The Monetary Cliff: Its the Driver behind Deficits and the Fiscal Cliff - Rethinking our Centralized Fiat Money System

In different ways the East and West are going through a single common crisis whose cause is the spiritual condition of the modern world . . . The nature of that loss is . . . ultimately quite logical. When, with the inauguration of the scientific worldview, human beings started considering themselves the bearers of the highest meaning in the world, and the measure of everything, meaning began to ebb, and the stature of humanity to diminish. The world lost its human dimension, and we began to loose control of it. . .

(W)hat is obvious to me?

First, that the finitude of mundane existence cannot satisfy the human heart completely. Built into the human makeup is a longing for a "more" that the world of everyday experience cannot requite. This outreach strongly suggests the existence of the something that life reaches for in the same way that the wings of birds point to the reality of the air. . .

The reality that excites and fulfills the soul's longing is God, by what ever name. Because the human mind cannot . . . comprehend . . . God's nature, we do well to . . . think of God as a direction rather than an object. That direction is always toward the best that we can conceive. . . With (that direction) and the world categorically distinguished but nowhere disjoined, other things fall into place. . .

The relationship of 'power over' is an artifact of seeing ourselves as "the bearers of the highest meaning in the world". So is violence, especially structural violence. As Gandhi is reported to have said, "anytime some people use others to make money, there is violence -- external and internal. ^xxxiii" To acknowledge this fact is to acknowledge that the kind of profit practiced by big business and big finance is structural violence and as such is immoral.

So we have to redefine the role of the entrepreneur in a way that allows for the creative spirit to bloom, without using that creativity to gain power over. Doing so implies learning how to organize ourselves with relationships of power with. It also recognizes that entrepreneurship does not necessarily require the value of getting rich in terms of money. The essence of entrepreneurship is creativity and problem solving that improves the lives of community members and the community as a whole. Seeing entrepreneurship in this light will require the study, the development, and the consistent use of Sociocracy and consensus in formal institutions. Non-violence will replace violence in formal relationships.

The obstacles to transition are high, but the stakes are immense. The questions before us are do we want to follow the model of the Roman empire which led to the dark ages, or do we want to transition to a society and economy that is resilient and sustainable? Are we willing to do what it takes to get to a just and democratic economy that respects everyone -- each with their own cares and gifts to share?

Further Resources

What is said here only scratches the surface of what needs to happen. Many organizations and people are already out there working on the transition. A few random resources that come to mind (in no particular order of importance, just the order that I thought of them):

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