Why Money? What is it good for? Only one thing. Money enables us to keep score. It lets us tell who is winning and who is losing. That s it. Apart from that it does far more harm than good in the world.
Imagine if you will, some future world were people no longer care who is winning and who is losing. Imagine if you will, some future world were people gain status by putting more into society, rather than by taking more out for themselves (big house, fast car). Imagine if you will, some future world were people are generous, where they think "how much can I give" rather than "how much can I get". Imagine if you will, some future world were people live by the motto "Be excellent to each-other".
Such a world would have no need for money or barter. Everyone would make stuff or provide a service, to give away, freely, never counting the cost, in the knowledge that whatever goods and services they need will be given freely to them by other people.
I am not talking about a centrally planned economy here. I am not talking about some heavy handed, interfering government.
People would be naturally incentivised to provide goods and services that are in demand because that's how status and respect are earned. Useless, vanity projects would earn zero respect or status.
All the jobs that are being done now will still need to be done, with the exception of banking, accountancy and finance. We will have no need for insurance either because when unforeseen events occur, everyone will rally round and help.
Help will come first from local people but where a disaster hits a whole region or country, help will come flooding in from far and wide, everyone being excellent to each-other. That's the first and most important pillar of utopia - Be excellent to each-other.
Factory jobs will still exist. Stuff still needs to be manufactured, Some people are happiest when working with their hands, others prefer office work. There will be no difference in the status of these different jobs, why would there be? This is something we can start now, at school, teaching that manual work is just as important as white collar work.
Company politics will follow the first pillar of utopia - Be excellent to each-other. Managers will probably be called coordinators, it will be their job to ensure the company is manufacturing the things people actually want or need and to liaise
with suppliers of parts and raw materials.
The world is not ready for such a system yet, too many people are too shallow and too greedy for such a system to work. The time will come, just not yet.
But some people are ready for it now. There are Streetbank and Freecycle groups all over Britain and similar things in other countries. Type free economy into your favourite search engine and see what comes up.
These groups tend to be used to give away things people have bought and no longer need. The next step could be for people to make or grow stuff specifically to give away on these groups. Perhaps people could get together to run local free economies, like hippy communes only on a larger scale. My dream is to try out such a community on an island somewhere. One day.
If you want to explore these ideas further I highly recommend two books by Mark Boyle, The Moneyless Man and The Moneyless Manifesto.
Just because I want a money free world one day please don't think I am against wealth. Wealth is fantastic and I want each and every one of us to have a whole lot more of it to use for good.
Most success coaches will tell you that money is an energy that allows you to be all that you can be. I say that wealth is an energy that allows you to be all that you can be. Money is just a token of exchange, a way to quantify wealth, a way of telling who is winning and losing at the wealth game.
Do you see the difference? In the futuristic Utopia I think we can one day attain, we won't care who is winning and who is losing.
Indeed the focus will be outward, not inward. The motive of all generous, tolerant, broad-minded, loving people will be to maximise the wealth of their generous, tolerant, broad-minded, loving neighbours.
We don't live in that world yet but for reasons I will explain in my new book, I still want us to focus on helping other generous, tolerant, broad-minded, loving people before ourselves. Apart from the moral imperative, its easier to create wealth when you want to use it to help others.
So let's not scare wealth away by thinking its bad. It isn't the money that's bad at all. Its the greed and selfishness that are bad. In fact having wealth in today's world is extremely empowering so long as we use it for good.
If you would like to explore these ideas further I invite you to download my new book - Spread The Love and Change Your World.
The PDF version is free. A Kindle version is also available.
