The following article, New Currency, is an introduction to money as a leverage point for
systemic transformation and integration. It was written in December 2004 and first published in German in the social
economic journal Fairconomy in 2006.
This work provides the context and background for the forthcoming trilogy, New Currency: How Money Changes the World as We Know It.
| SD-Integral] Money, Ego and the Good Society | |
| From: | Jordan MacLeod |
| Sent: | April 17, 2004 2:41:48 AM |
| Reply-to: | spiraldynamicsintegral@yahoogroups.com |
| To: | spiraldynamicsintegral@yahoogroups.com |
I'd like to share with you an update on my thesis on money. After briefly outlining my project back in December, I received a lot of advice, helpful criticism and encouragement from many on this list. I would like to offer my thanks and sincere appreciation. This may encroach on the word limit. My apologies if this causes any inconvenience.
It is my perception that money is possibly the strongest leverage point for understanding and addressing the most pressing problems and opportunities on the planet today. It is certainly not my intention to force this on to anyone. Rather, I regard large-scale social change as a natural process that emerges only with dire urgency and necessity. For example, city states first emerged as a consequence of technological breakthroughs in transportation. This enabled greater distances and speed for trade, and it also brought distinct cultures into greater contact and conflict. It also became far more difficult to defend against warring parties or bandits from unexpected attack. The city state emerged as a necessity for security - people were willing to let go (in part) of their old ways of living in order to survive - and an opportunity to create something new and wondrous - a transcendent commons. Power shifts when the old structures fail to provide adequate safety, opportunity and meaning. In this global age, the same holds true with the nation state and what is to come.
Certainly I hope that there is room for discussing the topic of money here. Surely both discussion and action are absolutely necessary and surely most people on this list have a tremendous desire to act on their values and beliefs in a manner that helps the world become a better and safer place. Hopefully we might learn a little more about what it means to be human and an extension of this evolving universe. My research here is based on the desire to understand the structures that facilitate action and the hope to better understand how structures might transcend current problems and facilitate the emergence of second tier action, while honoring all individuals at all levels.
Publilius Syrus noted in the first century BC, “money alone sets all the world in motion.” Such a statement allows us to see the profound connection between thought and action, for, money is one of humankind's most profound thoughts.
Aristotle noted that if you want to create an empire, you start by creating money.
I will try to be brief with my findings. I'm open to discussing, eloborating, clarifying and especially working on projects that might bring a new understanding of money into the world in an effective, honorable and powerful way. Without a doubt this project will be more complex than my outline, just as it will surely reflect my own vmeme stacks. Your input would be greatly appreciated.
Many on this list have observed that the world has become highly polarized between the haves and the have nots. The complexity of global problems can be overwhelming and I probably need not go into it here (with such a conscious audience) as most of you are likely more aware of the problems than I. Change is also increasing at an exponential rate, meaning that a more complex society will be necessary to adequately address global problems and rapid technological change.
Human interaction, exchange, production, invention and consumption are all facilitated by money. The more complex and spontaneous society is the one that better allows individuals to determine and act on their own needs and values. This is best facilitated by a money that:
"1) secures the exchange of goods - which we shall judge by the absence of trade depressions, crises and unemployment.
2) that accelerates exchange - which we shall judge by the lessening of stocks and wares, the decreasing number of merchants and shops, and the correspondingly fuller storerooms of the consumers.
3) that cheapens exchange - which we shall judge by the small difference between the price obtained by the producer and the price paid by the consumer."
(from Gesell, Silvio. The Natural Economic Order. 1918.)
(These points may appear trivial, and possibly boring but I encourage you to stay with it!)
Our present money system produces a tendency for money to be withdrawn precisely when it's needed and flooded when it is not. (bust and boom)
Our present money system is a collection of many national currencies, all competing to expand in power and influence. The national currency, perhaps more than anything else, is what drives national consciousness.
Our present money system carries interest which is not an inherent component to money. Interest causes:
1) an insatiable (and ultimately impossible) need for
growth
2) acts as a tax, funnelling wealth from the
poorest 80% to the wealthiest 20% (in developed
nations. much more inequitable on the global scale)
3)creates the impossibility of full-employment
4)causes inflation and the discounting of the future.
These characteristics are the root of the majority of problems facing this planet (or, a part of the root in the external quadrants)
Money is an external manifestation of ego. They both carry the crucial function of mediating between the worldly and the divine; the mortal and the immortal; material and meaning (see Needleman, J. Money and the Meaning of Life). A healthy ego is strong and has found its place in helping the higher self. It is not omnipotent or all-controlling.
