The Money Series Part 2. Male and female currencies

Buckminster Fuller said as one of his generalised principles that Unity is Plural, at minimum two. To go up, we must also come down. To move in, we move out. To have colour, we must have black and white.

To have light, we must have dark.

Our money system is currently in a dark place. There is no light. It actually was never designed to have light, as we shall see.

We have ever-widening gaps between the wealthy and the middle/lower class, we have governments and cities buried in debt, and people buried in debt. Ask anyone the truth about their relationship with money, and they will speak of either degrees of scarcity or degrees of greed, both grounded in fear. Rarely, if ever, has someone so reconciled their relationship with money that they have neither scarcity nor greed.

Our current money system is a Yang (male) energy. It is based on scarcity, relies on competition, thrives on concentration and accumulation because the more you have, the more interest you earn, and is created into existence through a power hierarchy.

If we follow our money system through the ages, it also exists in a culture that places at centre the male spiritual figurehead, devoid of any female power figures. A very patriarchal society.

Yin (female) currency is the opposite. Yin currency is created by community, is in sufficiency, has zero interest or negative interest, and therefore is not accumulated but lives in flow, and is used as a pure medium of exchange.

In all matrifocal societies through history (societies that had a female deity or leader at least sharing the stage with the male, if not being centre stage), there have existed both Yin and Yang currencies. The Yang, or National currency, has been used to trade with strangers. The Yin currency has been used to trade within the community.

Both existed together. Societies thrived for plus 25,000 years in this way. (Prior to around 3000 BC) There are some examples in recent times in isolated circumstances.

To assume that we are going to solve our money issues without addressing the very imbalance that exists within our system is naive.

The Yang must have a Yin. Dark must have light. Light must have dark.

Here is where it gets delightful. Nothing is stopping anyone from developing Yin currencies. We do not need a government decree or special permission. Any community can create a Yin currency, and indeed many are.

In Part 3, we will look at the archetypes behind the shadows our money system has created: greed and scarcity, and what this means, and in Part 4, we will discuss communities that have created Yin/complementary currencies and what has happened as a result. Part 5. will address what this means to you, as an individual.

To Read Part 1. Money Money Money

Photo credit: Hartwig HKD via Compfight

This article has been inspired by the work of Bernard Lietaer. Please check out his great work.