Society Without
The Need for Money!

Sounds ridiculous doesn't it?  That's impossible ... could never work ... don't be stupid Robyn ... we have to have money, it's what makes things happen ... without it there would be complete collapse.

I beg to differ.

There are thousands of volunteers all around the globe who would also beg to differ.  Those thousands of volunteers feel really great doing what they do, because they're making a difference and not because they're being paid.  In fact, I would imagine if those people were able to spend their life doing those things that make a difference, I think they probably would.  Unfortunately, they can't.  They have to at some point in time, come back to their reality, which is; paying their bills, their mortgage or rent, and putting food on their table.

But what if they didn't have all those things in their reality?  What if they didn't have to buy food, what if there were community gardens where people gathered and tended and took what they needed?  What if all housing was free; built by people who also want to make a difference and really enjoy the art of building?

What if education was free; taught by people who have a passion for teaching? What if all medical care was also free; delivered by people who were appreciated and gained joy from making a positive difference to the lives of other people.

You see, if money disappeared tomorrow, doctors would still be doctors, nurses and carers would still be nurses and carers.  Farmers would still have a crop to deliver to market.  Teachers would still be teachers.

We've even got TV shows that are based around groups of volunteers working together to help a family or community in need.  At the end of each episode there are tears of joy, not only from the recipients but also from those who contributed.

In January 2011, Queensland, Australia suffered a devastating flood.  On 15th of January, three days after the flood waters had moved through Brisbane CBD, the Government of the time asked for 6,000 volunteers to assist with the clean up, 80,000 volunteers came out of their homes with their own equipment, queued up to pile onto busses, to be dropped of at the worst affected areas of Brisbane.  They worked in the mud, in the worst 'working conditions' that they've probably ever experienced, doing hard manual labor.  But consider this; no one paid them, no one told them to do it, and no one told them what to do once they got there.  Yet, I would guarantee that when they fell exhausted into their beds that night, they would have felt the best feeling of elation that they've ever experienced before ... ... Why?  Because they were part of something bigger than themselves, they had a huge reason to contribute, and it felt sooo bloody good to do it.

Let's consider some of society's problems for a moment.

Health: In a society without money, scientists and researchers would be free to test substances that would never deliver a financial outcome because the financial outcome would not be the goal, the search for the cure would be.  Natural substances that cannot be patented could freely be explored without the need to deliver a financial outcome for an employer.

At the moment the cancer industry is just that ... an industry.  It always makes me smile when we spend our efforts to raise funds to assist in the fight against cancer and then actually provide those funds to the only people on the planet that would be negatively affected if a cure were to be found!  I wouldn't want to be the CEO of a pharmaceutical company and have to tell my Board that the millions of dollars spent in research and sponsoring universities and research centres actually found a cure and now our products are not needed.  Oh and if I'd sponsored those universities and research centres, I'd be darn sure I put someone on their Board to make sure my investment was sound ... or in other words, I'd make sure that research only went into financially viable products.

Poverty: It is in the act of charging money for food and water that we create poverty and starvation.  It's absurd that we have half the planet dying of starvation and the other half dying from obesity.  It has however been an effective tool to keep people working for the system.  We need to eat and drink, therefore we need to work to have the money to buy our food.

I've heard that this planet produces more food than it needs to feed everyone on it.  Unfortunately those who can't afford the food don't get it and those that can afford it do.  Logical?  No, certainly not; how can it be right that someone without money should go without food?  Well, because that's the system we've created.

This system is designed to serve only a few and it works because people have to - they have no choice - work to eat.

If money did not exist, you would be free to assist in those countries and communities where the infrastructure is poor, where the climate is harsh.  Imagine engineers, builders, agriculture experts working together and building infrastructure, reticulation systems, sinking bores, even self contained aquaponics systems in communities around the globe.  Would that feel good?

Imagine being a 'Global Citizen' where the world was our home rather than the often invisible borders that define our country.  Imagine not having corrupt Governments ... in fact why would we need Governments at all?  Think about it; what do Governments do?  They provide infrastructure ... well actually the people do.  They provide health and education ... well actually the people do.

The Class System:  Money has been successful in keeping us separated.  In hospitals those with money get specialist care in private rooms, those without are not treated so well. When we travel there are those with money who travel first class, they're able to jump the queue, past the elderly and even disabled, but nobody thinks anything of it because after all they've got money, they must have done something wonderful to get to where they are ... and most often their wealth was more about where and to whom they were born.  

We've created a society where someone who shakes their butt on TV earns millions and someone who cares for humanity; the carers, the volunteers, the social workers, struggle to survive and are virtually ignored.  Celebrity is something that has become important to us because it gives people just a small taste of a lifestyle they will likely never achieve.

The Environment: We are managing to decimate our environment simply because wind, wave, solar, are not going to make some corporation billions of dollars and we have governments that support this.  Coal and other fossil fuel is big business and you can bet your ass that it will be defended by industry and the governments that support them.  If money was not around and science and technology and engineering was therefore free to explore, new technologies would be developed and perfected because it doesn't matter that there is not going to be a financial return on investment.  The return on investment is the pure joy of making a difference and leaving this planet better for us having been here.

Food is Big Business:  Money drives the advice we are given about our food.  So called fact sheets and reports pretending to be scientific are often written by those who manufacture the food that they are promoting in these reports and these are supported by the government bodies that are there to protect the people because the author (the industry) pay to be allowed to report them.  We are being conned in so many areas of our life in order to support a system that ultimately supports less than 5% of world population.  There is an alternative.

If the reason for your efforts was strong enough, you'd work on it for nothing.  If what you were doing was serving humanity in some way, you'd do it for nothing wouldn't you, and you'd feel fantastic in the doing of it.  That is what being human is about, or should be about.  The reason is important ... so what wouldn't be around?  Cigarettes, fast food, coal fired electricity, fossil fuels, prescription drugs that do more damage than good, slavery, poverty, war, taxes, governments. And, what we would have: sustainable energy, shared resources, healthy food, health care for all (that delivers an outcome not a profit), clean oceans, clean air, joy, and peace.

If there was no money, we'd choose our profession based on what we were passionate about instead of what we think will give us the biggest pay packet and then get to the end of our life and look back and wonder why we never did those things that gave us joy, why we never spent the time with the people we loved, why our life didn't seem to make a difference to the world.

If you would like to explore this 'freedom economy' a whole lot more and discover how things could actually change, you may enjoy my new book Escaping The Fish Bowl - The Awakening To A Freedom Economy which explores how this new society could come about and the mechanics to help make it work.