Hello readers,
The other day, I was watching Real Time with Bill Maher as he was interviewing Bernie Sanders. During this interview, Bernie said something extraordinary, which I have not heard him say during any other interview…and I have listened to a great many of his rally speeches and interviews.
I am paraphrasing, but Bernie said to Bill Maher that millions of Americans work jobs they despise because of the need to provide health insurance benefits to their families. If we provide universal health care to all citizens, Bernie pursued, millions of people could quit those jobs they hate to create new businesses and do the work that they dream of and love.
In other words, by reversing our system of thought and how we prioritize our budgets, we can completely transform our economy from a stagnant one to a vibrant, creative, and energizing system based on human talents and drives, rather than on the so-called free market capitalist system, which shifts all wealth towards the top. Otherwise said, creating a universal healthcare system stimulates entrepreneurship. Helping people and kindness stimulate the economy. When you help others, you also help yourself.
There is an abundance of evidence that the age of materialism, of which capitalism is a part (and any “isms” for that matter) is quickly coming to the logical end of its existence. As human beings awaken, these people are realizing that they want to serve others and use their natural talents in a cooperative manner. As science and spirituality begin to align, we are collectively coming to a sense of consciousness in which the reality that matter and energy are one, and that all of existence is interconnected.
How does this spiritual and philosophical transformation affect our economy? By shifting our collective awareness and by placing value on life before power, money, and the objectification that the material age has imposed on people, plants, animals, and our planet, we are experiencing a change of great magnitude. An economy based on the value of the human being, of the animal spirit, of the energy and intelligence of plants, of all Nature, and of cooperation with all peoples and the Universe animates this new way of thinking. We can no longer exploit, but we can cooperate. And this cooperation is energizing and exciting.
Human beings are creative beings, and we love to co-create with one another and with all that exists. To arrive at this state of being, we have to shift to a higher state of awareness. We have to let go of the ideas that natural resources are to be exploited for profit. We have to let go of the idea that we can create markets in other countries where labor is cheap and exploit that labor for profit. We have to let go of the idea that we should purchase products for status and comfort.
What will give us pleasure in this new paradigm is serving others and realizing our full personal human potential. These intrinsic rewards are garnered by doing meaningful work, by slowing down our lifestyles, and by eliminating much of the stress of the age of materialism which will also bring us greater health and longevity. As we value our selves and one another, we will experience great joy.
As more human beings awaken around the globe, we will collectively and individually realize that we ourselves are gifts to share with others. Our talents and personal attractions to certain fields of work are indications of how we are intended to work with others productively. We are not meant to be objectified and to serve corporate masters or markets. The levels of exhaustion and stress we feel make this fact clear. We are meant to serve humanity, to serve the well-being of all animals, plants, our planet, the Universe. The currency of the new economy is love, and how we can best use our talents to promote the well-being of everyone and everything so that we can live in harmony.
This new awareness requires a special skill: humility, which includes the ability to listen and learn from the animate and inanimate. This form of personal power is very different from what most people admire and wish to emulate today. When we are open to learn and observe and are not required to always be stronger or better than the next person, we can better ourselves. This is cooperation.
When Bernie Sanders talks about breaking up the big banks, about disempowering Big Pharma, Big Ag, and all of the corporate controlled sectors which have corrupted our government and poisoned our lives, he is talking about giving power back to the people. He is talking about helping people to recreate their lives and contribute their talents to society. By respecting working people and remunerating their hard work with a living wage, companies are investing in society. When we understand that we are all connected and not separate, as the wealthy and powerful would like to believe, we know that we are investing in ourselves when we respect others and treat them as we would like to be treated.
When we see and understand that our lands, our animals, our water are part of our body and our being, we do not wish to pollute these precious resources or treat them callously or with outright cruelty. Would you be willing to hack off your right arm? Probably not. When we see ourselves as disconnected from our own feelings, from our neighbors, from our land, our animals, we give ourselves license to be without empathy, and cruelty results.
The departure from establishment politics that Bernie Sanders describes is not about socialism. It is about being a human being and treating all people with kindness, dignity, and respect. The economics that results from putting empathy and people over money and power is an entirely new way of thinking about money and finances. Service to others brings about abundance, and the joy in serving others brings an intrinsic reward that wealth and power can never provide. It is commonly said that money cannot buy happiness, and this is true. Serving others with love and using your talents and skills is what brings happiness. Treating yourself and others with equal respect, no matter who they are or what they believe, is what brings joy. And happiness is good for the economy. It is good for the planet. It is good for farm animals and wild animals, and for our rivers, streams, and oceans. Compassion is good for our health.
The growth of our economy is only possible if we awaken to our true nature, which is a humanity that is an integral part of nature. When we awaken to unity and all work to serve one another, this seamless and endlessly creative way of life will heal the rift between humans and Nature, once and for all.
adamevenevenadam 