This is about as far as I had made it when I sent the outline back in december. At that time all I could say was that interest rates were largely responsible for the above problems, but I did not understand what to do about it.
In reading Silvio Gesell's The Natural Economic Order, I came to understand that the solution has been around since 1918. (Please note that despite the relative obscurity of Gesell's theory, it has been endorsed by nobel-prize winning economists and John Maynard Keynes once said "that the world will come to learn more from Silvio Gesell than from Marx." Given WW II and then the cold war, it is understandable that it did not receive much attention.
Gesell sought to resolve the contradictions of capitalism from within free market economics rather than from the collective ownership/seizure of capital (ala communism). You can access his book on the web: http://www.systemfehler.de/en/neo/
Gesell argued that the function of money is to facilitate exchanges, but rather, is to its detriment, treated as a commodity. The best money, he argued is one that is absolutely worthless in itself (I'm thinking digital here) its value should come from the demand for trade.
Money, he argued, - and this is crucial, is superior to the goods and services it is meant to trade because it does not perish. (Goods also must be stored.) Money is immortal and goods decay. This creates an imbalance in supply and demand which allows the moneyholder to hold out until the other is desparate to make a trade. This, he argued, along with land ownership is the foundation of usury and hoarding (the obstacles to the good and complex society).
To make a long story short, Gesell solved this problem by concluding that if money decreased in value at the same rate as goods (cost of storage, decay), they would be perfect equivalents. The money holder then would be encouraged to give up the money rather than hoard. This effectively acts as a negative interest rate, which creates an increased accounting for the future (rather than discounting as at present) value of money. The future becomes truly more valuable than the present. This encourages long term vision and investments in projects, rather than short term get rich quick schemes and planned obsolescence. Furthermore, this eliminates the compulsion for economic growth and endless expansion.
There is so much more to say on this subject, but this is off the top of my head and I probably should ask for some feedback to see how you've followed me thus far. If there's interest I'd be thrilled to have a discussion on how this can be applied today. There are also interesting connections to the world of ego!
Cheers,
Jordan
The
Spiral Letters is a selected collection of postings made to the Spiral Dynamics
Integral (SDi) listserve over a five year period (2003-2008). It documents the
evolution of my thinking about money within an integral context and
community.
LETTER #1
This post from December 2003 reflects an aha! moment that felt like a total revelation and breakthrough. I was sitting in my bedroom in Chicago, looking at the Sears Tower and skyline while snow was falling on me (through the gap in the window) and I could sense how money pervaded it all - made it all possible and connected the city to everywhere else. During this time, the Art Institute's Terri Kapsalis, Carolyn Ottmers and Jim Zanzi were all very generous in their support to enable my sculpture work and writing to focus on money as social sculpture (which follows Beuys' work and lectures).
Here I could finally 'get' how money could enable integration, connectivity and wholeness via grounded means. Humanity's intentional process of becoming whole - onement - could now be articulated and realized.
Jordan
(Note: the color references come from Spiral Dynamics - a bio-psycho-social model for human emergence)
To: spiraldynamicsintegral@yahoogroups.com
From: Jordan MacLeod
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 17:50:31 -0800
Subject: Re: [SD-Integral] thesis or quixotic daydreaming?
Dear Constellation:
As there probably isn't a better group of people anywhere to ask for help on this, i'd like to run by you my [thesis] intentions (a brief outline below) and welcome any feedback: suggestions, reservations, criticism, warnings, encouragement would all be very openly received.
I write this off the top of my head:
*
The title of my project is called onement, which i define as humanity's intentional movement towards the formation of unity. central to this is the differentiation and reintegration of equality (law), freedom (economic) and unity (brotherhood, sense of connectedness with all things).
I'm beginning with F.A. Hayek's The Road to Serfdom, where he demonstrates the superiority of the free market over central planning because it allows individuals greater responsibility (spontaneity) for taking care of their own needs, whereas central planning, regardless of how noble the idea, tries to concretize this idea through the use of arbitrary power. being a good liberal, spontaneity and arbitrary power are certainly relative terms in Hayek's vision. like JS Mill, freedom is an evolutionary process (success brings partialness). we are not Free.
In advanced democratic nations, the idea of a free market can be used as a justification for pretty much anything. once the idea reifies in blue (or red), it results in the undermining of the entire process.
Furthermore, our assumption that we are working under a free market is becoming increasingly inaccurate, primarily because of globalizing forces and problems and because we have not only solved the "material question" in developed nations but have created increasing pressures to increase productivity and consumption. nations are becoming obsolete as they fail provide adequate safety from external threats: especially global problems on the whole, profitization of the planet and terrorism.
