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But if we continue with our present economic
policies, there will be less and less to trade it for.
WHAT IS MONEY?
Before money existed, people were still greedy.
But there were limits to their greed. When you traded chickens for
sacks of wheat, there were limits to how many chickens you could
carry home, house, and maintain.
True, some had more than others, but it was
unthinkable that any one person could have a million (much less, a
billion) chickens in their back yard. And, if others in your village
were starving while you had even a thousand chickens, it was hard to
convince the others that you were entitled to a thousand times more
than they had.
Then someone invented money. It was easier to
carry, store, maintain, and especially easier to hide. With enough
money, you could own the world, without actually putting it in your
back yard.
Poor people could work in your factories, shop in
your supermarkets, do business in your skyscrapers, even drive on
your roads in cars financed by your banks, and never feel angry
about how unfair this is.
Now the rich control the media, education,
religion, even the government. They have brainwashed us into
believing that they have a right to destroy the world in order to
increase their wealth. We now think that whatever is good for BHP is
good for all of us.
Worse still, we have all been tricked into
playing their game. We now believe that money is the key to
happiness. The entire human race has lost touch with reality in our
obsession with money as an end in itself. This is madness!
WORK VS. PLAY
The struggle for more money does not only hurt
the losers - the poor. It also hurts the winners, by making their
work life a miserable existence... a rat race!
Musicians, actors, athletes, and kids play.
Others work. But what is the difference? The general rule is that
"players" do not receive wages for what they freely choose to do,
and "workers" do. And with increased leisure, people are learning to
make "play" out of many activities.
Prisoners study law; grandmothers take up flying;
uni students enter campus politics; businessmen start hobby farms.
And they do this with no promise of pay for their efforts. Are they
working or are they playing?
They are "plorking" (pronounced plurking).
Plorking is a combination of playing and working. It means being
creative, productive, or useful without being concerned about
receiving money for it.
Some people enjoy their jobs and would not trade
them for anything. These lucky plorkers (who just happen to be paid
for it) are more reliable, more dedicated, and more contented than
their workmates.
If everyone did the things they wanted to do,
everyone would be more productive, and society would be richer for
it.
But the money myth has convinced people that they
must spend their lives making money rather than being happy and
productive.
People who cannot find a way to make money (or
who aren't interested in making money) are made to feel they are
useless. Worse than that, they are told that they have sinned
against the world that feeds them until they begin to make money
again. No thought at all is given to how creative, useful, or
productive the non-wage earners may be.
If players are the best workers, then more effort
should be made to encourage people to play, instead of condemning
the few who do.
WHERE DO WARS COME FROM?
To most people, we fight wars because people in
another country are evil and we (the good people) must stop them.
But it isn't really that simple.
Remember that people in the other country are
being told the same things about us!
Greed is the great weakness of capitalism; but it
is also the great weakness of socialism. Both sides are trying to
destroy the other for the same reason... greed. Wars are just an
extension of the greed that operates within every strata of society.
But it is easier to see the utter foolishness of such motivation
when we look at the devastation of war.
Tragically, the rich on both sides do not fight
their own wars. Instead, they sacrifice the lives of the poor in
their quest for more power.
The same conflicts go on within our country, in
the form of running battles between employers and employees. And it
even operates on the family and individual level in the form of
almost constant arguing and malice.
Hatred between the sexes, racism, generation
gaps, are all self-destructive. And they all come from a desire to
explain the emptiness greed has left in our own spirits, by blaming
someone else.
For your own sanity, for unity in your family,
for prosperity in your country, and for the survival of the human
race, someone must begin to declare war on greed... before we all
destroy ourselves!
A NEW MOTIVATION
Although there was a lot of criticism of the
space race during the 1960's and the 1970's, it was fulfilling a
human need in a much more positive way than Vietnam. Kennedy's Peace
Corps offered hopes of being an even better alternative to war. (Of
course, these programs were only as successful as the zeal of the
masses allowed. Personal inventiveness, adventure, and love do not
depend on support from the government.)
The human spirit enjoys a challenge. If we are
not actively building, we are actively destroying. Too often we
think the way to build ourselves up is to tear someone else down.
What is needed is a vision and a commitment that
are both positive and complete. We believe the goal must be total
love... for all mankind. Our aggression must be directed against the
lies and deceptions that are destroying the world (but not against
the people who tell and believe the lies).
We are talking about more than nice words for a
political platform or a new religion. We are talking about a
community of people who refuse to let money be a motivation for
their daily living... people who actively seek every day to use all
of their skills, energy, and resources to express love for others.
In time we hope to see this spirit of love spread
and affect others. Real love is much more than emotional thrills; it
is capable of ushering in a whole new world order. In fact, we've
found it is more powerful than life itself.
A few of us have begun to work for love rather
than for money. We have given up everything we own and we are
prepared to die for love.
We have already found that such commitment pays
dividends in terms of inner fulfilment, increased awareness, and a
zest for life. We believe we've hit on the answer to the world's
problems.
THE SOURCE
This is always the hardest part to get across:
The things in this booklet really came from the teachings of Jesus
Christ. That's right; we're Christians.
Please don't confuse us with all that passes for
Christianity today. Jesus said some amazing things, if people would
just take him seriously. He called this new economic police the
"good news of the kingdom of God."
It's important to bring God into it for a couple
of reasons.
For one thing, if we're not careful, we can end
up letting go of money and then fighting over the things it can buy.
Just as goods are more important than money, so God is more
important than the goods. He's the source of all true wealth.
The obvious argument, "If we don't look after
ourselves, who will?" has an answer when you bring God into it. If
you're working for love, you're working for God. It becomes his
responsibility to look after your material needs. And we've found
that he does!
Also, God comes into it when you try to decide
the best way to go about loving others. Only he knows the future,
and he explains a lot about the overall plan in the Bible.
Some good places to start if you want to study
the source of our theory and the source of real wealth, are the 6th
chapter of Matthew (2nd half mostly) and the 4th and 5th chapters of
James (first couple verses of each especially). We have a lot of
other study material too if you are interested.
THE COST
It's not realistic to expect that the rest of the
world will quickly accept our new economic policy. People have been
conditioned against it for too long.
To really change the world, you have to change
the hearts of people, and that's a very tall order. But never
underestimate the power of one life. People like Gandhi, Socrates,
and Jesus Christ have had a mighty influence on history because they
believed some things were more important than even life itself.
Just one such individual in the world today could
make a big difference; and two or three... or even a dozen might be
enough to start a spiritual revolution that could change the entire
world.
There have been armies of people who were willing
to kill for what they believed in. Why not an army of people who are
willing to die for what they believe in?
We can give our lives by dying quickly for this
new world order, or we can give our lives a day at a time by
labouring patiently and faithfully to bring a little light to a dark
world.
Remember that if you change even one small part
of the world, you have still changed the world. Much change is very
slow and gradual.
We have learned that the message we preach often
causes people to act in irrational anger. Sometimes they themselves
do not know why they are reacting in the way they are. But if we are
sure that our motives have only been to show love, then even a
hateful response should be encouraging; it proves that we are
getting through.
When they have done all they can to stop us, and
we still continue to love, they will know then that love is stronger
than hate.
Dave McKay and his wife, Cherry, are co-founders
of a string of religious communities located in Kenya, England,
Australia, and the United States. He is the author of a novel
"Survivors" which has recently sold one million copies. Write to him
at
fold@idl.net.au |
A
New Economic Policy