Charles Eisenstein

Scarcity, then, is mostly an illusion, a cultural creation. But because we live, almost wholly, in a culturally constructed world,

Money, which has turned abundance into scarcity, engenders greed

The new kind of money that emerged in ancient Greece derived its value from a social agreement, of which the marks on coins were tokens.7

money is the opposite: its power is conferred by a standard sign that wipes out variations in purity and weight. Quality is not important, only quantity

Money, says Seaford, “promotes a sense of homogeneity among things in general.”

we have become so used to the replaceability of all things that we behave as if we could, if we wrecked the planet, simply buy a new one.

feel a distancing, a letdown, in the phrase, “You can always buy another one.”

illuminating the characteristics that make money unique. Among them are that it is both concrete and abstract, that it is homogeneous, impersonal, a universal aim, and a universal means, and that it is unlimited.

this abstraction has become more important than the physical vehicle,

the primacy of the abstract