I have permissions to forward this newsletter. I value the clarity, brevity, vital relevance and encouragement in Freyja’s work. Freyja attended our Forum for Stable Currencies and CCMJ meetings some 20 years ago, and has never ceased to hone her skills in seeking that critical mass capable of challenging the current monetary system. Please include her and me in any response…. and state if your own comments can be more widely shared. See two replies added below. Peter
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From: Freyja Theaker via LinkedIn <newsletters-noreply@linkedin.com>
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2023 at 16:27
Subject: Thoughts On The Real Meaning Of Credit and Debt.
| NEWSLETTER ON LINKEDIN Naturally Being Inspiration about living from Oneness Freyja Theaker Educator | Counsellor/Coach | Social Entrepreneur | Writer See what others are saying about this topic: Open on Linkedin Thoughts On The Real Meaning Of Credit and Debt. For however many centuries, two groups of people on Earth have broadly searched for value. The first group have been mining downwards “quantitatively” into the physical Earth. The second group have been searching up to the Heavens (figuratively) for a source of value “qualitatively”. Until now, these two groups have been speaking different languages to each other, not understanding each other’s concept of value and unable to communicate appropriately and find common ground with each other. The former group has managed the financial system they created to organise material value and has been reluctant to share this power with the other group. This situation, however, is now changing as the financial system is waking up to its social responsibility. Though economists would have us believe that money is simply a convenient neutral exchange token that replaced a prior cumbersome exchange system based on barter, this is not historically true. As anthropologists like David Graeber have pointed out, the concept of credit and debt, the core of money, has been part of human civilisation for many thousands of years, preceding coinage systems and deeply part of the natural human psyche. As a baby instinctively knows how to recognise and suckle on their mother’s breast, credit and debt have always been an intuitive part of the human psyche and, as such, a creation of consciousness itself! Its ability to assist with qualitative and quantitative aspects of life mirrors the nature of consciousness itself. However, for most of money’s history, its value has only been measured against material things. This has skewed our view of credit and debt in purely material terms based on a psychology of separateness. To view it from the perspective of consciousness, we might equate debt with the effect of separation from our true nature and the longing to return to it. The ability to pay and settle the debt, the recognition and return to our true nature. Thus, the ebb and flow of finance is an energetic reflection of or metaphor for consciousness. Whom we owe and are paying is ultimately ourselves. However, hidden by the veil of separateness, it appears we owe and pay other people. This does not justify or bypass the very real iniquity and damage of extreme disparity of financial wealth; on the contrary, by realising who we owe and are paying, we are likely to demand less out of fear and share more of the financial wealth around in a manner that more closely corresponds to our experience of oneness, once realised. Exploring how money and consciousness work together is the subject of my workshop, Natural Wealth. If you would like to co-create the next workshop with me, please contact me! https://www.naturallybeing.one/natural-wealth-workshop LoveFreyja #oneness #nonduality #consciousfinance #consciousliving #consciousleadership Join the conversation Know someone who might be interested in this newsletter? Share it with them. |
| This email was intended for Peter Challen (Convenor at Global Justice Movement London Table) |
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From: <rodney.shakespeare1@btopenworld.com>
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2023 at 16:04
Subject: Re: Fwd: Thoughts On The Real Meaning Of Credit and Debt.
Thanks for Thoughts On The Real Meaning Of Credit and Debt. My comment below may be circulated.
I understand Freyja to be saying that the money system is really the property of everybody (rather than a few) and, as such, should be used for everybody (rather than a few). She is completely right to say that and right to raise a challenge to the current monetary system. There then arises the nature of the challenge and associated proposals for reform.
In order to clarify things, may I ask if she proposes any (or all, as is possible) of the following:-
- debt-free issuance (broadly, by whom, to whom, in what amounts and for what purposes)
- interest-free (i.e., repayable) issuance (broadly, by whom, to whom, in what amounts and for what purposes)
- complementary currency (what would be exchanged?)
- money creation and issuance at interest by the banks
NB I emphasize that all, or some, of the above are possible in one way or another but too much of one could be problematic. However, I ask in order to first try to understand what Freyja is really aiming at and, of course, remembering that there are other possibilities which have been canvassed (such as a ‘gift economy’ or a completely state-controlled economy).
Rodney Shakespeare.
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From: Abdun Nur <abdun@hotmail.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 2 Sept 2023 at 10:43
Subject: Re: Thoughts On The Real Meaning Of Credit and Debt
Amity Peter,
the issue is, people look wrongly at what is needed, they then think in abstracts, things removed from reality, such as material objects or spiritual altruism as the source of wealth, but that is wrong.
You have to view it from a fundamental level, what can we own, as both the materialistic and the spiritualistic models value material ultimately, but fundamentally material is free, this fundamental understanding is ignored.
We can only own that which we create ourselves, we own our own labours. So, if you trade an apple pie for my orange tart, we did not trade the material itself as that is free, it is the bounty of the earth, what is traded is the labour invested in that object, it is the creation or transformation of material creating value. So, you could inherit the owned labours of another, you could gift your own labours, or you can trade them.
We also fundamentally need an anarchic true medium of exchange, this has never existed in a true form because people have failed to grasp fundamental natures, due to a desire to rob their neighbours. A true medium of exchange is needed because if I want the apple pie but have nothing you want in trade, I need a medium of exchange that will hold that value until a future point, where you can trade it for something you want.
The third fundamental is an ANARCHIC advance, this would inherently be completely free of any fees or interest, this is required because some things cost a great deal but are needed immediately, for example a home, this represents a vast amount of labour in stored effort, and to trade that labour would be impossible without a mechanism to gain an advance of a true medium of exchange.
Another fundamental then is what creates value, if labour is the only thing that creates value fundamentally, then a true medium of exchange must be built on the value of labour. So, the true medium of exchange would then be a suspended trade of labour, with the guarantee from the one gaining the advance of return of that labour at a future point, this is not good enough as an individual may be a sack of shit, so you would need two additional agreed guarantees of return, with three guarantees of return attached, you have a true medium of exchange.
If you want to grasp a true medium of exchange as I have presented it on my website, understand the mechanism a little better through the attached diagram, and if you want to grasp more of these fundamental concepts of trade and labour, let me know or read the articles.
Abdun Nur
