Category: Book

  • The role model for the world?

    The role model for the world?

    Yesterday Spain made a remarkable decision.

    As tensions rise in the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, Spain refused to be drawn into the war. The Spanish government denied the use of its military bases for offensive operations and signaled clearly that it would not participate in military escalation.

    Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez summarized the position in four simple words:

    “No a la guerra.” — No to war.

    The position was not without pressure. The United States reportedly pushed hard for cooperation and the use of Spanish bases, but Madrid stood firm. Rather than joining the escalation, Spain held its line and called for restraint. In the wider European Union, several leaders signaled understanding and support for Spain’s stance, reinforcing the idea that diplomacy — not another expanding war — should guide the response.

    In a world where nations often line up quickly behind military alliances, that refusal stands out.

    Spain did not deny the seriousness of the situation in the Middle East. But it chose a different response. Instead of contributing to escalation, it called for restraint, diplomacy, and de‑escalation.

    This stance is not accidental. It reflects something deeper in Spanish society.

    Spain knows what war does to a country.

    Civil War

    The Spanish Civil War tore the nation apart. Families were divided. Cities were destroyed. The trauma of that conflict echoed through generations. Even after the war, decades of dictatorship reshaped the country politically, socially, and even environmentally through massive infrastructure projects that altered landscapes and water systems.

    The lesson was harsh, but it was learned.

    War leaves scars that last far longer than the battles themselves.

    Perhaps that is why modern Spain developed such a strong cultural instinct for peace.

    In 2003, when the Iraq War began, millions of Spaniards filled the streets with a simple message:

    “No a la guerra.”

    The same words that echo again today.

    No To War

    Spain still maintains an army and remains part of international alliances. But within Spanish society there is often a strong skepticism toward war and military escalation.

    The culture leans toward something else: coexistence.

    And this may not be surprising.

    For centuries Spain has been a crossroads of civilizations. Romans, Arabs, Jews, Christians, and many others have shaped its culture. When so many cultures have lived on the same land, the simplistic idea of “us versus them”becomes harder to sustain.

    You begin to realize something deeper:

    We are all part of the same human story.

    In a world that often seems to drift toward confrontation, Spain’s stance in the current crisis offers a quiet reminder of another possibility.

    Human history has been marked by wars for centuries. Empires rose and fell through conflict. Nations armed themselves in endless cycles of fear, retaliation, and dominance.

    But what if that long chapter of history is not the final one?

    What if humanity eventually learns from those scars?

    Are we Waking Up?

    In Waking Up, the world of the 22nd century looks back at our time much the same way we now look back at the brutal wars of the past. Humanity finally realized that endless conflict was a dead end. Instead of competing for control, people began organizing the world around cooperation, shared stewardship of the planet, and the understanding that we are ultimately one human family.

    Seen from that perspective, moments like Spain’s decision today feel like small glimpses of that future — reminders that nations can choose restraint instead of escalation, and dialogue instead of destruction.

    Perhaps these moments are early signs of a lesson humanity is slowly beginning to understand.

    Could you imagine a world that truly moved beyond “us vs. them”?

    Benjamin Michaels wakes up in such a world in Waking Up – A Journey Towards a New Dawn for Humanity — a future where humanity has learned to organize itself around cooperation rather than conflict.

    Please share this article if it resonates.

  • Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities

    Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities

    We hear it everywhere:

    “There is too much inequality.”
    “We need a fairer world.”
    “Reduce inequality within and among countries.”

    The United Nations has even made it a global objective — Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities — not merely as a moral gesture, but because persistent inequality is linked to political instability, social unrest, fragile economic growth, migration pressure, and declining trust in institutions. In other words, reducing inequality is viewed as a way to preserve systemic stability at both national and global levels.

    That sounds noble. Necessary. Urgent.

    But here is the deeper question:

    What is inequality actually a symptom of?

    The Surface Debate

    Most public conversations about inequality focus on distribution of money.

