C. Eisenstein: “We are entering the era where everything becomes possible”
The financial crisis is revealing a long process of re-exploring old ideas and forgotten values, explains Charles Eisenstein in this interview. For this thinker, the answer to the crisis lies in the magic of giving and the telling of a new story.
Charles Eisenstein is probably one of the most advanced authors in the category of integral thinking with his specialty: the gift economy and money. His latest work, “The Sacred Economy“, is a bible of reflection on value and money in today's society and especially that of tomorrow. We had the chance to chat with Charles and get him to talk about his vision for the new story we need to write.
An article translated from English by Marianne Souliez.
It has been five years since the subprime crisis started and the financial system collapsed ... And it seems that nothing has changed since! Do you agree ?
Charles Eisenstein: You are right. And not only has nothing changed, but the basic dynamics have even intensified. More and more of our economy and our social energy is devoted to debt service. And that means that the concentration of wealth will increase, that the pressure to find a way to generate economic growth will increase, and more and more people will be left behind. The welfare system will continue to deteriorate because when the economy shrinks, there is still money to be found, and one way is to transfer existing assets and use them to service the debt. .
You can puncture pension funds, teachers' salaries, privatize assets ... There are many ways to do this kind of thing but you have to extract it from people's pockets, almost extract it from their flesh. They will keep doing this until people stop and say 'No'.
It's a very pessimistic description of the situation, but other things are emerging now. New ideas are spreading. You are one of the people who campaign for change…
Charles: Yes, in fact I am not a pessimist. But it's part of a natural process that when something like capitalism seems to be working well enough, we try to keep it going. Except that we reach a point where it becomes intolerable. Since we are now at this point, it is also the moment of transition, the point from which we can create completely new alternatives. Some people have been thinking about these alternatives for a long time, but nobody took them seriously because the old regime had not reached its peak.
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Suite: http://ouishare.net/fr/2013/09/eisenste ... -possible/