Would We Be Better Off Without Money?
Personal Responsibility
The most important step to evolving the money system is to recognize that our choices matter. One of the features of our current economy is that businesses respond to demand. As a result, one effective way to change a firm’s behavior is to demand it through our spending.
One of the best examples of the power we hold is the story of changes in milk. Starting around the mid-2000s, many people started to feel uneasy about growth hormones being used on cows to increase milk production. The health and ethical implications caused serious debate. Some suggested that more regulation was needed and that businesses shouldn’t sell milk produced this way, whilst others argued there were no issues using growth hormones and the status quo system was fine.
While the debate was interesting to follow, the factor that ultimately lead to real change was people changing their buying habits. A critical mass of consumers stopped buying milk produced with growth hormones and firms responded. In 2008, Wal-Mart announced they were dropping all such milk from their stores. They noted that they weren’t saying what they had been selling was unsafe or unethical, but that people demanded something different. They were interested in what buyers wanted.
This example shows us that we can make a difference within the existing system. Even the biggest of companies and industries can be influenced. If we demand ethical, wholesome products and services, with our wallets, we can achieve significant change within manufacturing and commercial industries on a large scale. If big changes are going to come to our economic system, then they will come from the collective force of each of us individually taking responsibility for our spending habits.
Choices
There are many ways to loosen the grip that money has on our lives. In the First Insight, we learn that the restlessness we all feel comes from the sense that something is missing. Realizing that materiality doesn’t fill this gap can free us to move forward.
We have choices. We can consume less. We can dedicate more energy to spiritual pursuits and less energy to material pursuits. We can work toward new economic systems that better reflect our spiritual evolution.
Many of us may prefer a world where an attitude of giving is more common than a dog eat dog selfish mindset. One of the easiest ways to move in this direction is tithing. By giving some of our money, even if we feel we don’t have enough ourselves, we help bring opportunities back in our direction. If you truly don’t have money to give, you can still tithe by donating your natural resources, such as your time and personal energy in order to trigger positive karmic reactions, and to assist with bringing about change.
As James Redfield describes:“[Through Tithing] We could completely eradicate all poverty with educational outreach, clean up the harmful chemicals from the environment, and move, in a less disruptive way, toward a better energy system.”
While most of us aren’t millionaires, we do have the power to make choices regarding how we invest our money, time, and energy. And choices made with a vision of a better, fairer world at heart, will help our lives and societies to evolve in a positive direction.
Individually, you may feel your actions are insignificant, but they are not. This is a collective evolution, and the desire for change is growing. Together, we hold immense strength, and the markets will respond to our monetary demands, allowing an enlightened economy to evolve.
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