    • Tax the rich more.
    • Strengthen welfare systems.
    • Introduce Universal Basic Income.
    • Improve access to education.

    All of these operate within the existing structure.

    They assume the architecture itself is sound — it just needs adjustment.

    But what if inequality is not merely a distribution issue?
    What if it is a hardwired structural outcome?

    The Systemic Mechanism

    Our modern economy is built on three core principles:

    1. Hoardable tokens (money).
    2. Legally protected ownership claims that almost can be infinite.
    3. The ability for assets to compound over time.

    When tokens can be stored indefinitely,
    When ownership rights can be accumulated without upper bound,
    And when returns on assets generate further returns,

    concentration and inequality is not an accident. It is a predictable mathematical outcome.

    This is not a moral accusation.
    It is system dynamics.

    If returns on capital outpace overall economic growth, wealth will consolidate. If wealth consolidates, influence consolidates. If influence consolidates, opportunity narrows.

    Inequality then becomes structural.

    Inequality vs. Diversity

    There is another confusion in the debate that deserves clarity.

    Equality of rights does not mean sameness of people.

    A world in which every human being has secure access to food, shelter, healthcare, education, and safety would not become uniform or grey. Quite the opposite.

    When people are fed and safe, survival anxiety decreases. When survival anxiety decreases, creativity expands. And when creativity expands, diversity flourishes.

    Art, science, entrepreneurship, philosophy, culture — all blossom more freely when basic insecurity no longer dominates attention.

    Reducing structural exclusion is not about making everyone identical.
    It is about removing artificial barriers so human variation can express itself without fear.

    True diversity requires security.
    True equality of rights enables difference.

    Inequality vs. Exclusion

    Two people being unequal is not automatically a crisis.

    The destabilizing threshold appears when inequality turns into exclusion.

    When large portions of a population:

    • Lack secure access to essentials.
    • Experience frozen mobility.
    • Feel the system is rigged.
    • Lose trust in institutions.

    Then inequality shifts from statistical difference to systemic fracture.

    Global institutions acknowledge this. High inequality correlates with political instability, social unrest, polarization, and fragile growth.

    In other words:
    Inequality destabilizes systems.

    But notice the subtlety.

    The official response is not to question the architecture of ownership.
    The response is to manage inequality so the system remains stable.

    The Structural Question

    Here is the uncomfortable possibility:

    What if the very permission structure of exclusion — the ability to accumulate almost unlimited claims over finite resources — is the generator of recurring inequality?

    If that is true, then redistribution of tokens can soften symptoms, but cannot remove the underlying dynamic.

    The debate then shifts from:
    “How do we reduce inequality?”

    to:
    “What kind of system generates secure access without requiring exclusionary accumulation?”

    That is not a small reform.
    It is a total design change.

    Beyond Redistribution

    History shows that pressure has shaped humanity.
    Ownership and trade accelerated development, coordination, and innovation.

    But systems evolve.

    At some point, a structure that once created growth may begin to generate instability.

    If we are now facing ever widening gaps, environmental overshoot, political polarization, and systemic fragility, perhaps the question is no longer how to manage inequality — but whether the architecture itself needs to change.

    A mature civilization will not eliminate all differences.
    But it would ensure universal sufficiency.

    It would guarantee secure access allowing everyone to thrive.

    It would treat planetary resources as shared inheritance rather than infinite private claims.

    The Real Conversation

    This is not about resentment.
    It is not about class war.
    It is not about punishing success.

    It is about structural coherence.

    If inequality repeatedly destabilizes the system,
    then perhaps inequality is not the disease.
    Perhaps it is the signal.

    The real question is not:
    “Who has too much?”

    The real question is:
    “What kind of architecture produces recurring exclusion — and what would a post‑exclusion system look like?”

    That is the conversation we have barely begun.

    If you like this article, please share it.

    And if you want to explore what a structurally different civilization might look like, you can begin with the novel Waking Up – A Journey Towards a New Dawn for Humanity.

