The way we are doing things here as a culture is NOT working.

America is broken.

Fanning the fires with the media’s unrelenting coverage, there is copious talk of recession– bordering depression-era– fallout of the financial marketplace.  It’s not just here in the U.S., it’s throughout much of the western empire.  Housing markets are crashing.  The value of our currency is plummeting.   The masses of us who rely upon credit for our lifestyles are quickly discovering that the amounts we borrowed were only theoretical and can no longer be extended.  It’s leaving the working class in a bind.  The frivolous Can’t-Live-Withouts are quickly becoming the fat we trim from our wallets.

We’ve created a monster, and the monster is made up of our worthless dollar bills.

This sort of “crisis” has been predicted by numerous prophets, analysts, and plain people with common sense.  The problem is that no one really can reliably predict the future– and even if they did (which they did), no one who is living blindly is/was going to hear them.

Our civilization isn’t working.  It’s failing.  And because we’ve put so much value in funding that has never really existed, we are scrambling to figure out how to fix it- how to salvage our McDonald’s breakfasts and cable television.

Of course we’ve got to change.  Perhaps this is what we’ve needed all along.  It’s possibly the gentlest wake up call we could hear.

I think the root of much of this discomfort is greed.  Perhaps.  Perhaps it’s not so much greed as it is ignorance.  We’ve convinced ourselves that we need money to survive.  We’ve convinced ourselves that this little green paper is the tool for all of our needs– and a means to get more than what we need.  And in turn, we are handcuffed to jobs we hate.  We can’t leave them to do what we want because we have an untouchable, non-repayable sentence: debt.

I believe there is a shift in order…  A gradual understanding that all we have put value in is meaningless.  It is going to take some pride-swallowing and some self-forgiveness, but ultimately, we have got to admit that the path we’re walking along isn’t working.

I think it’s high time that we re-evaluate what our needs are.  Simply, we have a hierarchy: food, shelter, warmth;  security, safety, health; friendship, family, intimacy; self-esteem, confidence, respect (for self and others); creativity, morality, and acceptance… (thank you Maslow).  Nowhere within those needs are little green pieces of paper which give us clout.

Now, before you sigh and call me a worthless hippie, I want to point out that I, too, love money.  Though it’s not so much the money itself; it’s the security, comfort, and downright FUN that I can trade for it.  But is there something else I can use that will ensure I continue to have that same security, comfort, and fun?  I sure hope so… because very soon, I’m guessing, the little pieces of green paper aren’t going to get me what it used to.

This whole line of thought has me thinking… about what it is that I have to offer.  It’s much like a concept I have discovered within the Gaia community, which is the offering of “seeds.”  Seeds are not really anything other than an expression of gratitude.  You never really GET anything when someone gives you a seed– and you don’t really ever GIVE anything.  It’s much like money, except that in this culture, these little pieces of green paper (or even better yet, things that represent these pieces of green paper in the form of credit or debt) can be traded for those things that we want.  And if you don’t have enough of the green paper, you either go without or have to figure out how to make more green paper.

Or you find something else to trade.

I’m not entirely sure that I’m going to be able to trade my “words of wisdom” for my new Jaguar Super V8.   And as much as I want (*drool*) that vehicle, I’m not sure that it’s going to happen as long as we’re tumbling along this path.

The thing is… do we turn away from everything we’ve devoted our lives to attaining?  I doubt that’s the answer, but I’m not sure WHAT the answer is– only that we’re going to have to begin thinking about finding another answer.  This last year for me has been a year of changing the behaviors that aren’t working.  I’m wondering if I can challenge you all to do the same.  As a collective whole, we are the future of this culture and this world.  WE are the ones responsible.  There is no one else besides US because WE are the humanity of the western empire.  WE can continue along this path of behaviors that aren’t working, or WE can come up with some innovative ideas to find something that might work better.

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