Global Financial Crisis - A Blueprint For Transformation?

What can we learn from the current precarious state of the world's financial systems?

A lot of us seem to have taken the lesson that greed doesn't pay. It didn't do the banks any good to try to make lots of money by offering their customers loans which they couldn't afford to repay. Nor was it good for those of us who took them up on those offers.

The situation could also be seen as a text book example of the law of attraction in action. While financial mismanagement lies at the heart of the crisis, the resulting loss of confidence is making it so much worse. People are selling shares because they are afraid that their value is falling, and this in turn is driving down the price. People are attracting the very thing which they fear.

But perhaps there is another yet more important lesson to learn.

About a year ago, I wrote on this blog about the importance of us coming to think of ourselves an integral part of the human race, rather than caring mainly about ourselves and our own selfish needs. Only then, I argued, could we work together to find our way out of the mess we're in.

At the time, I was thinking about the environment, war, terrorism, inequality: all the factors we've come to equate with the state of the world. It hadn't occurred to me that the thing which might actually start to bring us together would be a banking crisis. And yet that is what seems to have happened.

It was interesting to watch the rocky passage of the US government's banking rescue package through the House of Representatives. On the first occasion, they threw it out because they wanted to punish the bankers. But the second time, the bill passed because the truth had finally dawned: people couldn't punish the bankers without also punishing themselves. If the banks went down, then so would the whole economy. We were all in this together. Doh!

And perhaps a lot of people also realized that it wasn't just the banks that had caused this mass. They couldn't have done it without the compliance of those of us who took them up on the reckless offers they made. The public wanted to blame the bankers, but the truth was that once again, we were all in this together.

Perhaps the most unusual and abiding image of the crisis has been the sight of Republicans and Democrats sitting down together to try to work things out. It seems that the more serious things get, the more inclined we are to find common ground.

Over here in the UK, where - as in so may other countries - a similar financial drama has played out, there have also been signs of a coming together of opposing political parties, with the opposition pledging support for the government's efforts to stop things falling apart entirely.

Europe-wide, there have also been efforts at unity, though this has been less successful, with governments pledging to work together on Sunday, then going their own separate ways the following day. The resulting uncertainty has had a disastrous effect on the markets, another reminder that we all have to work together on this if we're going to make it through.

In the previous post, I also mentioned 2012, the year when many of us new-agey type people believe that the world will change, when the global shift in consciousness I've mentioned will come into being: when we will all come to think of ourselves as a part of the whole, rather than as individuals battling for survival. Can this really come about? Some people are saying that we're fooling ourselves to think it can happen in only four years time, while others are claiming that it's already begun.

Well, I don't know the truth of it, to be honest, but it seems to me that the financial crisis is providing an example of how it might actually come about. What if the financial systems do fall apart? What then?

On a personal level, it seems that spiritual transformation often occurs when things get so bad that you 'can't stand it any more'. Such transformation comes about through crisis. So could something similar happen on a global level? The more serious things get, the more we pull together... But what would have to happen to really make a difference? Just how bad would it have to get?

I used to joke that the only thing which could unite the human race would be an invasion of extra-terrestrials. But perhaps our salvation when it comes could be something just as unexpected, yet rather more mundane...

 

These may also be of interest:

Earth Doomed! (see page 53)

Philip Pullman - A Process of Evolution

Follow My Leader?

Comments

[Mark]

Possibilities, possibilities! All change is a process and this current crisis is part of that process. Great post!

[Sue Ann Edwards]

Hello there!

Let me see...

heard anything about "letting go of attachments"?

How about the warning that "those who sought to drain the lives of others, will find their lives drained instead"?

How about the world's focus on "security"?

Which I've been saying is an EMOTIONAL issue fueled by fear.

Yup, we sure our powerful Creators aren't we?

We sow 'not being secure' and we reap it.

The shifting isn't waiting until 2012, then happening at all once, like *poof*. It's already started and the next 4 years will see those of us that haven't "let go of emotional attachments", letting go of those emotional attachments.

I guide that right *now* is not a time for believing in old definitions of power or believing in victimization. Those ideas themselves, are now ~poisonous~.