    The story is only just beginning.

    And don’t forget, the free companion book is out now.

  • What Is Actually Possible?

    What Is Actually Possible?

    For most of human history, labor was inseparable from survival.

    Food was foraged by foot and fields were cultivated by hand.
    Buildings were raised by muscle.


    Empires were constructed on the backs of slaves, serfs, and the working poor.

    Brutal Work

    For centuries, it seemed obvious that a ruling class required a laboring class. That some would command and others would toil. That hard, repetitive, and often brutal work was simply the price of civilization.

    In ancient societies, this labor was enforced through slavery.
    In feudal systems, through serfdom.
    In early industrial capitalism, through exhausting factory work. The structure changed, but the necessity of large-scale human labor did not.

    Even well into the 20th century, most people assumed that civilization would always require millions of people to perform monotonous, dangerous, or degrading tasks. The debate was about wages and rights — not about whether such labor could disappear altogether.

    Automation was expected to assist human workers, not replace drudgery itself.

    The idea that machines could eliminate the need for unwanted labor sounded utopian — or naive.

    Yet here we are.

    Artificial Intelligence

    In just the past few decades — and especially in the last ten to fifteen years — automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence have advanced at a speed few predicted. Machines no longer merely assist human labor; in many domains, they perform it independently.

    What once required forced labor, then industrial labor, can now increasingly be handled by systems that do not tire, suffer, or demand wages.

    This historical shift forces a serious question.

    The Fundamental Questions

    If we no longer need human beings to perform the most dangerous, exhausting, or monotonous tasks — what kind of civilization becomes possible?

    We have already asked two fundamental questions in previous articles:

    What do we actually want?
    What do we actually have?

    Now we arrive at the question that determines everything:

    What is actually possible?

    Because between desire and reality lies possibility.
    And possibility is not fixed. It expands with knowledge, courage, and imagination.

    ⸻

    Technological Possibility

    If we look honestly at humanity’s technological capacity today, something remarkable becomes clear.

    For the first time in history, we possess the tools to produce abundance without requiring mass human drudgery.

    We can:
    • Automate most portions of repetitive and dangerous labor.
    • Coordinate global supply chains in real time.
    • Monitor ecosystems, climate patterns, soil health, and material flows with extraordinary precision.
    • Manufacture goods with extreme efficiency using robotics and advanced fabrication systems.
    • Process and distribute information globally in milliseconds.

    And we must add something that would have sounded like science fiction only a decade ago:

    Artificial intelligence and advanced robotics have progressed at extraordinary speed.

    Tasks once believed to require uniquely human perception, judgment, and adaptability are now performed by machines.
    Factories operate with minimal human presence.
    Warehouses move autonomously.
    Robots assist in surgery, maintain infrastructure, explore hazardous environments, and handle toxic materials.

    Only a short time ago, many believed it would take generations before machines could perform most necessary but undesirable labor.
    Today, in many sectors, they already can.

    The limiting factor is no longer technological capability.
    It is how we design the economic and governance structures around that capability.

    From a purely technical standpoint, we now have the ability to eliminate most compulsory drudgery. Human labor could increasingly shift from survival-driven necessity to voluntary contribution, creativity, research, care, and exploration.

    And this changes everything.

    ⸻

    Solar Power: An Overlooked Revolution

    Energy has always been the backbone of civilization.

    For centuries, societies relied on muscle, wood, coal, oil, and gas. Energy scarcity shaped hierarchy and conflict. Control over fuel meant control over civilization.

    But the Earth receives an astonishing amount of energy every single day.

    Every hour, more solar energy hits the planet than humanity currently consumes in an entire year. And that is a fact.

    In other words: The total amount of energy humanity use in one whole year hits earth in ONE HOUR. This extreme energy abundance is often overlooked.

    We do not need to capture all of it.
    We do not need deserts covered in panels from horizon to horizon.

    We only need to harness a fraction of what already arrives freely to power humanity completely.

