs of its people, without the enslavement to artifical tokens and chits we call "money"?

We need to look at this, because it's so basic to the Empire's Big Lie...and getting free of it, so basic to moving beyond this dying culture of greed.

[Chris Burns and Llyn Peabody]

Good Morning Dear Brother,

WOW! What a 'kick ass' letter! You continue to amaze me with your grasp of what is really happening and your knowledge of the history of Spirits Movement to awaken us. WOW! It's become quite clear that we are truly allied in our vision and purpose. We love you and send all our support and encouragement to you . You are truly a great spokesperson for the cause. I wish I could look you right in the eyes and and tell you how grateful I am for showing up in our lives at this time. A big hug would be great too.

We enjoyed you lengthy
response to our last letter and plan to respond as soon as we can. I must admit I have a bit of trepidation in regards to how much I might be called upon to spend time at this computer writing and answering emails. But so far it's very exciting and full of meaningful substance. I don't remember a time when I've enjoyed such discourse with another, EVER! Llyn sends all her Love to you both as I do. Chris and Llyn

[Chris Burns and Llyn Peabody]

Here's the latest post we just put up on our new blog: www.Sharing-GodsEconomy.blogspot.com/ We'd love to hear your responses/replies here, or on the blog itself. Be well, Chris and Llyn

" We generally look upon trust as something we feel for others--"I don't trust you because you never do what you say you're going to do." It doesn't often occur to us that we can trust that person completely, knowing that he will not do what he says he's not going to do. We can trust him not to do it! Instead we prefer to distrust him, which means in effect that we have to sever relations with him completely or remain in a a state of paranoia whenever he is around because we are expecting any moment that he will fail us.
Such relationships of distrust occur most readily in areas where money is involved, because money is a very convenient abstraction for almost all our feelings. We love others because they give us money, we hate them because they don't. We think we are being tricked, one way or the other and the real problem is that we don't know whether we are being tricked or not. In any case it is important to us that we should not be lied to because people who lie are not reliable--we cannot tell if they are worthy of our trust.
So, in actual fact, if we look a little more closely at trust, perhaps it is more that we do not trust ourselves. We do not trust the knowledge we have of the world and other people. It is not really a matter of trusting or distrusting others at all.
And we can take this problem with trust to its final level--trusting ourselves to survive--or in other words trusting existence to provide us with what we need."

Quoted from "Wonder Child" by Peter Lorie 1989 - p. 189

I remember when my husband Chris first began sharing with me about what it was like living in a commune and "sharing all things common." While the idealism this invoked was compelling, and I liked the idea of no longer needing to keep accounts, or go off to a "nine-to-five" job, a low-grade anxiety accompanied these feelings as well. "What if no-one else does his or her chores? What if I want to go on a vacation and don't have the financial resources to do it? What if I want to be quiet in my own space, will I be left alone when I need solitude?" Most of these questions, at their core, have to do with trust. And, as Peter Lorie's quote suggests, initially this lack of trust seems to be pointed at other people but when we follow it to its natural source-point, we see that in our core, we don't really have trust that the universe will support us.

So many of us go through life acting from the impulse to stay safe. I was raised in an upper-middle class family and I had it drilled into me to always have money in the bank, get health insurance, make investments into a retirement account and always be sure I had the next trapeze-swing of viable employment clearly in sight before letting go of the one I was holding onto now. In the last few years, since meeting my husband, I have consciously stepped onto a path of faith. I have practiced and studied daily to feel secure in God's Economy rather than relying on my own ego's attempts to wrestle certainty and security out of a world of "unlimited uncertainty"(Richard Feynman - quantum physicist.) Though we still have savings in a bank, we have taken our money out of the stock market, don't carry a health insurance policy and we've made ourselves available to work that comes to us but have no daily job we are beholden to (sorry mom!).

Together, Chris and I have been practicing an attitude of faith, and been listening for guidance. We imagine what it would be like to bring heaven here on earth. Wild plants and animals don't worry about where they will find their next meal, or a place to sleep (that is, unless humans have encroached so deeply into their homeland that the web of life-support has been torn too badly to support them.) God provides air, and water and seeds and soil and the life-force to make things grow, blossom and fruit. Why would my own life be any different? It has actually been incredibly liberating, once I got over the first heart-pounding fear of closing down my IRA accounts, to place my life in God's hands. I remember how I used to always be scheming for how to create work, or opportunities for self-expression but these were ego-based. I would start out with the promise that "this job", or "this performance" would finally give me the feeling of satisfaction I was after. And time after time, the completion of the goal would leave me feeling empty and depressed and disappointed because, once again, the promise didn't deliver. By focusing on listening for guidance, noticing the opportunities that naturally showed up, and waiting for the universe to draw me out (instead of asserting my own will into the space), the satisfaction I felt/feel is tangible. I'm living more in the present moment and so my satisfaction isn't based on some future moment when I will finally be happy (a sure sign that the ego was/is behind the idea...)

So how does this tie in with communal living, and those questions I posed earlier in the essay? Chris and I are very clear that we would only be interested in living in a communal situation that is centered on spiritual principles. We are not dogmatic or religious in a rigid sense. We draw from many different faith traditions for our sense of guidance. And yet we see that, at least for us, a communal path wouldn't work without our sense of faith in this larger life-force, the creator/source energy of the universe, the oneness that embraces all of us together and provides the music by which we can all dance together in harmony. Also, people on a faith path are inherently more self-examining and willing to see how their own attitudes and filters have profound impact on the world they actually experience (you create your own reality...)

