New Money for a New World

by Bernard Lietaer

  One of the many things we as modern humans share in common is a collective set of attitudes and assumptions regarding money. Though it is not customarily considered as such, money is a projection from the collective unconscious.

  As previously noted, money is an agreement, a mental construct. Philosopher and author Jacob Needleman observes, “Money is…in the end, a product of the mind.”292 By its very definition, money is also a collective affair, in that it can only exist within a community. Additionally, money is not value neutral; different types of money predispose us to feel, think and act in particular ways, mostly in an unconscious manner, without our awareness. Moreover, each society considers its own monetary system as self-evident, regardless of whether it uses stones, pieces of metal, colorful paper, or electronic bits as currency. Each of these monetary facets speaks to the collective unconscious nature of our relationship with money.

  To have money better serve our needs, it is important that we understand how and why our monetary system leads us to places few of us might consciously choose to go. One means available for our investigation is Archetypal Psychology, a field that provides a lens and language by which to explore the collective unconscious.

  Archetypal Psychology was founded by famed Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961). This field of psychology was developed further in the second half of the 20th century by psychologist James Hillman and others.293 Jung was able to apply his understanding of the collective psyche to events taking place in our world, including his ability to forecast the rise of fascism in Europe as early as the 1920s. In Part III, insights from this field are applied to further our exploration of money.

  For our purposes, only two of the key concepts of Archetypal Psychology need to be grasped: archetypes and shadows. These building blocks help to show how we are predisposed to relate to one another and the world around us, and the role that money plays in our lives.

  ARCHETYPES

  A core focus of Archetypal Psychology is the archai, the deepest patterns of psychic functioning, “the fundamental fantasies that animate all life.” Jung put forward this short definition, “Archetypes are to the soul what instincts are to the body.”294

  Jungian psychologist Bernice Hill offers this explanation:

  Archetypes are primordial, universal energy patterns developed over eons of time and moving throughout the world and human history. They carry a full range of positive and negative possibilities, but they cannot be known completely or directly through the intellect alone. They inform our behavioral patterns and attitudes, and are found in art, dreams, symbols, cultural stories, and myth(s).295

  For the purposes of this work, archetypes may be defined as: patterns of emotions and actions that can be observed across time and cultures. This working definition remains valid even if one is not comfortable with the Jungian approach to psychology.

  Archetypes and Myths

  One way to better understand archetypes is through popular myths. Now-popular attitudes might deem a work dedicated to issues such as our monetary system and societal challenges a strange place to employ myths, because many people today consider myths to be only pre-scientific tales about the origin of mankind or about some imaginary heroes or divine beings, and thus of limited value.

  Myths are, however, valid descriptions of psychic sequences; they are favorite scenarios that illustrate how specific archetypes manifest, regardless of time or cultural context. Myths are not some unique hero or god’s story; they instead reveal shared aspects of who we are. According to mythologist Joseph Campbell, myths represent, “Powers that have been common to the human spirit forever, and that represent the wisdom of the species by which man has weathered the millenniums.”296 Scholar Eric Robertson Dodds defined myths as, “The dream-thinking of a whole civilization.”297 They are revelations and expressions about the make-up of our collective being.

  Archetypes can be found in hundreds of mythological, classical, and symbolic figures. Joseph Campbell identified and wrote about the Hero with a Thousand Faces, as one universal and quintessential story found through the ages that transcends the boundaries of culture. This hero is seen in Sumer as Gilgamesh, in ancient Greece as Hercules, in the Middle Ages as knights in shining armor, or in Japan as the fearless Samurai.

  As Jung described:

  These hero myths vary enormously in detail, but the more closely one examines them, the more one sees that structurally they are very similar. They have, that is to say, a universal pattern, even though groups and individuals developed them without any direct cultural contact with one another; for instance, tribes in Africa or the Incas in Peru. Over and over again one hears tales describing a hero’s miraculous but humble birth, his early proof of superhuman strength, his rapid rise to prominence or power, his triumphant struggle with the forces of evil, his fallibility to the sin of pride (hubris) and his fall through betrayal or a ‘heroic’ sacrifice that ends with his death.298

  The Hero is just one archetype among many. Archetypes are features of our collective human psyche through which our unconscious interacts with the exterior world. Jung claimed, “It is a function of consciousness not only to recognize and assimilate the external world through the gateway of the senses, but to translate into visible reality the world within us.”299 He asserted that, “All the most powerful ideas in history go back to archetypes. This is particularly true of religious ideas, but the central concepts of science, philosophy, and ethics are no exception to this rule.”300

  Every aspect of our lives is permeated by archetypes. We visit the archetypal realm in our dreams, though we may be unaware of it. Advertisers, political strategists, and the Hollywood industry use archetypes to prompt us to feel or react in certain ways.