    Modern photovoltaic technology is no longer experimental or marginal — it is mature, scalable, and already widely deployed. Even at today’s efficiency levels, existing solar panel technology could generate more than enough electricity to power global civilization if installed at sufficient scale. Large-scale solar farms, rooftop installations, and integrated infrastructure systems are not future concepts; they are operating right now across continents. Storage technology, smart grids, and decentralized energy systems are already capable of balancing variable supply, and while they continue to improve, the current level of technology alone is sufficient to create large-scale renewable energy abundance if prioritized and deployed intelligently.

    The technical challenge of powering humanity sustainably is no longer insurmountable. It is an engineering and deployment question — not a physics limitation.

    When energy is abundant and renewable, the foundation of scarcity thinking begins to weaken. Energy underlies water purification, manufacturing, transportation, communication — nearly every essential system. In many cases, it does not even need to pass through electricity: solar thermal systems can directly power water heating, desalination, industrial heat processes, and sanitation infrastructure, reducing complexity while increasing efficiency and resilience.

    Abundant clean energy changes the economic equation at its root.

    And that shift alone makes entirely new civilizational models possible.

    ⸻

    ⸻

    Land and Physical Resources

    Another common objection is: “There isn’t enough.”

    But enough of what? Because there is.

    There is enough agricultural land to feed humanity. Roughly half of the planet’s habitable land is already used for agriculture, and the majority of that is devoted to livestock and feed production rather than direct human nutrition. Even without expanding farmland, more efficient crop use, regenerative practices, and dietary shifts could feed billions more people on existing land.
    There is enough renewable energy potential to power civilization many times over.
    There are sufficient raw materials — if used intelligently, recycled efficiently, designed for durability, and embedded in circular production systems instead of disposable ones.

    And we should acknowledge something important:

    Even with our present system that is clearly unsustainable, humanity is already feeding many billions of people and housing many billions of people. We have already proven there is enough, albeit unsustainably.

    The problem is not that we lack resources.
    The problem is that we use them inefficiently, wastefully, and unevenly.

    We produce enough food for everyone — yet food is wasted while others go hungry.
    We build enough housing — yet some own multiple properties while others sleep outside.
    We generate enormous wealth — yet access depends on purchasing power rather than human need.

    The Earth is finite, yes.
    But finite does not mean insufficient.

    A well-managed finite system can support long-term stability. A poorly managed system collapses even if resources are abundant.

    So the real task is not to invent abundance from nothing.
    It is to make what we already produce sustainable.
    To align production with ecological limits.
    And to ensure that everyone receives what they need — not only those who have enough money to claim it.

    Already today, humanity has the technical and material capacity for every person on Earth to live in what previous generations would have called luxury — safe housing, clean water, abundant food, clean energy, healthcare, education, and global connectivity.

    Beyond material comfort, we also possess the productive power to free enormous amounts of human time — time to create, to learn, to explore, to rest, and to do what genuinely pleases us.

    And in principle, we even have the logistical capacity to offer mobility and choice of location — the option to live in the climate and environment one prefers, rather than being confined by economic necessity.

    The barrier is not capacity.
    It is how we organize access, distribution, and the value we assign to human life beyond labor.

    ⸻

    The Human Mind

    Here is where the conversation becomes deeper.

    Even if technology allows it.
    Even if resources allow it.

    Do we allow it?

    For thousands of years, humanity has operated inside a monetary habit. We measure value in currency. We organize life around earning, competing, accumulating, and securing.

    Money has shaped our psychology.

    It has trained us to think in scarcity terms:
    • Not enough jobs.
    • Not enough profit.
    • Not enough growth.
    • Not enough security.

    But habits are not destiny.

    Human beings have shifted paradigms before.
    We moved from tribal structures to agricultural civilizations.
    From monarchies to democracies.
    From slavery to abolition.
    From isolated tribes to global networks.

    Each shift once seemed impossible.
    Until it wasn’t.

