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Why Our Economic System Encourages War & Scarcity

October 24, 2008

"If you say to me, 'Industry cares for people,' that's not true, they cannot afford to be ethical. Don't talk about decency and ethics, we cannot afford it.

~ from Zeitgeist Addendum


Please. Watch this movie. It's a feature-length documentary which can be viewed at a larger size by clicking the full-screen button on the player. You'll learn about the federal reserve... how it creates money out of nothing, sparking inflation... how the system is created to keep most of us enslaved by debt while a very small group becomes obscenely rich. You'll learn a lot about history, the banking system, politics, and how the system simply cannot function in tandem with environmental sustainability, peace and goodness.

The emperor has no clothes, but we haven't noticed because the mechanics of the system have been subtle. But now the symptoms of a broken system are becoming more and more apparent. The question is, once enough of us wake up to the situation, will we be brave enough and smart enough to fix what is broken? Can we create the change we say we long for? I'm talking about change Barack Obama probably won't deliver because just like all of the other politicians churned out by the establishment, both McCain and Obama are backed by the powerful corporations and financial institutions that keep the debt-machine running.

What makes this movie worthy of viewing is the answers it provides. This isn't a blame game... it's an education followed by solutions. Think of it as a study in reality the world cannot afford to miss. What we currently have is what future generations (if our species survives) will look back on as an archaic and immature monetary system – a system which impoverishes nations and rapes the environment of its resources – a system which relies on scarcity to drive up profits at the expense of global abundance. What we desperately need is a resource-based society, which revolves around people, not money – a system which frees people from drudgery through wise implementation of technology which already exists, but can't be funded within the current selfish, ego-based profit-driven, corporatized system.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ekhart Tolle says in his fabulous book, A New Earth, that we have reached a point as a human species where we must evolve or die. This isn't a mere conceptual exercise, or something that might happen in the distant future. We can't pretend we can't know the truth when there are resources on the internet rich with information – this movie, Democracy Now podcasts, etc. We can solve the world's problems, but only if we wake up, embrace REAL change, which will require personal and collective sacrifice in this nation. We absolutely CAN NOT continue on the path we have been barreling down. How many times can we create checks for $700 Billion? Creating money out of thin air devalues currency. We need to make hard choices or the inevitable pain will be compounded by our refusal to be open to new ideas and take action for our survival.

I'm heading out to attend a retreat with Tsoknyi Rinpoche, a renown Tibetan Dzogchen master, for the next several days. I don't consider myself Buddhist. Buddha wasn't a Buddhist, nor was Jesus a Christian. They were appreciators of reality, seekers of truth, and clearly understood our interconnectedness. How do we cut through the fear that drives humanity? How do we slice through the outdated, divisive dogmas of institutionalized religion? How do we free ourselves from being driven by fear and profits?

We won't know unless we each make the effort to educate ourselves, take steps toward radical reform, and commit on a global level to let go of our need to dominate each other and create a sustainable system in place of the unsustainable train wreck we are on now.

Please... watch this movie and join me in forwarding it to your friends and family. You'll find concrete suggestions of what we can do to help usher in change.

You can awaken a sense of responsibility for all the other sentient beings who are exactly the way you used to be, tormented by negative emotions. You can begin helping them--first one, then two, then three and finally all sentient beings.

~ Tsoknyi Rinpche III

Posted by susan at October 24, 2008 10:01 PM

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