Instead of the usual installment of 10 ideas, this week River and Terran want to share their reviews of another excellent book – Sacred Economics: Money, Gift & Society in the Age of Transition by Charles Eisenstein. 

As a brief overview, Amazon describes this book as: 

“Sacred Economics traces the history of money from ancient gift economies to modern capitalism, revealing how the money system has contributed to alienation, competition, and scarcity, destroyed community, and necessitated endless growth. Today, these trends have reached their extreme—but in the wake of their collapse, we may find great opportunity to transition to a more connected, ecological, and sustainable way of being.”

Terran on Sacred Economics

Money is one of the most used items. Everyone uses it, but does everyone need it? In Sacred Economics, by Charles Eisenstein, the pros and cons of money are shown. Charles also paints the picture of what a new world could be without money, and how to do it within reasonable standards.

Charles explains how a lot of books he’s read on changing the world either are WAY out of reasonability, like clearing out 90% of the carbon in the world in 5 years. Charles decided that if you want to change the world you have to be able to do it REASONABLY. This is why Sacred Economics has such good wisdom because we all know it can actually happen.

One of my favorite parts is where he explains the original robbery. The original robbery is where we cross the line from ours, God’s, and mine. Before the Roman Empire, the land was like air; it wasn’t allowed to be any one person’s. If we  all shared land, we could conserve so much. He also lays down the argument that if someone builds something to help themselves, just to have someone else come and use it, isn’t that unjust? Charles explains how it would be so much easier to own the investment/establishment rather than the entire land.

Nature is a wondrous thing. Charles writes on how we don’t have to make things happen in nature, it just happens on its own. There is something to be respected about how baby birds are born, how plants, even weeds, just pop out of the ground! Charles explains how it’s not hard to believe why early theologians believed that God gave us the world and that later on people twisted it to: God gave us the world to dominate and control, to rule it. When we should be living alongside it, using it, but not trying to control it

.A big part of the economic problem Charles noticed is sociality. Many people, if not most, think they don’t need people. We can just pay him to do this, and her to do that, and so on. We don’t need to know the people that make our computers, we just need the computer. Charles writes: “When I asked people what is missing most from their lives, the most common answer was community.” We often make our own needs most of the time. We don’t need to play fake football games when we can find a park and do it ourselves. We could buy greens from the store, or we could grow it year after year for free. We don’t need to buy everything, yet we do.

The problem with money and buying is that it is an addiction, you have some, you still want more, you bought this, you want to buy the collection. The example Charles gives also helps define this problem: “The ancient Chinese myth helps illuminate what is happening. There was a monster called the tao tie. It was possessed with an insatiable appetite. It consumed every creature around it, even the earth itself, but it was still hungry. So it finally ate its arms and legs and torso and soon he was nothing but a head. To keep feeding the monster we have something called debt.” Debt creates a “now you have to work more just to give me the money you owe me.” But another person’s spending is another person’s income. So if the debtor is spending less, the other person is earning less and the whole pyramid of economy comes crashing down. Money is dangerous if not used correctly and unfortunately, many people don’t know the right way to use it. Being wise stewards of God is the best and rightful way to use money.

The way to remedy this money problem is generosity. If we just gave people and forgave debts a lot of these problems would disappear. Our Dad told us that the Jewish people forgave everyone’s debts every seven years. If you had a debt, and had been paying it off, the next time that seven-year mark rolled around, you were off the hook! Although there are flaws to this plan, such as keeping track of who paid and who didn’t, it encourages kindness and generosity more than greed and lording.

The thing I love the most about Sacred Economics is where he talks about the dignity of jobs. Do people really deserve to have themselves driven by other people? We are human beings made in the image of GOD. We have souls and hearts and minds, yet we degrade others to trash-picking. Some people like these kinds of jobs, but more people don’t. As soul-keeping beings, such jobs are highly below us. God made us to make flowing, beautiful music, make amazing art, and cook delicious foods. I doubt that God made humans to drive each other around, we are in his image and we are above such things. Now obviously we have to clean up after ourselves, but we shouldn’t make others do it for us. Charles also gives the argument to these statements. Who’s going to take out the trash? Well, why is there so much of it? Why do we consume so much just to throw it away and have others pick it up for us? Another way to stop it is to do it in short spurts. How many people will clean bathrooms for 10 hours straight willingly? Not many. If we do it every so often and maintain the outflow of the problem, it is MUCH more bearable.

The nice thing about Sacred Economics is that Charles gives a detailed “what to do next”. Some of them I didn’t quite understand, but the ones I could I completely agreed with. The first step is debt cancellation. Debt, as Charles has stated before, is a problem. The idea of: you borrow from me, and you have to pay me just a little more than what you should have to because I was nice. The bible tells us to be generous and kind with no hope of being given back to. We have to be generous. How many people give others Christmas gifts and then say: “next year you have to give me a better one back!” We should just give.