    The deeper question is this:

    can we expand our sense of identity — from isolated individuals competing for survival to participants in a planetary system that must be cared for collectively?

    That shift is psychological before it is economic.

    ⸻

    The Monetary Habit

    The monetary system is not merely a tool. It is a pattern of thought.

    It rewards short‑term gain over long‑term stability.
    It converts living ecosystems into financial assets.
    It turns access to life’s necessities into permission tokens.

    Is it possible to move beyond that?

    Technically — yes.

    Practically — it would require transition, experimentation, and courage.

    We would need:
    • Local and regional prototypes that demonstrate new coordination models.
    • Governance systems rooted in transparency and contribution rather than ownership and accumulation.
    • Education that prepares people for participation, creativity, and stewardship instead of narrow competition.
    • Technological systems aligned with ecological limits.

    None of this violates physics.
    None of this violates biology.
    None of this violates human potential.

    It only challenges habit.

    And habits can change.

    ⸻

    A Global Classless Society

    For thousands of years, societies were structured around necessity.
    Those who controlled land, tools or force commanded everything.
    Those without access labored.

    Class was not merely ideology.
    It was a structural consequence of scarcity and labor intensity.

    If survival required large populations performing exhausting physical work, then hierarchy followed almost automatically. Control the land, control the energy source, control the tools — and you controlled people.

    But if production can be largely automated…
    If energy can be abundant…
    If coordination can be managed intelligently at scale…

    Then the material foundation of class hierarchy weakens.

    For the first time since organized civilization began, humanity has the technological capacity to build a global society where survival does not depend on belonging to a laboring class — and where access to life’s necessities is not restricted to those who accumulate financial tokens.

    This does not mean uniformity.
    It does not mean sameness.
    It does not mean the end of diversity, ambition, creativity, or excellence.

    It means the end of structural dependency.
    The end of a permanent underclass required for others to live comfortably.

    In principle, we now possess the tools for the first truly classless civilization in history — not enforced by ideology, but enabled by automation, energy abundance, and intelligent coordination.

    For most of modern history, attempts at equality have been framed through competing ideologies — communism, socialism, capitalism — each proposing different mechanisms to manage scarcity, ownership, and power. But all of them were designed in eras where large-scale human labor and energy limitation were structural realities.

    For the first time, we may not need an -ism to force equality or justify hierarchy. If survival and production are no longer constrained in the same way, sharing the planet becomes a design question rather than an ideological battle.

    No previous era could even seriously contemplate this.
    Ours can.

    The question is not whether it is technically possible.
    The question is whether we have the maturity to build it.

    ⸻

    The Real Boundary

    The boundary of possibility is rarely material.
    It is cognitive.

    When people believe something is impossible, they stop exploring.
    When they believe it may be possible, creativity awakens.

    A moneyless or post‑monetary civilization sounds radical because we are inside the monetary habit.
    But from the outside, future generations may look back at debt‑driven growth on a finite planet and find that era far more radical than anything we are proposing.

    So what is actually possible?

    More than we think.
    Less than we fantasize.
    Exactly as much as we are willing to mature into.

    The future is not predetermined.
    It is designed — consciously or unconsciously — by the systems we maintain and the ones we dare to build.

    Interestingly, we already know how to set money aside when conditions demand it. In war rooms, disaster zones, space missions, submarines, or tightly coordinated survival environments, systems are not organized around shopping, price tags, or profit. They are organized around coordination. Resources are allocated. Roles are assigned. Systems are stabilized. Competition quietly steps aside because it is no longer the most efficient organizing principle. This reveals something crucial: the monetary habit is not hard‑wired into human nature — it is context‑dependent. When circumstances change, we adapt immediately. The real question, then, is not whether humanity can coordinate beyond money, but whether we are willing to recognize that planetary stability and technological abundance may justify doing so — not from fear in a bunker, but from conscious design on a global scale.