In response, we must develop a more spontaneous (thus complex) order, where individuals are more empowered to make choices and actions based on the whole, rather than on partial interests. as profit beomes ever more totalized in our lives, the existing partialness becomes increasingly obvious. we become increasingly incapable of acting on increasingly significant issues.
There is an ongoing search for a new paradigm in economic theory: this new theory must be able to reconnect micro and macro economics. it must be based on productivity (rather than profit). it must resolve the questions of full-employment (it is accepted that about 5-15% of the working force will be structurally and desirably out of work) and inflation (Drucker).
In looking for arbitrary power in capitalist democracies, two obvious centers exist (if we take the
macro to be the planet): the nation-states monopoly on currency production and interest rates (much of this is from B. Lietaer). it is precisely the latter which causes -
1) an insatiable (and impossible) need for growth
2) acts as a tax, funnelling wealth from the poorest 80% to the wealthiest 20% (in developed nations. much more inequitable on the global scale)
3) creates the impossibility of full-employment
4) inflation and the discounting of the future.
Most importantly, it destroys brotherhood as it pits every man to himself (pardon the gender bias) and perpetuates a feeling of division and separation from reality. There is a big difference between competition (orange) and alienation and an eternal desire to conquer (red - "to the victors belong the spoils"). Interest rates, while useful during the transition from the old world to what is to come, are irrational as they prevent us from solving the problems they create. Witness the pressurse on social democracies. Why does any advanced nation tax for social welfare when they are imbedded in a structure which is designed to do the opposite?
Marx threw out the baby with the bathwater when he criticized free market capitalism (Wilber, SES)...it was usury that is embedded within the structure.
As crazy as this sounds, the removal of interest is ecoming increasingly necessary as it is blocking further transformation. It is also the potential catalyst for generating tremendous energy. By understanding money, we come to understand that it is a manifestation of ego working in the world. It is the intermediary between our animal and creative nature. Creativity is essentially an economic concern. From dismal science to creative science.
Removing interest makes sense theoretically, and paves the way for a new economic paradigm based on flow and creativity.
The essential point is that we cannot revolutionize or think this into existence. no one can be blamed (we have to honor where we are coming from). It cannot be acheived any way than in a process of collective (global) voluntary (intentional) movement towards reconnecting with our sense of connection for all things. we cannot blame anyone else. It is up to each of us to empower one another, to be who we are and to allow others the space for same. it is a gradual, step by step realization. nobody can be asked to be anything but who they are.
As we imagine an economics without interest, we come into contact with our own creative powers. free from compulsion what would happen? Could we learn to build a society based on service, where, like native americans, our greatest honour is to give away what we value most?
This may sound hoplessly naive or idealistic, but as problems continue to worsen, it will become increasingly obvious, despite tremendous resistance, that we have no other choice.
Like an artist, we must collectively develop a vision that is open and flexible enough to change as we go, yet maintain an unquestioned resolve that we will make it 'work'. imagine a vision spread through the mind of the world (esp. green and orange vmemes on internet) so convincing (yet crazy!) that humanity is the product of 15 billion years of evolution. We are coming to separate our animal nature from mind. We are the universe coming to know itself. we are an inherently creative technology. by coming to understand money (ego), we gradually learn to put it in the service of this higher purpose (for whom does the grail serve?). centers of brotherhood will emerge and gain immediate attention. successes will gather rapid attention and energy. Tthis could happen very quickly! or not at all! let's make our move to one or nothing. (a challenge to recognize our subjective world).
Warm regards,
Jordan
The
Spiral Letters is a selected collection of postings made to the Spiral Dynamics
Integral (SDi) listserve over a five year period (2003-2008). It documents the
evolution of my thinking about money within an integral context and
community.
As Book One of New Currency is in the final stages and set to hit bookstores by the end of the year, I was reflecting on the development of many of these ideas over the past 6 years. Much of this book was born after reading Silvio Gesell while studying at the Art Institute of Chicago. The whole was there as early as 2003, but it has taken this long to pierce the veil and articulate the relationship between money and human consciousness.
During this time, I developed many of the essential ideas in the framework of Spiral Dynamics Integral (SDi), and posted these theses and ideas on Dr. Don Beck's SDi listserve over the years within a community of integral thinkers, doers and wizards. I thought it might be interesting to post a number of them here to give a sense of the book's evolution over that time period. These will be found in the Spiral Letters category.
This process was often one of learning to get out of my own way in order to develop a more complete understanding between money, economic systems and human subjectivity: consciousness. In this sense the listserve posts were invaluable and I am grateful to those who have provided feedback, encouragement, and critiques over the years.
JM