  Media stories that capture the imagination of the masses are invariably rich in archetypal content. The fact that more than one billion people around the world, regardless of their cultural affiliations, watched the funeral of Princess Diana, indicates the archetypal nature of the princess’ story. She embodied the Cinderella archetype, the supposedly “common” girl whose uncommon grace, beauty, and innate goodness are recognized and rewarded by the prince, who chooses her over all other women. We loved her because she was one of us, and represented what is good in us. Diana also embodied parts of the archetype of the tragic Lover, as seen in Romeo and Juliet.

  A Map of the Human Psyche

  There are hundreds of different archetypes that embody the vast array of human characteristics. To capture a broad range of human experiences in a simplified manner, Jungian psychologists Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette have developed a map of the human psyche based upon Jung’s Quaternion, consisting of four of the major archetypes found in all cultures.301 These are the Sovereign, Warrior, Lover, and Magician.

  The Four Major Archetypes

  The Sovereign energy is the integrating force at the core of the psyche. It activates, accepts, and integrates the forces of all other archetypes, and makes the necessary sacrifices (from sacer facere, literally “making sacred”) for the good of the whole.

  The Warrior energy masters discipline, asceticism, and force. The Warrior protects what needs protecting for the common good and destroys what needs to be eliminated, to enable the blossoming of new life.

  The Lover energy masters sensuous pleasure without guilt. It is the power of empathy and connectedness to other people and all life. The Lover is sensitive to art and beauty.

  The Magician energy masters knowledge of the material world through science and technologies, as well as that of the immaterial worlds of spiritual, religious, or philosophical teachings. The Magician draws connections between both realms.

  Each archetype is active both at the individual and collective levels. Well-established organizations at the collective level embody these archetypal energies. Governments, for example, play the role of the Sovereign. Corporations and armies carry Warrior energy. The arts give expression to the Lover. Science, technology, academia, and religion embod
y the Magician’s role.

  It should be noted here that Jung’s Quaternion lacks at least one important archetype. The missing archetype is suggested by Joseph Campbell’s observation that one dominant myth has shaped most civilizations: each culture may emphasize particular archetypal forces and the hero may be a god or a mortal, young or old, rich or poor, king or commoner, but the hero is always a male.

  CLOSING THOUGHTS

  Archetypes represent the deepest patterns of our psyches and are, by definition, observable through the ages and across cultures. They influence virtually every aspect of our lives, including our behaviors, philosophies, religions, and mythologies.

  There is one essential archetype, however, missing from the Quaternion, which has been repressed for a very long time.

  CHAPTER TWENTY - The Missing Archetype and Money

  The door to transcendence, to transformation and enlightenment,

  is a door that leads into a hall of mirrors.

  Wherever you look, there is only you looking back.

  ~L. D. THOMPSON

  Clear and mounting evidence demonstrates that for much of human history, a fundamental archetype has been the object of systematic and substantial repression. The missing archetype is the Great Nurturer/Provider, whose most common form is feminine and which is referred to as the Great Mother.

  It is this feminine dimension of this archetype that has been the subject of almost continued repression through several millennia. The consequences of this repression run deep and are intimately connected to the subject of money. Our next focus on our exploration of money is therefore the Great Mother archetype.

  ARCHETYPAL EVIDENCE AND SIGNIFICANCE

  One very effective way to understand a particular society is to look at its images of the divine. The Great Mother was honored and active over tens of thousands of years and over vast geographic areas. Her presence has been documented from the earliest times of human consciousness. Her image has been carved in mammoth ivory, in reindeer antlers, and on stone at the entrance of sacred caves. Great Mother effigies were the most common figures of the upper-Paleolithic period (30,000-9,000 BCE). Her predominant importance in ancient times is illustrated by the fact that four times more feminine than masculine prehistoric figurines have been uncovered.302

  The term Great Mother is not meant to imply that an identical, specific image was venerated. Her various images, however, do share unmistakable and important characteristics reflected in nature, in each of us individually, and in the whole of humanity. She holds the mysteries of life and death, reproduction, and fertility. She also embodies all that gives us sustenance, including money.

  The first forms of religious expression often found in archaeology and across cultures are images of a mother pregnant with or nurturing her child, identified as the Great Mother or the Fertility Goddess. As Marilyn Yalom, author of A History of the Breast, explains:

  At the beginning was the breast. For all but a fraction of human history, there was no substitute for a mother’s milk. Until the end of the nineteenth century, when pasteurization purportedly made animal milk safe, a maternal breast meant life or death for every newborn babe. Small wonder that our prehistoric ancestors endowed their female idols with such bosoms…It takes no great stretch of the imagination to picture a distraught Stone Age mother begging one of those buxom idols for an ample supply of milk.303

  To better appreciate the greater dimensions of this archetype and its vital relevance to humanity and the issues of our day, we must, however, transcend the reductionism that tends to see in Great Mother figures only sexuality, fertility, and nurturing of children. The Great Mother connects the human body and the Earth to the mystery of the sacred. She celebrates the process of time cycles and life itself in all its forms, all renewal, all growth, the paradox of life-death, all change, and all continuity.

