A CARE FIRST WORLD VISION

Good evening

The association of money and love for many is not an easy one. The connection between money and fear is often more familiar to us.
Why is it easier to see the connection between money, fear, greed, selfishness, power and possessiveness than it is to understand its association with sharing, caring, loving, giving and receiving?
I feel that this is the result of several factors:

First of all we are generally quite unconscious about money and what it is and does in our life. That is why this connection might not be apparent.
Secondly many of us have conflicts inside of ourselves around the issue of money both consciously and unconsciously.

An example of a conscious one: "In order to survive I have to work and make money, but I find myself suffering through this and in that sense I find it hard to associate money with love.

An example of an unconscious one " I entered the process of making money unconsciously as my working life began. I just accepted it as the way to be. I have an unconscious anger and frustration about this and therefore do not want to hear about the connection between love and money."

And thirdly, in our real-world experience, we witness that the connection between money, fear, greed, selfishness, power and possessiveness is much more visibly manifested, than its connection with sharing, caring, loving, giving and receiving, which is still a bit uncommon and new to us.

I believe that a lot of the suffering that we experience with money comes from our lack of consciousness of what it is and how we use it in this world.
Money is a means of exchange. Yes. But it is also energy as all things in the material world are energy. At the energy level it can carry different vibrations. When connected to fear, money creates a different flow and manifestation than money, which is connected to our love.
When we connect our investments to the creation of a better world we connect money to love and care.

In my own life with money I felt that in order to create a more stable foundation with it in my inner and outer life, I needed to address my own fears in relation to it and move myself towards a more love based experience and perception of economics. In the process of doing this I began to see that an enormous clarity is being created by studying the relationship between money and care in this world.
I would like to share this with you because it opened a completely new door in my own consciousness, thinking and heart.

But first my wife Sandra and I would like to share a piece with you, which was part of a talk about the Economy of Love. It was to introduce our work with the World Finance Initiative and our Vision of an Economy of Love.

Before we start I will describe to you the logo of World Finance Initiative. It is a Grecian Goddess who kneels upon the Earth holding a Blue Pot in her hands out of which she pours golden water on to the Earth. This golden water symbolizes a flow of money that heals all it touches, both our own wounds and the wounds of the Earth.

There is a new tone for economics
A new way of being
It surges up from deep within
From deep within us all
Can we free ourselves from the fears, tensions and pains we all can have in relation to money, survival and work?
Yes, that freedom is in the heart
The heart speaks this new way of being
It is to care, share, love, give and receive with our money, goods and services and to apply Care First.

I heard someone say: "Money was brought into this world to create a separation between spirit and matter." How does this separation occur?
When we use money for power, greed, selfishness, possessiveness and fear it creates a separation within us, a separation from the Source.
How can this separation heal?
It heals when we use money to care, share, love, give and receive, when we apply Care First. This connects us to the Source again.
By doing this we redeem the destructive effects of our money use and create a constructive healing flow of money.
Yes and we call this new flow of money: golden water
Money healing all that it touches
Leading us to the heart of the economy of Love.

Stillness and economy
Nature and economy
Love and economy
What is an economy of Love?
Is it an economy where love flows all the time?
Yes it is an economy where the heart is breathing and happy and alive
It is an economy which gives us a deep inner, spiritual fulfillment
It is the economy of our hearts.

When we stand in front of the Fire of suffering, what do we do?
We accept it... move through it... and purify
Through this Fire we become conscious
In our economics we also move through the Fire
We purify, stabilize, heal and find direction
And gradually we see a new way

How do we create an economy of Love?
By becoming love and living it
By seeing that care can have more power than money
By letting money serve the Care
By letting Care be our guiding Light
By putting Care First

Let’s look at money and care in this world.

I have thought for many years "Once money and care become the same thing, the whole world heals." When we take hold of a dollar and visualize that dollar being care and see it do what care and love would do, beautiful things happen. This is the world of Care First.

Care First is applied when money is serving the purpose of care.
Money First is applied when money is not serving the purpose of care.

Let’s look more closely at Care First and Money First and how we can use these concepts to clarify our decisions around money.

In a Care First Economy, we use money in service of our caring,
our values and our passion.
We use money in service of the well being of people and the Earth
We create a flow of finance that heals all it touches, unites us
and creates a world of love
Care First creates truth and a love based economy

In a Money First Economy we use money at the expense of our caring,
our values and our passion.
We use money at the expense of the well being of people and the Earth.
We create a flow of finance that destroys all it touches, separates us
and creates a world of fear.
Money First creates illusion and a fear based economy.