    Imagine This

    You fall asleep in a world driven by debt, deadlines, and division.

    You wake up in a world where survival is guaranteed, energy is harnessed freely from the sun, machines handle the dangerous work, and no child is born into a permanent underclass.

    You wake up and everything you thought was “just the way it is”… isn’t.

    That is the shock Benjamin Michaels experiences in Waking Up – A Journey Towards a New Dawn for Humanity.

    He doesn’t read about the future.
    He opens his eyes inside it.

    Through his awakening, you walk through cities without price tags, systems without poverty, and a civilization that has matured beyond ideological battles over scarcity.

    Not as a manifesto.
    Not as theory.
    But as lived reality.

    Could this world exist?

    Step into it.


    Wake up with Benjamin Michaels.

    And if this vision matters to you, please share this article. The conversation itself is part of the transition.

    And don’t forget, the free companion book is out now.

  • Prices vs. Priceless — A Different Way to Hear the Speech

    Prices vs. Priceless — A Different Way to Hear the Speech

    Prices Coming Down

    In his State of the Union address on February 24, 2026, President Trump spoke confidently about prices coming down and economic strength returning. Whether one agrees politically or not, it raises an interesting and deeper question:

    What do we actually mean when we talk about prices?

    The language of coordination

    In a monetary economy, prices are the language of coordination. They signal scarcity, demand, cost, and profit. When inflation slows, politicians celebrate. When prices rise too fast, they warn of crisis. When prices fall too fast, economists fear recession.

    The system depends on prices staying within a narrow band. Too high? Instability. Too low? Instability again.

    That alone tells us something important.

    Prices are not just numbers. They are the mechanism that keeps the entire structure operating. Wages, debt, taxation, investment — everything flows through the price mechanism.

    Collapsing System

    So when we hear that prices are “plummeting,” it sounds positive. But if prices truly collapsed across the board, the system itself would stall. Revenue disappears. Production slows. Jobs vanish. The very thing meant to create stability would generate the opposite.

    And that leads to a more radical thought — not about left or right politics — but about structure.

    What if the real evolution of civilization is not about better price management… but about eventually moving beyond price as the core organizing principle?

    This idea is not new. During the Great Depression, observers like Jacque Fresco noticed a striking contradiction: factories could produce, stores had goods, resources existed, and people were willing to work — yet millions suffered. The problem was not empty shelves. It was empty pockets. Money had stalled, and access stalled with it.

    That simple observation planted a radical question: if the goods exist, why should access depend entirely on a financial token?

    From that contradiction grew the concept of a Resource‑Based Economy — a system where coordination is grounded in physical resources, energy, and scientific management rather than fluctuating purchasing power.

    In today’s system, prices can never go to zero for a very long time. Zero price means zero revenue. Zero revenue means systemic breakdown.

    But in a different kind of world — one based on coordinated access to shared resources rather than ownership and monetary exchange — the question of price becomes irrelevant.

    In a resource‑based economy (RBE), coordination would not happen through price signals but through direct measurement of resources, production capacity, and real human needs. Availability would be tracked physically. Sustainability would be calculated scientifically. Distribution would be optimized intelligently. Instead of asking, “Who can pay?”, the system would ask, “What exists, what is needed, and how do we align the two responsibly?”

    In such a framework, scarcity is addressed through planning and innovation, not through rising prices. Abundance is shared through access, not through purchasing power. The mechanism shifts from competition over money to coordination around resources.

    Not lower prices.
    Not higher prices.


    But priceless.

    A Different Operating System

    That doesn’t mean collapse. It means a different operating system — one where availability, sustainability, and intelligent coordination replace buying power as the gatekeeper of access.

    Whether such a transition happens in decades or centuries is another discussion. But it’s worth noticing this:

    As long as our civilization depends on prices staying in a perfectly balanced range to avoid crisis, we are operating inside a fragile design.

    The future question may not be:
    “How do we manage prices better?”

    But:
    “Can humanity eventually coordinate itself without needing them at all?”

