THE FUTURE OF MONEY Bernard A. Lietaer - library.uniteddiversity ...

dared to find out what they really would like to do, out of the fear
that it would be too painful to go back to the 'normal' job after that.
The game we play is that - later, when we retire, when we have put
enough money aside - then we will take care of our dreams. Some
take it in little instalments. We rush through our week, looking
forward to the weekend or a vacation, when we will do what we
really want to do.
You know mat I have not always been optimistic about the future
of humankind. You know that I was 'realistic' enough to choose not
to have any children if they have to live in periodic fear of atomic
annihilation, as was the case during the Cold War. So what I have
dreamt about may come as a surprise to you. I have seen the
possibility of a Golden Age of Sustainable Abundance, where the
money we use will enable us to be ourselves. I have dared to dream
that each child born into this world will have as a main concern the
discovery what his or her calling really is, and have the opportunity
to become a master in that endeavour. What if the main reason
geniuses are so rare is that we kill the genius even before anybody
knows in what field she is a genius? And how many of those who
find out what they really want to be have the opportunity or the
resources to learn how to realise their full potential? Maybe the
human race will need all the geniuses it can produce to get at of the
collective corner into which we have painted ourselves.
What if the scarcity is not mostly 'out there' in nature, as we all have
believed for centuries? What if the money system we have been
using, by which we have been collectively hypnotised, was
continuously creating that very scarcity that we most fear? Is there a
limit to the amount of learning we can do, to the amount of passion,
creativity or beauty we can generate and enjoy? What if every garden
could be cared for with the love and attention to minutiae that have
created traditional Japanese tea gardens? What if every child could be
encouraged by the best mentors in her field of bliss? What if every