Bitcoin: attractions and pitfalls of anarchist cyber money

29 Apr 2013 1 Comment

by leoforesta in Money

Bitcoin is a new world wide system of electronic payments using its own cyber currency independent from banks, central banks and governments.

Any scheme offering ordinary citizens a promise of freedom from the grip of these corrupt institutions obviously has considerable appeal.

Like physical cash, “bitcoins” can be exchanged irreversibly without official intermediaries, and furthermore, according to the promoters of the scheme, without having to trust anyone.

Whereas trust in the person you are dealing with is required when you accept a cheque or a note or a gold coin (any of them could be fake), the maths and software behind Bitcoin are supposed to ensure its absolute integrity.

As one convinced that the financial system is on its last leg and doomed to collapse in the not very distant future, I was very interested to hear about Bitcoin for the first time.

But my Invisible Partner soon pointed out (to my little ego popping its head in the hope of some miraculous technical fix) that any scheme such as Bitcoin, while not formally part of the financial system, is part and parcel of the materialist way of organising life.

It may not imply trust in a counterparty or intermediary, but it does imply trust in a system operated by people with the usual materialist motivations of profit, self importance…etc.

Like many other stories in a wide variety of fields, Bitcoin just illustrates that official institutions have lost all credibility among thinking citizens. Somehow, most people sense that the establishment has become entirely predatory, dishonest and perverse.

It is certainly essential to recognise evil, to see that evil has taken hold of the “elite” of human society, and to face evil, i.e. keep one’s own integrity and total trust in universal consciousness.

We are reaching a time of accelerating transition, but the changes involved are at a much higher level of reality than any new invention, be it in the so-called “virtual domain” where the likes of  Bitcoin are supposed to be.

For a (non spiritual) reflexion on Bitcoin listen to a recent short BBC radio4 programme in the series “A point of view”: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s0ssj.

And for fun a dash of Pink Floyd:

Fear not, remember money is just a myth.

Love,

Leo

Copyright © Leo Foresta 2013

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From Cyprus drama to cash based informal economy

23 Mar 2013 Leave a comment

by leoforesta in Economy, Finance, Historic transition, Money

EU leaders are prepared to confiscate around 10% of money in bank deposits. A move without any precedent in civilised countries.

This incredible, desperate move shows how sick the whole system has become.

Ordinary citizens in Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy and elsewhere must be wondering what to do now that the unthinkable has happened and that no money is safe in any bank.

Many will withdraw large amounts before this becomes very difficult or impossible. What will they do with the cash? Keep it under the mattress or somewhere safer. Buy gold. Buy stuff.

In any case this will stimulate the cash based informal economy.

The informal economy has often been presented as “black” or “grey”, shady in any case, with hints of criminality. Of course some criminal activities are cash based. Then big chunks of the official economy are criminal too, on a massive scale: in banking, in big pharma, in agro business ….etc..

There are very positive aspects to the informal economy: when you buy cash healthy food from small local suppliers at a market stall, when you pay cash your trusted alternative healer, …

Contrary to “sheeple” subservient to the system, people with a firm alternative worldview are prepared for the period of great turbulence which the proposed official EU racket on ordinary folks’ money is now about to trigger.

They are prepared because they grasp the basic functioning of the corrupt system, and more importantly because their spiritual outlook allows them to avoid panic, tame fear and create bonds of trust with other people.

Fear not, be kind with innocent bank employees.

Love,

Leo

Copyright © Leo Foresta 2013

Clarity about money

07 Sep 2012 1 Comment

by leoforesta in Historic transition, Money

If you’re on your own in the desert and thirsty, money is no use at all. No matter what kind of money: gold coins, bank notes, cheques…

But if you’re in the centre of London, you will probably experience that money is the key to survival. And credit cards will do fine.

In other words, money is essentially a social arrangement in a given set of circumstances.

On an island cut off from the rest of the world a small community can function perfectly without money. Goods and services are simply provided free or exchanged through barter.

Of course self sufficiency of the group doesn’t necessarily imply that all individuals are treated as equal. Someone may receive a bigger portion at every meal or a better spot for his hut because he is chief, priest or the preferred son. But relations are not subject to accounting. The concept of money and assigning values to everything has no place.

