What is behind the Money Work?
The present culture and structures relating to work, time and money in Western civilisation, and the institutions holding them in place, date back to the onset of the industrial age 300 to 400 years ago. This era’s foremost goal seems in hindsight to have been primarily focused on advancing material wellbeing. This has on every count been an extraordinary success. From railroads to central heating, cellphones, the internet and fibre optics there is nobody today who is not benefitting from this evolution.
With the gradual conclusion of this phase however we are now encountering a convergence of social, financial, economic and ecological crises, which behaviours inherited from this era are not only inadequate to resolve but may even be exacerbating.
The Money Work represents almost 30 years research and development of a simple methodological tool that individuals can use to approach, address and resolve issues and increasing contradictions they find themselves confronted with in this transitional phase. Money Work allows them to realign themselves and directly contribute leadership to the communities and organizations of which they are part.
While many people now understand that we “must” change our ways if we are not to unwittingly destroy a quality of life inherited from our ancestors, it is on the other hand extraordinarily difficult to do so, since the former’ patterning has been solidly conditioned into each of us from earliest childhood.
These patterns are not only normative but so“normal”. We have the impression that the part of us that can learn and repeat mechanically, is everything. Who are we, what is life, where is our existence if we do not have a good job, a successful career, “earn” our living and secure our pension? Wittingly or unwittingly and independent of the position in society, our parents inculcated this performance-consumption patterning into us and we are in turn passing it onwards to our children.
However, this hamster wheel-driven behaviour is not natural. It is also inappropriate to the age we are now in. On the contrary perpetuation of this same mindset and the associated set of behaviours lies at the very heart of the convergence of present day crises.
A first step is to recognise that our needs have gradually moved from acquiring, converting and consuming material resources in increasing quantity, to immaterial things such as quality of life, feeling of security, health, freedom, adequacy, satisfaction, self worth, meaning and competence gives us a hint, of what might be natural and desirable in the times we live today. Yet, the same methods that were successful in achieving material objectives in the industrial era clearly fall short when attempting to satisfy these immaterial needs now.
The Money Work has been designed to offer a solid pathway to those people who find themselves challenged by such matters. It offers an illuminating intellectual framework for understanding one’s experiences and choices in real time, then application of a simple and safe intervention mechanism that serves as a “deconditioning” to break the hold of repetitive behaviour patterns. The reclamation based intervention mechanism which is the hallmark of the Money Work has been empirically researched, developed and refined by Peter Koenig.
The result that people report is one of feeling freed-up, of resolution of conflict and contradiction, finding one’s place and being liberated to concentrate more than before on doing things that correspond to what one really likes or loves doing. A person’s financial circumstances usually align naturally as a result of this intervention, though this is a secondary, not primary goal.
The Money Work nonetheless focuses as its name implies foremost on a person’s relation to money. For what is often recognised as a larger “spiritual” process this is a little unusual. The logic behind it comes from Peter Koenig’s cognition during research that inasmuch as the relation to money is the principal mechanism used to lock people into the industrial system it may also serve as a powerful tool to free them.
Results over the years have confirmed this supposition. The use of the reclamation methodology has however been broadened so that this is now equally successfully applied to other life questions, not just those related to money. The method is quick and simple, sometimes disarmingly so for those who believe that change processes must necessarily be long and hard. This has been achieved through continuous reduction and refinement over the years.