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When you want to hurry something, that means you no longer care about it and want to get on to other things.

— Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

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Charles’ book Sacred Economics opened my journey into the wonder-filled world of money. So far, this journey has given me at least two things:

An understanding of the ease with which we humans belittle ourselves, manipulate others and wreak havoc on the planet.

Validation of what I already felt as a child: things are not just the way they are—and they can be unimaginably more beautiful.

Grateful for having learned what we’re not being told in economics class, I want to invite you to a no-economics lesson, starting with a fundamental question:

What is money?

In other words, what do we talk about when we talk about something that seems to so dominate our lives?

First I will give the answers I found, then I will delve into a game that doesn’t know when more is enough, the rules that govern that game, and how we play.

By the end of this chapter, I hope you’ll have more clarity on:

The supposed positive impact of economic growth and competition.

The underlying patterns that create, sustain and magnify this impact.

Regaining this clarity has greatly
helped me to pierce through limiting patterns and negative, often unconscious, beliefs. Perhaps it can do the same for you.