In today’s global society, however, money not only has a place, it is at the centre of every endeavour, and it occupies most of people’s thoughts. It has acquired a hypnotic force which only the most tyrannical forms of religion ever possessed.

In that context a major practical issue faces anyone inclined towards spirituality: how to cope with money now that we are right in the middle of a transition to a new paradigm that de-emphasises materialism?

Some teachers in spirituality/consciousness/personal development seem to have little problem with money, even with lots of it. They call it a form of energy. They welcome it as part of the abundance to which we are entitled and naturally led once our fears and limitations fade away and allow spiritual energy to flow more freely.

On the other hand some mystics would appear to have a more reserved attitude towards money and the means to acquire it.

Let us try and see things in the big picture.

Today’s human society on planet earth is severely dysfunctional; that can hardly be denied. The basic reason is that most humans are cut off from nature, from the divine, from unconditional love, and have their minds completely trapped in ego and fear. Every trapped mind contributes to co-creating a dysfunctional “reality”.

In this dysfunctional reality, money is merely an instrument, a priori neither good nor bad in itself. But it is an instrument so deeply entangled in systems and actions with negative impacts on individuals and nature that it has to be treated with great caution, like a toxic product.

At the end of the day, the key question is what each of us accepts to do to acquire enough money to meet his or her “reasonable” needs (and those of his or her dependents) within the context of the system as it still is.

Do you accept to work in the armament sector, or in Big Pharma, or Big Oil, or for a company making GMO’s ….etc, etc ? Now if you are a secretary or receptionist, it may not produce the same vibes in you as if you are head of R&D, let alone CEO or Chairman.

In any case, nothing useful is achieved by judging others. Everyone follows his path, nurtures his thoughts which produce vibrations and create shreds of reality.

Each of us has to concentrate on his own thoughts, make sure they are full of light and gratitude and clear of negativity, hatred and fear.

As for what you do to get the money, trust your intuition, pay attention to the subtle messages the universe keeps sending you: people you meet, sentences you read, accidents, pains, diseases. Nothing just happens around you and to you. Everything has a meaning. The universe patiently places signposts to guide you along.

Trusting higher guidance is the only way to cope with any aspect of life, including money, through the present transition. This is not being passive. This implies a constant effort to clear the negativity and meanness that pollute our thoughts.

It’s quite a job.

Fear not, learn to let go of money with a smile.

Love,

Leo

Copyright © Leo Foresta 2012

The fear of lacking money

16 Jul 2012 Leave a comment

by leoforesta in Money

Tight money is a new experience for swathes of middle class folks in developed countries. It’s going to become much more widespread in the near future as the financial system implodes and economic activity slows further.

Money is not only perceived to be necessary for sheer survival; it is the key marker of positioning on society’s value ladder. The fear of lacking money touches the raw nerve of social pride and embarrassment.

Learning to deal with that fear lies at the core of navigation in the present global crisis.

This learning is personal; each of us has to discover and develop his own responses fitting unique individual circumstances.

But certain attitudes, partly metaphysical and partly practical, can help a great deal.

First and foremost, never lose sight of the big picture: however unnerving, whatever we are going through is just part of a brief life. No more than a temporary material experience for our eternal higher self.

Also, remember the law of attraction: if you radiate positive energy through love for all that exists, free of judgments and limitations, things always turn out well. Not necessarily in the shape of circumstances meeting the superficial expectations of your pride, but in ways best suited for your spiritual evolution.

This has nothing to do with reward or punishment; the universe isn’t moralistic, it is loving, and sends subtle messages to guide us towards the ultimate meaning of our existence.

At a more concrete level, the law of attraction implies a degree of practical efficiency rooted in courage, effort, and humility.

When it comes to money, being practical applies to the income side and to the expenditures side. For the latter, this involves setting sound priorities, such as: pay a bit more for healthy quality food, and a lot less on gadgetry.

The income side is trickier, because most economic activities today are pretty corrupt and destructive, and finding ways of extracting money of the system without losing one’s integrity is a huge challenge.