And I wouldn't suggest any more 'meditations' with the purpose of inflicting personal perspectives on the world at large. I wonder....how many of us that did that, are now feeling Peace with the economy?

[Harmony]

Simon,
YES!!! To the point - you said it so clearly. I thought the same thing...sometimes wondering how there could be so much change in 4 years as to define really a new world order...here or there. :-)

This entire event has evidenced the possibility of esculated change and world revolution. In fact since you wrote this post, the markets around the world have been WHACKED. It's a global affair.

It seems to have responded to our global greed - the need to have more than we have money to buy. An inflated idea of ourselves and our power. What if that impetus is the energy used to create world change...if that were so...I can easily see how change could happen with wild momentum and very quickly.

I live in the hands of love. THANKS FOR A GREAT JOB

[Beth]

I think the process of people coming together has already begun, with things like the World Social Forum and grassroots movements springing up all over the world. If they come together by 2012, great, but they already exist and are making a difference every day.

[Robin]

I dunno - some of those US politicians seem like extra-terrestrials to me.

I think it's often money issues that stimulate growth (I mean, the good kind) - strangely, as you say. I think the 2012 thing is already on the way - it started back in the late 60s.

See you Simon!

[Liara Covert]

Your views invite readers to unearth the crux of what bothers them about current world changes. Each person is encouraged to rethink security, wealth and things that defined you in the past. Not everyone perceives what is unfolding as a "crisis." As Sue Ann Edwards remarks, a process has been ongoing for a period. It is simply that more people are becoming aware of changes on a variety of levels. To some human beings, changes are subtle. Others discern more far-reaching energy vibrations all the time.

[Simon]

Hi Mark - Thanks for your comment. Since I wrote this post, the financial situation seems to have worsened and even the head of the IMF is speaking of the danger of financial meltdown. Possibilities indeed...

Sue Ann - Thanks for your timely words! I think we can learn a lot about ourselves from this current situation. You speak of 'letting go of attachments'! I didn't think I *was* that attached to material possessions any more but the present crisis is teaching me that I've been fooling myself. The prospect of our financial systems tumbling around our feet is leaving me feeling queasy! It seems that we are being presented with an excellent opportunity to let go of what we thought were the 'certainties' of the world we have known and trust in whatever the future may bring our way. I've spoken before of surrendering ourselves to the flow of life instead of clutching at the reeds on the bank. This may be the time for letting go.

Hi Harmony - Thanks for your comment! Following on from my response to Sue Ann, I love your phrase 'I live in the hands of love'. These are wonderful words to bear in mind as the current carries us forward.

[Simon]

Many thanks for your perspective. Beth! It seems to me that there have always been grassroots movements working away at the edges of things, but a grasp of the need for radical change has now taken root in mainstream thought. The green fringe have spoken of such things as electric cars and sustainable energy for years, but I still have to pinch myself when I hear such phrases in the mouths of mainstream politicians. This change has come about through necessity: the need to battle climate change. What further new ideas might take hold from the need to rebuild our financial systems, I wonder?

Hi Robin - Yes, I'd have thought that the new age movement started in the sixties too, though according to the Wikipedia entry, the origins are earlier. I think the sixties were when it encroached on mainstream consciousness: 'this is the dawning of the age of Aquarius..." etc. The question is: will it now encroach on mainstream reality? Thanks for dropping by, Robin...

Great to hear from you, Liara! Yes, I know that people such as you and Sue Ann are aware of things happening on a subtle level, whereas I have to wait to find out with everyone else! Well, there's nothing subtle about what's happening now - and as you say, we are all having to rethink how we feel about wealth, security etc. We don't *necessarily* need to lose these things, but we do need to lose our attachments to them. Just how hard will the lesson have to be to bring that about?

[surfaceearth]

Simon:

I have no idea what the answer is or the blueprint.

The only thing I am quite clear about is the change will be something entirely unexpected.

I still believe it is within our power, as humans, not as people of individual cultures, countries, religions, etc., but as humans, to make it ok.

Simplistic, yes?

But so is sowing corn to make our vehicles transport us.