The next step that I understood was: “Elimination of economic rents and compensation for the depletion of the commons.” Charles again explains how property should not belong to any one person unless they are using it to help others. He explains how people can actually profit from draining oceans, and mining mountains. Nature does not belong to anyone and we all benefit from it. Yet people buy nature and drain and destroy it for money. In the long run mountains help the  ecosystem more than bricks and decorative boulders do.

All of this does not help the environment in any way, if anything it destroys the environment. Which is part of the next step. Charles explains how a lot of companies charge money to save the environment. We make saving the environment hard by making it costly, the world has finite resources yet some people charge to help save them. 

The next step is to solve the social dividend Charles wrote about earlier. “I don’t need you, or need to know you, I just need the object.” Charles notices how people don’t need each other anymore, which is sad if one thinks about it. Community is a sacred and needed trait. If the internet suddenly failed, would the people you get your groceries from, come and help you? Most likely they don’t even remember you. Counting on each other doesn’t make us weak, it shows strength and courage, the courage to ask for help.

Stopping the economy from degrowth sounds like a strange next phase, but it is a helpful one. As many things, such as YouTube, and images, and internet surfing is free. More and more people spend time on these activities that don’t help the economy, vacations and comfort will grow in popularity. Although using resources like books is more expensive, it engenders other good traits, like sharing, generosity, and hard work.

The final advancement to economic growth is Gifting and person to person. This step basically ties all the steps together. Gifting eliminates SO many problems. Being generous and of the goodness of our hearts is something that feels right, like it’s supposed to happen, because it is! Also being with somebody person to person eliminates the need for banks, if someone has money and you need to borrow some, most likely people are going to be just and either be generous (again, giving!) or still make you pay it back, but only the amount you borrowed, no more, no less.

This roadmap, as Charles puts it, will make a straight path to success and all in all a better community and economy, one built on honesty, faith, kindness, and compassion, and ultimately on each other. We can do so much more together just like Christ’s parable of the church body, a body with just eyes is useless, but one with unique and individual parts making it up can do so much more.

Charles writes how religions are BUILT on secret charity and giving. Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Jesus knew that giving just to give and expecting not even the smallest bit of praise back is the best type of giving. True wealth doesn’t come from being rich, it comes from the heart. People say owning something priceless usually means you have a lot of money. Love, hope, grace, faith, wisdom are all unbuyable, along with countless others. “You can’t buy love” it’s absolutely true. True wealth comes from a gentle, kind heart.

The empty bottomless hole in our souls that we throw in money and useless objects can only be filled by certain things and emotions. Money can buy everything, that is fake. Charles explains how you can buy vitamins to fill the temporary needs, but a heartfelt meal made by somebody just for you does fill the hole, love fills the hole, songs were written for you, unmet mercy, perfect relationships can fill the hole. The ultimate hole filler though is Jesus, the pure light and good shepherd can fill the hole forever if needed. The problem is that many people today fill the hole with temporary pleasures when what they need is Jesus.

Sacred Economics is not just a map, a book, or words, it is a solution, something people desperately need. A glimmer of beauty for a world bent on income and needs. A hopeful desire that we all know we want. Just imagine a world of nature, a beautiful sunrise on an ocean cliff, the sun peeking through the trees, the great sacrifice of heroes in order to beat evil once and for all. Once you come back to reality and remember the smog-filled cities, old ones staying in nursing homes, away from their families who should be with them, entire islands of trash floating the seas, all the evil for money, to fulfill unmet needs that remain unmet. Sacred Economics, by Charles Eisenstein, holds the keys to unlocking a better world, one with community and generosity. The sacredness of the world is being provoked and pushed, instead of trying to master the sacredness, living beside it is the balance and the piece that is missed.

River on Sacred Economics

Sacred Economics by Charles Eisenstein was a wonderful book that teaches so much about how money works and how we need to make it sacred again. Mr. Eisenstien is very good at explaining in simple terms so that people like me without much knowledge on the subject, can understand it. 

The Bible says that money is the root of all evil, and it is if we use it the way we do today. Money has made it so people want to hoard money so they can buy better things, this makes it so people don’t want to share money, but instead get as much as they can, which can even mean stealing it. This goes against God’s second greatest commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” which makes money an evil object. That’s why God calls it “evil.”

One of the easiest ways to make money  sacred again is by using objects that have worth, such as gold, or animals, or buildings, these things are valuable. This way instead of gaining money and saving it forever people can have a strong community and a way to interact with people more. This is good because these days people don’t interact often enough. 

Today, money has increased so much that something like a sticker costs a dollar. When only 20-30 years ago a burger cost half as much. People live in a society where there are lots of debts and a thirst for lots of money. People don’t know when they have enough money because they always want more and more. Debts have grown so much through Covid and prices have also grown. This is not the way God wants us, humans, to live. He would much rather have us be kind to one another and do our work for ourselves.