Without ever being cynical or arrogant, never hesitate to be opportunistic and down to earth. Be attentive, spot the benefits, don’t brag, don’t overdo, forget false pride.

In whatever you do, trust nature and go for simplicity. Whenever you feel unwell, have a rest, and allow your energy body to reload.

Being practical through crisis time involves special attention to good relationships with people, all people, irrespective of their condition. Let them sense your respect and kindness. Make them feel they count. At some point they will help you.

Whatever happens, never be arrogant or bitter. If you are, the law of attraction will sort you out pretty soon.

If some people seem to get away successfully with acquiring money through questionable means and being arrogant about it, don’t be impressed. Don’t waste your time judging them or wishing them retribution. It’s not your business. Concentrate on your own experience.

The key in all of the above is trust in the universe, and reliance on intuition to know what to do. If you think that sounds like air fairy, metaphysical claptrap, take a bit of time to consider seriously what the alternative implies.

The alternative is joining the ranks of materialist competition, i.e., being a slave cum robot in the race toward productivity: ever more crap produced with fewer people and more impacts on nature. A race to the bottom. A lose-lose game for all, including you.

Oh, but there are winners, aren’t there? The 1%, or rather 0.001% at the top. Ultimately, they too are slaves cum robots. They are slaves of a system of thought, a belief system exalting ego and fear, with money the central focus.

The global crisis we see unfolding around us is the manifestation on the material plane of a formidable change in the invisible, subtle realm. As the crisis gets even hotter, corrupt souls and true kindness will become apparent. False material certainties will evaporate, and truth will shine.

Fear not, admire the signs and symbols of harmony.

Love,

Leo

Copyright © Leo Foresta 2012

Love in response to banking scams

02 Jul 2012 Leave a comment

by leoforesta in Finance, Money, Spirituality

Bankers crossed all limits long ago: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jun/30/banking-scandal-barclays-lawsuits-libor

And they continue.

But this is above our heads and there is nothing people like me can do about it. – Not true!

Banks create money. Money rules the modern economy. The modern economy is destroying the world. Your present incarnation is part of the world.

You are here for a mission assigned by universal consciousness. Not to sit on your bum and watch it all happen without uttering a word or emitting a thought.

Be lucid. Tell everyone to be lucid.

And pass the word round that the only response to scams, injustice, crimes, stupidity and horrors is the infinite energy of pure love. Love without judgments, segregations and restrictions.

The choice is between the pain of burning rage or the soothing of pure love.

There is nobody to fight. There is no enemy. No one to hurt. No need for wars, armies, drones and generals. There is only a system of thought that ignores love and kindness.

This system will soon be de-programmed by waves of pure love.

And you can be among the thousands of pure love emitters.

Fear not, watch the full moon.

Love,

Leo

Copyright © Leo Foresta 2012

Over $100 million for « The Scream »

08 May 2012 Leave a comment

by leoforesta in Finance, Materialist system of thought, Money

« The Scream » by Edvard Munch is unquestionably a piece of art.

But it is profoundly disharmonious. One might say a reflection of the times.

No sane person would want such a picture hanging in his home. It would fill the place with negative vibes.

Some rich people don’t see things that way though.

Here is the recent auction at Sotheby’s:

And this was the auction at Christie’s in 2010 where Picasso’s “Nude, green leaves and bust” sold for a slightly lower price.

Funny, I find the Picasso nicer, if still not completely harmonious.

But I haven’t got $95 million. Who cares? Somewhere down the line banks’ little IOU’s will have lost all value. And so will ugly pieces of art.

Fear not, go for genuine beauty.

Love,

Leo

Copyright © Leo Foresta 2012

Bartering system in Greek town

27 Apr 2012 Leave a comment

by leoforesta in Economy, Global crisis, Money

As we hear ominous cracks in the global financial system, some people in a Greek town are reinventing bartering and local currency:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17680904

It makes you look forward to when bankers’ bonuses will have turned into smoke and our food will be local and bio-dynamic.

Only a question of time.

Fear not, smile to your neighbours.