Keep up the good work. Looking forward to reading lots more here.

Peace, namaste.

[Sue Ann Edwards]

Smiling...

It IS "mainstream's" Reality that is collapsing.

I *know* some of us consider me as *tough* but ~I'm~ nothing compared to what is coming...I have walked the Path, not just talked it. I was raised in a family of affluence, with a LOT of emotional attachments to that affluence. And have experienced living in poverty without even potable water in my transition of divesting myself of those attachments.

It's *ease-ier* if we surrender our emotional attachments willingly but willing or no, we're going to find ourselves stripped of them. Look at your own life. First, your health, now finances.

You've already entered the 'cocoon' phase, where our Mass of Humanity are caterpillars, just getting ready to go into their cocoon phase. From caterpillar to butterfly, our spiritual evolution proceeds.

The itty bitty community I live in now, had the economy wiped out from under it with the changes in logging enacted. All that was left here, were the old, the infirm and anyone else who couldn't afford to leave. It pulled together. Now the two high schools compete at Foodball. Foodball: which high school can collect the most for the local food banks.

Hmmm...a friend of mine recently let some Native Americans borrow his truck. They returned it with the truck bed filled with 100's of fresh salmon, expressing their thanks. I LIKE salmon steaks and get them FREE! I LIKE fresh crab, too, and the crab fishermen bring me crabs, for FREE. Just the other day I was out of cat food...so my cats had to 'make due' with fresh tuna and sea bass.

The key...is to simplify our lives, just like has been pointed out. I don't even own a cell phone. None work around here anyway. The 'can you hear me now' guy, hasn't even made it to where I live.

The issues are that of "trust" and "power". For the most part, we have placed our Trust outside of ourselves and in powers outside of ourselves, while in full fledged denial of our inner motives. Now we've entered into a cycle of reaping the harvests of those inner motives, that we haven't been paying any attention to.

It 'used to be' that a stock's price was related to its assets minus its liabilities, plus its earnings. In 1984, interest rates on savings and certificates of deposit fell from 12% to 2% and people started withdrawing from timed accounts and pouring money into stocks, as a hedge against the future. Since then, the price of stocks has not been related to assets minus liabilities or earnings. It's been a function of demand, as money poured in with the purpose to invest in anything and everything.

I personally *know* of appraisers hired by a certain bank, that has since collapsed, whose appraisals had nothing to do with objective reality. HONEST people, who would NOT do this, were run out of the business. I know it became a standard to lie on loan and credit applications, since nothing was checked or verified. Just like lying on resumes and job applications.

My assets are all in credit unions, which operate and have been operating, under a very different relationship with their depositors then banks have had with theirs. Banks "use other people's money" to make money for themselves. Credit unions, are stewards of "other people's money" and operate as non-profit institutions, with profits distributed among its members as dividends or lower interest rates. Credit unions have had nothing to do with "sub-prime" loans but have instead helped people learn fiscal responsibility.

Look at our motives and the motives our institutions have been serving.

{{hugs}}

Sales of safes up 45% in Great Britain huh?

[Simon]

Hi surface earth - Thanks for your encouraging comment! I am sure you are right: we have the ingenuity to 'make it OK', whatever may come along. But we need a change of focus. We need to be able to focus on what needs to be done for the good of us all, rather than being each preoccupied with our own self-interest.

Which is why, as Sue Ann discusses, we need this transformation. We need to be butterflies instead of self-interested caterpillars. I asked the question above: "how hard will the lesson have to be to bring this about?" Now comes the fearsome answer: "tougher than Sue Ann"! :-)

Never mind a safe, Sue Ann, should we start growing vegetables in our garden? (Hugs to you too, and thanks for this latest comment, alarming as it may be...)

[Sue Ann Edwards]

*winking* like an immunization shot...it triggers our immune system into activity, so we are prepared to be invulnerable to "dis-ease".

Once we *know* to start looking within ourselves, instead of looking outside of ourselves, then a cornucopia of ingenuity and resolutions start coming out.