    That is the deeper conversation.

    If this perspective resonates with you, please share this article.

    And if you’re curious about how such a world might function, follow the former billionaire Benjamin Michaels into the world of Waking Up – A Journey Towards a New Dawn for Humanity and get a glimpse into the priceless world of the future…

  • Waking Up – What Does It Actually Mean?

    Waking Up – What Does It Actually Mean?

    The background for the title.

    Waking up is not about opening your eyes in the morning.

    It is about becoming aware of what was previously unconscious.

    At its simplest:

    Waking up is the shift from being run by patterns to seeing the patterns.

    Most of us move through life inside inherited structures — psychological, cultural, economic — without realizing it.

    We mistake patterns for reality.

    Until something shifts.

    ⸻

    The Adversary Within

    In ancient Hebrew, satan(שָׂטָן) meant adversary — the accuser, the opposing force.

    Psychologically, that adversary lives within us.

    It is the ego.

    The ego divides experience into:

    • Me vs. you

    • Mine vs. yours

    • Gain vs. loss

    • Enough vs. never enough

    It defends identity.

    It anticipates threat.

    It secures advantage.

    The ego is not evil. It is a survival structure.

    But when it is unconscious, it becomes absolute.

    It convinces us that separation is ultimate.

    That “me versus you” is the basic truth of existence.

    That is the sleep.

    ⸻

    When the Pattern Scales

    When millions of individuals are unconsciously identified with ego, they design systems that reflect it.

    Division becomes economic structure.

    Scarcity becomes the organizing principle.

    Money —  which always implies ownership and exclusion — amplifies the ego’s logic:

    Secure your share.

    Compete.

    Accumulate.

    Defend.

    Repeat.

    Unconscious ego creates division.

    Division shapes systems.

    Systems amplify division.

    And when fear hardens, division escalates into conflict and war.

    The battlefield outside is preceded by division inside.

    But there is something deeper than ego.

    ⸻

    The Field of Awareness

    Ego is a pattern in consciousness.

    Awareness is the field in which experience happens.

    Thoughts arise in it.

    Emotions move through it.

    Fear appears within it. And disappears.

    Awareness can observe the ego.

    But the ego cannot observe awareness.

    Because the ego is a pattern within that field.

    If you can notice defensiveness arising, you are not identical to it. You are the One noticing.

    If you can observe fear forming, you are not the fear. You are the One observing.

    The observer is wider than the pattern.

    Waking up is the shift of identity:

    From the adversarial pattern

    to the awareness in which the pattern operates.

    ⸻

    The Illusion of Absolute Separation

    The illusion is not that individuals exist.

    The illusion is that separation is ultimate and absolute.

    At our core, what we are is this field of awareness.

    Different bodies.

    Different histories.

    Different perspectives.

    But the same fundamental capacity for experiencing.

    This can be felt through empathy.

    If someone hands you a knife and tells you to cut another human being, something in you recoils.

    Not merely because it is socially impolite.

    But because harm registers deeply.

    Empathy reveals something profound:

    The same field of awareness looking through “me” is looking through “you.”

    Different expressions.

    Shared ground.

    Ego says we are separate.

    Awareness knows we are connected.

    Waking up is awakening from the illusion that the adversary is who we truly are.

    ⸻

    Why the Book Is Called Waking Up

    The title operates on several levels.

    Benjamin Michaels wakes up biologically after 100 years of cryonic sleep.

    His body reactivates.

    His eyes open.

    He enters the year 2115.

    But that is only the first layer.

    When Ben awakens, he carries with him the mindset of 2015:

    • Scarcity assumptions.

    • Competitive conditioning.

    • Defensive identity.

    • A world structured around money and ownership.

    He does not immediately understand the new civilization.

    He interprets it through old patterns.

    He reacts from ego.

    And gradually — through experience — he wakes up.

    He begins to see that the adversarial structure he once took for reality was not the only way humanity could organize itself.