When members of a community are firmly grounded in the understanding that we are all "one"-- that whatever I give to an other, I give to myself--many of the fears and concerns about stepping into this path are alleviated. When you live in a spirit of "all for one and one for all", each giving according to ability and receiving according to need, you find that, by focusing on giving what you can, in the highest vibration of service, that lo and behold, your own needs get taken care of because the rest of the group "has your back".

This radical way of living (the original meaning of "radical" is "root", as in "radish") is not for everyone. Many people would still find it too foreign, or scary to even attempt. Others might try it out and find it isn't for them. Some people are still living in the dream of separateness and "I'll get mine" and so a communal lifestyle has no appeal. For these reasons, Chris and I often underscore how important it is that it be harder to join the community, than to leave. A person must demonstrate a clear conviction that they want to live in this way, and that they understand the challenges and implications. We won't try to convince anyone, or sell them on the idea. It's important that he or she come to their decision to join with no sense of coercion.

And, as for questions of privacy, or going on vacation, and the other worries raised at the beginning of this essay, finding the truth of what one actually needs (vs. imagined needs) is a wonderful part of the journey. Discovering that so many times, when we step back and say yes to what God/Life actually provides for us, when we get still enough to receive it, we find that our true needs are met at a level we never imagined possible. Llyn

[Ben Corson]

Wonderful essay, Llyn!

It addresses pretty much where we're at in this journey, specifically the feeling of being on the end of the diving board, getting ready to jump.
"The Leap of Faith". What you have written strongly resonates with me. I feel the need to "let go", not necessarily of what we do for a living, but of the anxiety attached to seeing it all as our own efforts.
What you are describing is something the Bible and The Celestine Prophecies are trying to tell us. I know it is difficult to explain in an essay, empirically how it works. It doesn't work empirically, that's the problem. The problem is just that our minds (little 'm') are set on the rational, empirical, frequency--which the Universe is hardly limited to.
Especially the statements in your last paragraph, I would like to talk some more about, with you. For now, I have to go, since my renters just left, and now I can dig up & repair an adjacent hydrant....whcih requires shutting off their water meantime. Later, --- Ben

[☼Royce☼]

Wow! You all seem to amaze me how you all write what some of us are thinkin so well. I just love to read the convos that happen between the 2 of you.
Thanks for sharing.
Blessings,
Royce

[Chris Burns and Llyn Peabody]

Thank you Royce. And I must again send the gratitude back your way, for providing the forum, and encouragement for these writings to come through. Be well, Llyn

[Chris Burns and Llyn Peabody]

Why communal living is a good idea:


In these challenging economic times, with record levels of home foreclosures, and job lay-offs, the communal lifestyle makes good economic sense! Slowly, slowly people in industrialized societies are waking up to the need to live more environmentally conscious lives. Some are doing it by choice and others are being forced due to external circumstances. The way most people live now, alone, or in a “nuclear family”, each household has at least one car, one kitchen (with all its separate appliances), a television, computer, power tools, lawnmower and other tools for home/yard maintenance. Each household is then responsible for its own set of monthly bills: rent or mortgage, phone bill, utility bills etc. Most of us buy our food in little cans, bottles or boxes instead of in bulk, creating huge amounts of waste. Even if it’s recycled, it must be handled and processed, which requires time and energy. And then there is all the time it takes for each household to maintain this lifestyle of separateness: time to shop, prepare and clean-up meals, time to maintain the house and yard and vehicles, time to maintain the tools to maintain these areas of ones life, and the biggest chunk of time of all goes to working a job to pay for all of these needs.

An informal study was once done comparing the financial cost of ten people living separately compared to ten people living under one roof. It was found that, on average, it required five times the money to maintain ten individuals as it did to maintain the ten people sharing communally. This did not even take into account the time each individual spent in separate household chores and “making a living”. Here the difference would likely be much greater.

A group of ten people (this is an arbitrary number—could be more or less), with the commitment to make it work, can create a stable and secure unit with increased opportunity for personal growth, and a richer social life with more leisure time to explore other interests—creative expression, spiritual growth, education in the areas of ones’ passion—the benefits are probably too numerous to mention and are limited only by the imaginations of the people involved.

So why are people so resistant to the idea of communal living? Here are some common reasons, and the answers we offer to these concerns:

1. “Communes are just for “hippies” or the “counter culture”, I wouldn’t feel comfortable living in one.” While it’s true that most of the communes of the 1960’s and 70’s were inhabited by those who were living outside the “establishment”, there are examples historically (many from the 1800’s) and in present times, of communes that had and have the highest standards of living. There is nothing inherent in the model of communal living that requires an impoverished or unhygienic lifestyle; quite the contrary. When a group of people pools their resources and shares a common vision of prosperous, healthy living, their combined talents and energies can provide a lifestyle far above that which each of them would be able to achieve alone. It is a matter of taste, and determined by the vision and commitments of those involved.
2. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing all my stuff.” Just as each commune makes decisions about its aesthetic style, each group also makes choices about how much of what they have is shared communally. At Full Circle Family we are committed to providing private living quarters for each person, couple or family according to their needs. For those of us who have grown up in western culture, a certain amount of privacy is necessary to feel centered and healthy. Also, each family or individual has home-decorations, mementos and personal things that they just don’t wish to share with the larger group. This is fine. Anything that is left in the common space is left with the understanding that it may be used by all. Instead of thinking of this as a loss of control over one’s personal “stuff’ think of it as providing expanded access by each individual to the resources of the whole group.

To read more on our personal blog(s), go to