My Service is to fill a 'need' at this time and this place. If this shift was not coming, then I would have no purpose and no reason to be here. I'm a "pinion" anchored in the new paradigm, to help serve as stabilization as the bottom drops out of the old.

As a matter of fact, your idea of a vegetable garden is an excellent one! Maybe some herbs, too? I would suggest that gardens are going to be a lot more valuable then lawns, that's for sure...

"Fearsome", now that's a word. Because it's emotions of fear, that are the cause of *this*. Whatever "power" that we have depended upon to control things to our liking, is going down the tubes. The solutions will come from developing inner powers, greater then any perceived outer ones.

I've been doing my best to show examples from my own life, in how I face experiences, no matter how *awful* those experiences are. 4 surgeries in 6 months...now that was a goody. As was being in the middle of a disaster area.

What's the saying?

"What doesn't kills us only makes us stronger."

And I'm STILL alive! I can promise you one thing...that we are ALL a LOT stronger and more powerful then we give ourselves credit for. Now we simply need to start cashing in on that power and strength.

{{hugs}}}

[AngelBaby]

I have been wondering about the same thing, is this how the change comes about? Will we all realize that we are one when we are at the bottom and need each other to get back up? Will all of this change peoples minds about all the greed? I can't wait to see what is going to happen next.

Love and blessings,
AngelBaby

[Simon]

Hi Sue Ann - If the shift wasn't coming, I think you would still have a purpose, but it would be a different one! As things are, however, thanks for this piece of encouragement - and thanks for being around!

Hi Angelbaby - Thanks for dropping by. It seems that you and I think alike - and Sue Ann seems to suggest that we've got it right. As I said above, personal transformation often arises out of pain - so why not global transformation?

[Robin]

2012 may happen though I think there might be a lot of precise waking up needed befor then. One area is this euphemisticly named 'financial crisis'. Oh real history is so eye opening! Watch the Money Masters and learn http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-515319560256183936&q=money+Ch%20angers&total=155&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1 Anyway the gist of this 3.5 hr doco is every major war from Napoleon to the cold war to Iraq has been financed by the same(growing) group and every depression/recession has been caused by them. This has long been known by some including Lincoln and Jefferson. Recessions are caused by tightening of money supply by central banks (see Milton Friedman): first they flood the market with money in form of cheap loans, which stimulates speculation(greed) then when the cherry is ripe they pick it by recalling loans(reduce the money supply). The money doesn't disappear, just changes hands upwardly and usually it is a acompanied by a move to tighten their grip over the economy through accompanying political moves, so, its well planned in advance. This is ignorantly called the business cycle, but really calculatedly concentrates obscene amounts of money in their hands, beyond the usual obscene amounts they are making out of usery(creating money from nothing and getting interest). The fact that it is so blatent these days shows only one thing - they think they're unstoppable.

Peace,love and wake up.

[Simon]

Hi Robin - Thanks for your comment and (as I realize you're not the Robin who normally contributes here) welcome to my blog!

I certainly agree that most of the wealth in the world is in the hands of a relatively small number of people. But that's pretty plain to see - there's nothing secret about it. Likewise, government policies tend to be heavily influenced by vested interests, especially as regards foreign policy. We rarely go to war for the reason we think we do.

But I personally am suspicious of any world view which divides us up into 'us' and 'them' and puts all the blame on 'them'. It seems to me we've had far too much of this already and all it leads to is war and suffering. Whether the 'them' in question are communists, moslems, your 'money masters' or - for that matter - David Icke's seven foot lizards, they're a convenient peg on which to hang all our grievances: somebody else to blame for our perceived troubles.

I'd like to see us move away from 'us' and 'them' and start thinking of 'us'. How can *we* work together to solve our problems? And to what extent have we brought those problems upon ourselves? You say that this group of people flood the market with money to stimulate speculation (greed). So then, we ourselves have played a part in what has happened by giving in to that greed, have we not? Maybe that's something we have to look at first before we go waving sticks at mysterious enemies.

[Jeff from Silver Coast Finest]

Great info, thanks for sharing. Everything is connected now. From the local wine shop in Portugal to the chemistry factory Brasil. I recomend the Freakonomics book for some inside thoughts.