Money is supposed to be our servant, but it has become our master. A major step in liberating ourselves is the recognition that “we are all in this together,” that the entire web of life is based on intricate patterns of co-dependence and symbiosis.
Tom Atlee of the Co-Intelligence Institute, in his Independence Day musings, provides a useful history of the “interdependence movement,” and it various proponents. Here is an excerpt:
For countries as well as individuals, independence is a dramatic move from dependence into a more self-defined, self-created life.
The next developmental step takes us into greater INTERdependence – bringing ourselves into increasingly mutual, peer, give-and-take relationships with others.
Nature has been developing interdependence as an art form for billions of years. Animals like us depend on plants for oxygen; plants depend on us for carbon dioxide. Flowers feed bees with nectar; bees pollinate flowers. Rabbits feed foxes; foxes keep rabbits from destroying their own habitat and starving.
We humans have our own ways of being interdependent. With each passing year, global economics, technology, media and mobility have woven us all together. On the other side of the coin, climate change, ocean exploitation, terrorism and wind-borne toxins and radiation have taught us — or should be teaching us — how relative our boundaries are and how solidly real our shared destiny.
As the fundamental fact of interdependence becomes increasingly obvious, we are slowly learning how to use it consciously to further our collective well-being. We are developing new forms of mutuality, community, synergy, sustainability and co-intelligence which empower us to make our shared fate a good one.
Declarations of Interdependence and Interdependence Days can help us remember just how important and valuable interdependence is.
You can read the rest of Tom’s message here.
Beyond Money 
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