After viewing a few informative, paradigm-shifting videos about the origins and nature of U.S. money, such as Zeitgeist and the free, online economics course developed by Chris Martenson, I'm convinced that money is largely a figment of our imaginations. Maybe it was a different story when every dollar was backed by gold and silver, but now, dollars are literally made out of thin air. I'll examine what the implications of this may be for our economy and our bank accounts.

Universal Credit

As someone who believes in the power of thoughts to create our reality, I've often heard that money is energy, and we're only as poor or as prosperous as we believe ourselves to be. Now, obviously, if you have 5 dollars in the bank and your idea of being prosperous is to spend money you don't have in a frivolous way, you'll quickly find yourself in a very dire and unfavorable situation. So, the goal here is not to delude yourself into thinking you have money you don't have, but rather to adopt the mentality that you have more than enough money to pay for the things you want and need. It may not happen overnight, but the universe will restructure itself to align with your new thought processes and support you in achieving this objective. Likewise, if you cling to the belief that you're always struggling to make ends meet, life will continue to prove you right.

The Economy Takes a Nose Dive

Our economy is going through a time of great transformation. This should only be a cause for alarm if limited, fear-based thinking makes it so. On the other hand, think of how great things will be if we're forced to stop spending billions upon billions of dollars on death and destruction in the Middle East, in favor of developing sustainable and profitable energy solutions that will help create new jobs while protecting this beautiful planet. Think of how much better the education system will be if we teach skills such as innovative thinking, problem solving, and teamwork to fix the many social, economic, and environmental issues faced by individuals around the world. Just think of the possibilities!

Losing Money, Gaining Wisdom

Growing up, we had more than enough money compared to a family of five living in a remote village in Zambia, but I focused on those with more, and felt poor in comparison. After babysitting one summer at the rate of $4 an hour, I managed to amass a small fortune of $60, which somehow fell out of my pocket on a playground, never to be seen again. This happened repeatedly during my formative years, I probably lost a total of 700 or 800 dollars in the midst of my poverty thinking. When I wised up to the fact that I'm more prosperous than about 80 percent of the world's population, money began to flow easily and effortlessly into my life.

The Beauty of Simplicty

There is a huge and growing imbalance in the distribution of this world's resources. I'm reading Small Is Beautiful by E.F. Schumaker, and by 1973, he could already see that the U.S. rate of consumption would lead to wars over limited resources (oil). We represent 5 percent of the world's population and use 24 percent of the world's energy. I believe the more we learn to simplify, buy locally, recycle, turn off the lights, adjust the AC, and respect this planet and all its inhabitants, the most prosperous and successful we will be.