As we enter the Care First aspect of our life and culture
we move into truth.
When we aim for care, life and spirit and use money to serve that aim
we enter fullness and find everything.
This leads to satisfaction and happiness and opens the caring
and constructive side of our nature.

In my experience Money First and Care First are the two aspects of our test with money.

Can you see what will happen when we help each other to move from Money First to Care First and create a world that facilitates Care First?

When we work for money at the expense of our values, passion and caring we are not happy with the work, only happy with the money we receive and the material well being it gives us.
But when our work is the expression of our values, passion and caring we are happy with that work and happy with the money we receive. We are happy on all levels.

When every economic entity serves the well-being of people and the Earth on all levels: material, emotional, mental and spiritual, then we are healing ourselves and all living things on our planet Earth. This is the path of Care First.

Where are we as a world?

I would say that as a world we are stuck in Money First direction. Also because many of us have no awareness of the possibility of a Care First Economy.
Many of us are trapped in a Money First world, afraid and absorbed in our own struggle and self-concern. We become protective of ourselves, our family and our world.
We need money…that is where it all starts. When we do something for money that we do not love, we suffer. When we work too hard for money whether we love our job or not, we suffer. And when we are asked to do things we don’t agree with at the job and do them, we suffer.

So it is moving from a self- protective, self-absorbed, fear based space to space of service, love and caring. And this can happen everywhere, in banks, insurance companies, mortgage companies, big corporations and so on.

In today’s economy the source of sustenance for most people is money. For many of us money exists somewhere outside of ourselves – and we need to get it. Because it is out there, we are afraid to loose it and do not experience a real control over what we manifest financially. What if the market collapses!!! I believe that this view is based on a Money First - fear based attitude.

In an Economy of Love the source of our sustenance is experienced on the inside of ourselves as our connection to the Divine, which regulates our life out of a true caring for our soul’s path. Through this alignment we know that all material things that we are in need of will come our way. We trust that money manifests itself in relation to our true path of service, and know that there will always be enough. When we experience this we live in Care First and know that Care First will sustain us.

When we live with the intention of Care First, we address the issues in our life, community and world that need to be addressed socially, environmentally, economically and politically without saying "we cannot look at this because we have no money!" In Care First we make sure that we look at it, and once we know what needs doing, we manifest the flow of finance, resources and events needed.

I can see a real breakthrough of caring in the world. A process where money is serving the caring everywhere, because we become clear about the illusions of Money First and the power of Care First.

Money itself is not the source of our happiness. It is only a tool that we can use for our joy. It is a movement or flow of energy that can bless the world, but we do not need to be attached to it. We can be inwardly free with it and we can serve with money. We can connect to each other through money instead of allowing it to create separation. We can create peace instead of war with it and harmony instead of conflict. Money can be a powerful tool for creating a Caring World.

When we look at Care First and Money First inside of ourselves we can see that when we live in Money First, we are tense, alone, in separation, fearful and depressed. When we live in Care First, we are strong, vibrant, happy and most of all in harmony with ourselves.

Let’s consider a Care First World Vision. Can you see the golden water beginning to flow everywhere? Can you see what happens when our conflicts around money resolve? People loosing their self-protectiveness and fear around money, and working together and supporting one another with it. Can you see this new Dance, this new Release and new Horizon?

And isn’t it natural and inevitable for us all to go there? The human soul cannot bear being contracted around money, work and survival, nor live with a sense of separation for too long. It will seek love and unity.

So how can this be applied in the Socially Responsible Investing Movement?

I suggest that you ask yourselves:

I think that these questions can be asked by anyone in this world in whatever situation and in any service and position.

Each one of us can think and live Care First, if we choose to.

We are in the process of creating a Bank based on Care First and a School of Care which helps people to find a Care First path.

We are envisioning a Community Bank which works with micro credit, socially responsible investing and other caring procedures and asks itself in relation to all its services: is money being used in service of our care for the people and the Earth?

The School of Care is an educational center with a charitable foundation, helping people to find their passion and true contribution to our world and helping those who want to, start a Care First life and business.

There is a group of us beginning to come together in the Denver, Boulder area to create this. We are also looking at what we can do in the Netherlands with our European colleagues.

I would like to express my gratitude and admiration for what all of you are doing in this world. When Steve, Barbara and I met for the first time we recognized that we were all working for the same cause, maybe using a slightly different language, but with our hearts and our intentions in the same place.

I feel that it is very important that everyone who works with creating alternative ways for economics meets and works together wherever possible, and learns from one another.

I often say, the answer is not with you or with me; it lies between us.

Thank you.