Throughout history, humans have been creating and inventing. Nowadays people create things that are cheap and plasticky and that go to waste quickly. And if the invention is well made it costs too much for the average person to buy it, an example would be a nice burger that has local vegetables and a grass-fed, grass-finished beef patty, and homemade buns along with home condiments. Now a good burger like that would cost around 20-40 dollars depending on the country. Most people wouldn’t spend that much on a burger and would instead buy a burger and fries for 2.00 dollars at McDonald’s along with a huge Coca-Cola. The difference between these burgers is that one is quality and takes time to make whereas the other is in a freezer and then thrown in a microwave in two minutes or less. This is why trading helps get what you want how you want it.

The way money is today has created a way so that there are endless amounts of it, trillions and trillions of dollars are printed if needed. America is in so much debt there are chances we may never repay it all, we have created a system that has no end, therefore people don’t know when to stop getting money. Humanity needs to implement generosity into the way money works, and a place to stop getting it so that one doesn’t waste their life doing a job they despise for more money.

Trading and bartering is the best way to get things you want instead of using money. A great example of this is when Easter rolls around, our family always goes to our grandma’s house and has a huge easter egg hunt, every egg is filled with jelly beans, or Hershey’s, or Reeses, or Laffy Taffy. Then, when the hunt is over all the kids lay down the candies they got and go to others, trading a Hershey for a Reeses, or caramel for M&Ms. This happens at Halloween too. Instead of buying candy and having to use money, we used something we had that someone wanted, to get something we wanted. This example could also work for cars, or shoes, or clothes, or animals, really anything that you have that someone wants you can barter and trade for. Trading doesn’t have to be objects either. It could be a chore like shoveling snow a couple of times in trade for free hot cocoa for a month. This is a way of trading that creates happiness and generosity.

In Sacred Economics there was a wonderful saying by Bob Moorehead, who was a pastor, “We have bigger houses but smaller families, more conveniences but less time. We have more degrees but less sense; more knowledge but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine but less healthiness. We have been to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet our new neighbor. We built computers to hold more copies than ever, but have less real communication; we have become long on quantity, but short on quality. These are times of fast foods but slow digestion; tall men but short characters; steep profits but shallow relationships. It’s a time where there is much on the window but little in the room.” 

I enjoy this saying because it explains how people have learned and created to a point of great understanding, but we don’t use them well. We have made many things, used loads of land, and polluted the earth, all for money. God wants us to be gardeners, to help the land and the seas, not hurt them. This is why money is not sacred, it takes people off their true purpose and drives them to something that makes more money.

There are eight great rules and tips to abide by to help with making money sacred. Number One is called Debt Cancellation. In the time of Jesus, the cancellation of debt happened every 7 years. Every person would go to their debtors and it would be canceled. Even though this seemed unfair for people who didn’t get their money back, this made it so people would learn to let go of money, and there wouldn’t be a Bible time, “Great Depression”. 

Number Two is called Negative Interest Currency. This takes something that loses value over time and instead lets it gain value. It enables prosperity without something ever-growing. This is helpful if you have something in banks.

Number Three is named Elimination of Economic Rents and Compensation for Depletion of the Commons. This means that the earth belongs to all of us and that everyone should be able to decide what happens to it. If the earth gets polluted it would only make sense that everyone should decide to pollute it. God tells us to be Gardeners of the Earth, so we should all agree to pollute it. Not just a few big businesses who don’t care for their trash.

Number Four is called Internalization of Social and Environmental Costs. What this means is that people should be charged for polluting and other environmental hazards. In our day in age, we pay other people to pick our trash, encouraging us to run away from our problems, which is wrong. People have to learn to clean up after themselves and care for the earth before it’s too late.

Number Five is named Economic and Monetary Localization. This means that it’s always good to buy locally because it helps your community and states that you are not a part of whatever the bigger corporations are doing. To sum it up, it’s always helpful and generous for you to help your fellow citizens.

Number Six is called the Social Dividend. We as a society have grown farther apart since texting and calling have been invented. Most people think in a mentality of, “Why make friends locally if you can have a ton on Instagram?” This has made our community bonding and even family bonding suffer. The best way to fix this is to meet in person or write a letter or even if that’s unavailable, one could zoom call. Just writing to someone or seeing someone’s face can make a big difference.

Number Seven is called Economic Degrowth. The world, America especially, has begun to consume more than work. We eat, but we don’t cook much, we buy apps, but we only scroll on them. There are all sorts of examples that I could give, but the point is that people need to work more, not OVERwork but just work.

The last number is Number Eight, which is named Gift Culture and 2P2 Economics. This refers to how we have become independent of family and local friends for advice or something that we need and instead have leaned upon distant people we have never met. This is sad because people should be able to have friends who are kind and generous enough to share what they have for their health and happiness. That’s what Christ did for us, we should do the same.

Sacred Economics by Charles Eisenstein was an incredible book and I truly learned so much from it. I have so much wisdom on money, and I enjoyed the way he wrote this book. Most of all I learned how to make money sacred again, and to put it very simply it’s to Love God and Love Others, the two greatest commandments. Of course, there are little things here and there that help but these are the best two things to do in my opinion. If you want to read more about economics then I suggest reading Sacred Economics by Charles Eisenstein.