  Author and educator Starhawk explains:

  She is first of all Earth, the dark, nurturing mother who brings forth all life. She is the power of fertility and generation, the womb, and also the receptive tomb, the power of death. All proceeds from Her, all returns to Her. As Earth, She is also plant life, trees, and the herbs and grains that sustain life. She is the body, and the body is sacred.304

  Archaeologist Marija Gimbutas described the Great Mother as: “The symbol of unity of all life in Nature. Her power was in water and stone, in tomb and cave, in animals and birds, snakes and fish, hills, trees and flowers. Hence, the holistic and mythopoetic perception of the sacredness and mystery of all there is on Earth.”305

  THE ARCHETYPAL HUMAN

  Jung’s Quaternion can now be expanded to include the missing Great Mother archetype, to provide a more complete map of the archetypal human, as seen in Figure 20.1.

  This archetypal map is not intended to be all-encompassing. Far more comprehensive and complex representations of the human psyche could readily be constructed. The objective here is to use the fewest number of archetypes to portray the most important aspects of the collective human. The five archetypes described above may be considered as primary landmarks that comprise the vast territory of the collective human psyche. As foundational elements, we should understand that any disturbances here would have a profound impact upon individual and collective emotions and behaviors.

  EARLY MONEY AND THE GREAT MOTHER

  The intrinsic relationship between money and the Great Mother was self-evident to much of the ancient world. For tens of thousands of years, the Great Mother was the mythical connection to the mysteries of life and to the most fundamental aspects of existence. Similarly, money represents abundance, generosity, sustenance, and is at its deepest level connected to our very survival. Substantial evidence demonstrates that not only was money invented during the extensive period when the Great Mother archetype was honored, but that money’s earliest forms were directly related to her.

  Cattle, the First Working Capital Asset306

  Cattle played a major role as both a medium of exchange and unit of account in much of the ancient world. For instance, the poet Homer (7th century BCE) expressed wealth in heads of cattle. Cattle are still used today in ranching societies as a unit of economic measure, as noted by the colloquialism, “He’s worth a thousand head” (see insert).

  Money and Cows

  One side effect of the use of cattle for monetary purposes has been that the number of head, rather then the quality or health of the animals, was valued. A contemporary agricultural expert tried to persuade Wakamba tribal chiefs from eastern Kenya not to keep diseased and old cattle. The response he received was, “Listen, here are two pound notes. One is old and wrinkled and ready to tear, this one is new. But they are both worth a pound. Well, it’s the same with cows.”307

  The roots of popular terms point directly back to cattle. The English word “pecuniary” (financial) comes from the Latin pecus, meaning “cattle.” Similarly, the word “capital” is derived from the Latin capus or capitis, meaning “head.”308 The word “fee” evolved from vieh, meaning “cattle” in Old Germanic.309

  Cattle have been linked to feminine archetypal symbols of fertility and abundance from prehistory onwards. The cow symbolized the Great Mother nearly everywhere in ancient myths. Cows offer literal sustenance by virtue of their milk and they are ferociously protective of their young. Inanna, the Great Mother’s representation in ancient Sumer, appears in the late fourth millennium BCE as the patron deity of the city of Uruk’s central storehouse. In her name was written, “Heaven is mine, the Earth is mine. I am a splendid wild cow!”310

  In Egypt, the Great Mother’s name was Hathor. She was the Goddess of Beauty and Plenty, whose udder overflowed to the point of creating the Milky Way, the term in use today still for our own galaxy. Hathor gave birth every day to the sun, her “Golden Calf.” Her horn was the sacred “Horn of Plenty”—the cornucopia—out of which poured all the fruits of the world.

  Many cultures held the cow as sacred. The classical symbol of the Moon Goddess was th
e white cow, akin to the White Buffalo Woman of some Native American traditions. In Irish mythology the cow was Glas Galven, Goddess of the Sky.311 In Hinduism, the cow is a representation of Kali, and remains sacred to this day.

  Gold and Amber

  The use of gold as currency is also intrinsically linked to the Great Mother archetype, with explicit mythological evidence from many cultures. For instance, Hathor, the Egyptian Cow Goddess, was called the “Golden One.” Ancient Nordic legends refer to Gullveid, the “Golden Goddess” who was the owner of treasures of gold. Lakshmi, the Hindu Goddess of Abundance and Wealth, is referred to this day as the “Goddess of Gold”.