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

With the growth in productivity that has resulted from the
Information Revolution, Juliet Schor, associate professor of
Economics at Harvard University, asserts that 'We actually could
have chosen a four-hour day. Or a working year of six months. Or
every worker in the US could now be taking every other year off
from work - with pay.
German sociologist Ulrich Becker similarly claims that 'There is a
life beyond the alternatives of unemployment and stress at work ... It
must be possible for every human being autonomously to shape his
or her life and create a balance between family, paid employment,
leisure and political commitment.
So why don't we achieve this?
The closest prototypes that we can find in the new millennium for a
'World in Balance' is occurring in Ball and some other traditional
societies. People visiting Ball are astonished by the unusually vibrant
and artistic quality of daily life. Almost every man is an
accomplished artist; every woman a graceful dancer; all find ways to
be creative. Every village has 50 or more festival holidays throughout
the year, with elaborate ephemeral artful expressions. Houses have
elegant carvings, landscapes are exquisite.
What is so different about Ball and the Balinese? What if the world,
our cities, our lives, became more like those of Ball? Many tourists
visiting Ball are not aware that the Balinese consider the
performances they see as 'practice sessions'. The 'real performances'
happen in the temple or for temple-organized activities. The Balinese
dedicate between 30% and 40% of their working hours to the temple,
which organizes the cooperative, caring, artistic, and religious
activities. These are what I later define as the 'Cooperative' dimension
of life. Most Balinese adults also have a professional job where they