"Stop Trying To Be A Good Person" Charles Eisenstein Gives Us Something To Think About
Author and speaker Charles Eisenstein is best recognized for his book Sacred Economics, which traces back the complete history of money, outlining its role in creating a world filled with alienation and competition. In addition to his work as an author, Charles also regularly travels to speak at events and conferences, including a pair of TEDx talks entitled The Gift Of Happiness and A New Story Of The People.
We were happy to be able to catch up with Charles at this year's Science and Non-Duality (SAND) Conference in San Jose, California. This conference brings together some of the greatest minds in both the scientific and conscious communities to encourage healthy discussion and to bring us closer to a natural merger of these two key understandings of life.
In the following interview, Charles answered a number of questions we posed to him, including:
People often say that money is the root of all evil, what are your thoughts on this notion?
Do you feel that money is a necessary part of this world, or do you see potential for it no longer existing at some point?
How important is conscious awareness in all aspects of life?
How important do you feel events, such as the SAND Conference, are to the world?
What is the significance of tiny action, a term you regularly refer to in your work?
You can check all of his answers to these questions and more, as well as see how he made me laugh, in the following interview:
Money As A Story/ Set Of Agreements
One answer that I particularly wanted to touch upon was Charles's notion that money is a story, or set of agreements. The current agreements in place have made money into something that creates scarcity and consistently demands growth; as a result, it destroys communities.
At its core, money is simply a medium, a medium that can be used to co-ordinate exchange amongst people. It is the stories that we have attached to it that have made it into something we perceive to be evil. If we change the story, we change the medium, and hopefully we will do so into something that is more harmonious and useful in the near future.
We All Have A Moral Compass
As Charles reminds us, we are all unique and therefore there is no core action that can be taken by all of us to create a shift in the planet. It is up to us to figure out what that core action is for ourselves specifically, and the means to discovering what that is lies within all of us inherently. We all have a moral compass; chances are if you currently can't hear it, it is simply being drowned out by a busy mind.
Let this interview remind you that you do always have access to an inner guidance system. Finding it is just a matter of doing whatever is necessary for you to bring it back into the forefront of your experience.
