GIFTING ECONOMY

[bob banner]

Rather than continually bashing the existing order we need to begin to create genuine alternatives that will be around for a long time. This particular system cannot keep going. Some folks will do what they can to criticize the system and go for it.. we need all the voices we can to muster enough momentum to make a difference. One such very positive movement is the gifting economy. I post a link called A Circle of Gifts (gifting economy) penned by Charles Eisenstein, the author of Sacred Economics: http://hopedance.org/home/money-news/1875

Perhaps this will lead to a number of positive solutionary types of situations, designs and arrangements. Go for it!!!

[Larry Lowe]

As victor Hugo Said" there is nothing
as Powerful as an idea whose time has come!'

This Global movement is creating Abundance
through synergy of social networking
combined with unconditional Giving and Receiving.

I am excited to share connecting Us All
The Global Giving Movement With You.
Make the connection Now http://lifefulfillmentassociates.connectingusall.org/

[Ron Tocknell]

Bob, I wholeheartedly agree! We can all see the mess... but, for many, that's all we can see. Those among the ruling elite are not going to willingly change a system that, in their perception, serves them well. Those who serve the ruling elite (police, military etc.) are not going to act against a system that they have, for all its flaws, committed to protecting... unless the reasons for doing so are greater than the reasons for maintaining the status quo. 

We are, by nature, social beings with a need to maintain a form of order among us. The system aint good but it's the one we have in place and it kind of works... for now. Sure, politicians are mostly corrupt to some degree because politics is a corrupt system. There are no evil villains here... simply victims of their own addictions. The ruling elite are addicted to power and this overrides the best interests of those they rule. The corporate empire is addicted to profit and this overrides not only the interests of those who comprise the market but even the safety of the environment on which we all depend. Addiction usurps reason and destroys the host.

We have many addictions that are not necessarily recognised as such. One is an addiction to retribution. Our sense of justice tells us that those who have succumbed to corruption must be held accountable and be punished for their 'sins'. But to what end? The 'crime' is as much ours as it is theirs. We live in a democracy and yet we have allowed a system to develop in which corruption is inevitable. To insist on bringing the perpetrators of corruption to justice simply intensifies the imperative to resist any form of change and they have the 'teeth' of the police and the military to back them. If we want a peaceful transition, we must present clear alternatives that benefit all and criminalise none.

Of course, those with power are still not going to willingly relinquish it. Democracy is the open door of access to those who aspire to power and a stone-in-the-shoe for those who wield it. But the enforcers of their power are not part of the power structure. The police officer and the soldier are as much at the mercy of the system as the rest of us. They have less to lose. If a clear, positive and workable alternative can win the support of those that currently enforce the powers, the elite have no 'teeth' with which to resist. Also, if the alternatives - while not offering the exalted positions they would have to surrender - do not threaten the individuals within the current power structure (eg; having to answer to past deeds), the imperative to let go of a system that has clearly run its course is weakened. They have less to lose by submitting to the new paradigm.

Revolutions of violence and conflict have never worked. A revolution of pure reason has yet to be put to the test.

A movie that not only presents the framework of a workable alternative but also describes the varying traits of human nature that has to be taken into consideration has been produced by Peter Joseph for the Zeitgeist Movement and the Venus Project. I think this is an important movie and I don't often describe movies as "important". It's two hours and forty minutes so you may want to go to the bathroom before you click 'PLAY' but I thoroughly recommend watching this:

[Ron Tocknell]

Revolution cannot be achieved by force. It can only be brought about by reason. The Way of The Warrior must concede to the Way of The Visionary. Would it make any kind of sense to try to force someone at gunpoint to select a Black Forest Gâteaux in preference to a rotten egg? For thousands of years we have tried to enforce one doctrine after another upon our fellows. This ideology declares war on that ideology and, for some bizarre reason, millions of people have to be killed and lands destroyed in the interim between acknowledging there is a conflict of ideologies and finally agreeing on a resolution. A war may drag on for decades and then end in the seconds it takes for two hands to clasp and shake. It is the shaking hands that addresses the initial conflict and resolves the matter. The killing is nothing more than the way in which the powerful drum their fingers before deciding.

That is the reality of war.

In 'Gulliver's Travels', the Lilliputians are split into two opposing factions: The Big Enders and the Little Enders. Big Enders believe that a boiled egg should be opened at the widest end while Little Enders believe it should be the narrowest end. And so they are at war.

War serves one purpose and one purpose only: it provides hugely lucrative contracts for giant corporations from arms deals to reconstruction programs. When innocent pawns start killing each other, the markets buzz!

But war will never end until the pawns leave the game. The choice is ours.

The simple and rational way to bring about revolution is to present a preferable alternative. Nothing more. The Revolution of Reason would not be a period of pushing and pulling but a period of simply beckoning. Change is organic and must be allowed to occur. It cannot be made to occur.

[Ron Tocknell]

Sorry. The above was a bit off-topic. I just wanted to get that off my chest. :)

[Rick Ingrasci]

Interesting rap on revolution Ron. In response to "The simple and rational way to bring about revolution is to present a preferable alternative. Nothing more," I'd add one more very important variable in creating a preferable alternative -- joy! Here's the way I like to state it:

 

If you want to create a new culture, THROW A BETTER PARTY!"