Dear fellow being,

We humans have developed a strange tendency: taking the absurd and calling it ‘normal’.

It’s become normal to work to earn more every year, just to be able to do the things we did last year. It’s become normal for us to ‘give’ back more money than we borrow. It’s become normal for us to sell pieces of land to each other on a planet that belongs to no one. It’s become normal to produce more than twice the food we need and throw a third to half of it away. It’s become normal to reward our children, partners, colleagues and fellow humans when they do what we want, and punish them when they don’t.

As a child, I was pretty bewildered by ‘normal’. I saw grown-ups and older children doing things I didn’t understand, that felt loveless, and triggered sadness in me. But asking for an explanation would often get me one of two answers:

‘That’s just the way it is.’
Or ‘Because we say so’.

What to do?

I rebelled. I wanted no part in it, but I also wanted to be accepted. I wanted people to like me, and I wanted to show I didn’t care who thought what about me. I wanted to be strong and smart, and I wanted to be open about my fears and doubts. In short, I yearned to be myself, but only if being myself helped me to be what I thought other people wanted me to be.

And this struggle was safely kept where I thought it belonged: inside. Because I surely must have been missing the mark, understanding so little and feeling at home almost nowhere.

So I stopped asking questions.

And started studying to get out of school.

And went to university because that’s what you do when you have a school degree.

And found work because that’s what you do when you finish university.

And built a good life.

That felt wrong.

Something inside of me kept saying ‘No’. And because I didn’t listen, this No started growing.

And growing.
And growing.

Until I could ignore it no more.

We’ve given birth to a society that doesn’t know when more is enough.

The consequences of this birth are seen, felt and pointed to ever more clearly. Right at the top of political and corporate pyramids, people are jumping over each other to say, ‘We can’t go on like this.’ Yet as I write these words, the bulk of humanity is still chasing after economic growth, jobs, purchasing power and more-more-more, playing a game that ultimately knows no winners.

Why?

Because the root cause of never enough comes too close for many a person’s comfort.

At least, that’s the answer I stumbled upon in my explorations.

Money, banks, bankers ,and wealthy people often get the blame for everything that’s wrong with the world. But when pointing the finger, we frequently forget that we, too, are participants. That we too, create. That things become the way they are and stay the way they are only for as long as we believe they are the way they are.

We are the change we’re waiting for.

This confronting and liberating realisation has become my daily practice, and like all beings, I’ve been given the gift of sharing. So, to start with the end, here follows the primary outcome of my explorations and central message of this book:

From the moment we dare to look honestly at money, we start looking more honestly at ourselves. And as soon as we start looking honestly at ourselves, we become a building block for the world we all deeply wish to live in.

I feel grateful for the experiences, people, and guides that would lead me to the writing of this book, and I feel grateful to be able to offer it to you.

Money is Never About Money comprises three parts:

Part I, It’s Not Just the Way It Is, tells of my growing yearning for truth, the inner fire that flared up and the explorations that followed. It talks about:

• What we don’t learn in Economics class
• My experiments with money
• Ten months of living, travelling and working without money
• The realisation I would come home to—that it’s not about with or without.

Part II, Business as Unusual, unearths the root of a deep collective mistake—this idea that there’s not enough to go around, that we never have enough, and that whatever we do, we are not enough—and uses live examples to show what can happen when we not only dare to question the mistake, but also turn it around.

Part III, REconomy, outlines a world that is possible and—again, using live examples—offers three ways to reimagine and reinvent how we work, give, relate, and live—with ourselves, each other and Earth.

You’re about to dive into my experiences, inspiration, and vision. I invite you to take to heart what resonates and leave aside what doesn’t yet. This book was written with a simple goal: to inspire you to trust the deep compass inside of you, even when everyone around you is hell-bent on steering you away from that compass.

With you on the path,

Raymundo