Love,

Leo

Copyright © Leo Foresta 2012

Little teaser about money

30 Dec 2011 1 Comment

by leoforesta in Money

One day a traveller arrives in a small town, calls at a hotel, leaves a cheque of € 40 as pre-payment for the room and goes for a stroll.

While he is away, the hotel manager gives the cheque to a plumber for a small job he’d done the previous week.

With the cheque, the plumber buys an umbrella in a shop. The shop owner still owes the hotel the cost of a night for one of his relatives who had visited him; he rushes to the hotel and gives the cheque to the manager.

The traveller returns to the hotel, decides not to stay after all, and the manager gives him the cheque back.

The traveller just remembered his bank account is in the red and the cheque would have bounced.

Has the umbrella bought by the plumber been validly paid?

Come back after the New Year to find out.

My very best wishes for 2012.

Love,

Leo

Why the financial pyramid is finally collapsing

01 Nov 2011 Leave a comment

by leoforesta in Finance, Money

Finance has been around for a long time, in fact since money was invented.

Think about this: you find yourself stranded with nine people on a desert island. To organise their survival, all ten decide on work sharing. One will fish, another will cook, another will build huts and maintain them, etc. There is no need for money; the implicit assumption is that each person provides a service to the other nine which is of equivalent value as what he gets from each of them.

Now suppose No.4 starts producing works of art, on top of his agreed duties. He may do it for free. But suppose his ego pops its head up, and he begins to hint that he would like some compensation for his extra input.

The group then invents money: on a piece of stone, numbers are engraved to show No.4’s credit on his companions. They now all recognise a debt towards him, and this debt is an asset for him. If No.7 starts making clothes, in addition to his own duties, he too will claim a credit. No.4 and No.7 will now be able to trade their credits between them. On this island there is now money and debt, two sides of one medal.

Stretch your imagination and extent the process to the whole of mankind. The piece of stone with engravings is the banking system, with the Central Bank in the middle. All the banking system does is to create debts and credits, which are pure social conventions (supported by the legal system).

You want to borrow to buy a car; your bank creates the amount of money you need out of thin air and lends it to you (by a simple bookkeeping entry: debit loan to you / credit your current account). And when you pay for your car, if the seller has his account with another bank, a transfer occurs in the books of the Central Bank from the account of your bank to the account of the seller’s bank. And if there are too many transfers out of your bank, your bank simply receives a loan from the Central Bank.

So far so simple, but notice a key point: not only will you have to repay your loan, you will also have to pay interest. And, whereas the amount of your loan has been created by the bank, no extra amount has been created for the interest. So how can it ever be paid to the bank?

Only by you succeeding in extracting more money from holders of accounts with a positive balance than was created at the time when you received your loan. If you succeed in extracting this extra, other players somewhere in the big game of the economy will be short.

Don’t worry, banks have the remedy: more debt, and therefore more money in the system. But, if you think about it, this means that the system has to keep growing, for it is a pyramid, a Ponzy scheme. And for the financial system to keep growing, the “real” economy has to keep growing: more cars, financed by more loans, more houses, more travelling, more of everything and anything.

Got the drift? The growth of the (purely virtual) money and financial system and the growth of physical economic activities are intertwined. They cannot be stopped, or the whole set-up collapses.

After a gradual build-up that took many centuries and accelerated tremendously in the last three decades (when global capitalism was granted a free run) the whole system is reaching tipping point: the pack of cards is totally unstable and can only fall down. Do not believe a word of propaganda from the banks or from political leaders; we are reaching the end of the game.

But now go back to the hypothetical desert island and your nine companions. Everything was fine as long as barter and free gifts formed the social contract. Trouble started when the ego of one claimed more than an equal share. Mankind’s economic problem can only be fixed with a fundamental change in mentality, in attitude towards others: no ego, no competition, no accumulation by a few. This is so fundamental that it touches spirituality, for spirituality carries the central idea of oneness in the universe. Animals, plants and stones on the desert island have the same value as the ten Robinsons: all are part of nature, part of one universe of energy and consciousness.

Does that make sense to you ?

Fear not and keep well.

Leo

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