    He wakes up from his ego.

    The biological awakening is the doorway.

    The ego awakening is the transformation.

    And while Ben was frozen in time, something parallel happened.

    Humanity itself was waking up.

    Over the century he slept, civilization slowly became aware of its own unconscious patterns — ego-driven scarcity, division, adversarial economics.

    That awareness changed things.

    The world Ben wakes up in was not built by force.

    It was built by awareness.

    Benjamin wakes up physically.

    Then psychologically.

    Humanity woke up collectively.

    That layered awakening is why the book carries its name.

    ⸻

    What Waking Up Really Means

    It is not mystical spectacle.

    It is not denial of individuality.

    It is not the destruction of systems.

    It is the recognition that:

    The adversary is a pattern.

    Separation is not ultimate.

    Fear is not identity.

    Awareness is the field in which it all appears.

    And once awareness sees clearly, the pattern no longer rules unconsciously.

    Waking up begins within.

    But when it spreads, the world changes.

    An Invitation

    You do not have to accept any philosophy.

    You do not have to adopt any belief.

    You can test this directly.

    Watch what happens the next time:

    • You feel offended.

    • You feel the urge to defend.

    • You feel threatened.

    • You feel the need to win an argument.

    • You feel the fear of loss tightening in your chest.

    Pause.

    Ask yourself:

    Who is reacting right now?

    Is it awareness — or is it the adversary pattern/ego?

    Notice the division forming.

    Notice the “me versus you” structure activating.

    Don’t suppress it.

    Don’t judge it.

    Just see it.

    That moment of seeing is waking up.

    And if enough individuals begin to notice the adversary within, the adversarial systems outside begin to loosen.

    Not by force.

    By clarity.

    Benjamin Michaels wakes up into a new world.

    The deeper question is:

    Are we willing to wake up inside this one?

    If this resonates I ask you to share this article.

    And don’t forget, you can get the free companion book here.

  • The Free Companion Book Is Now Available

    The Free Companion Book Is Now Available

    We are in ecological overshoot.

    The planet is strained.
    Politics are polarized.
    The monetary system rewards scarcity while promising prosperity.

    Not because humanity is incapable — but because the tool we use to coordinate ourselves no longer fits the world we live in.

    For months, I have been working on four questions:

    WHERE are we as humanity?
    WHAT do we actually want?
    HOW could we transition?
    WHY did we choose to change?

    Those questions became The Companion Book to Waking Up.

    I wrote it because I kept receiving the same questions: How would such a world actually work? How could we transition from here to there? Is it realistic? The companion exists to address those questions directly — structurally, not rhetorically.

    It examines the structure of the monetary system, ecological limits, human psychology, and the possibility of redesigning our global coordination around stewardship instead of ownership.

    No ideology.
    No utopia.
    Just structural clarity.

    And today happens to be a rare Saturn–Neptune conjunction at 0° Aries.

    Saturn represents structure, limits, and reality.
    Neptune represents dreams, spirituality, and imagination.

    Structure meeting vision.

    Astrologers describe this alignment as a potential turning point for humanity — a moment when long-term dreams demand practical form and collective direction.

    What better day to release a book about aligning vision with redesign?

    The Companion Book is now available.

    It is free.

    This book also contains the first 4 chapters from the novel in chapter 21.

    Subscribe here to receive the PDF or EPUB. Your choice:

    GET THE FREE COMPANION BOOK HERE

    If it resonates, share it.

    — Harald

  • An Inconvenient Truth… Still.

    An Inconvenient Truth… Still.

    In 1968, humanity saw itself from the outside for the first time.

    A small blue sphere rising over the gray horizon of the Moon.

    No borders.
    No nations.
    No ownership lines.

    Just one closed system suspended in black space.

    In 1972, the full Earth appeared again — completely illuminated. The image became an icon. A symbol of unity. A symbol of fragility.

    And wrapped around that planet was a razor‑thin layer of atmosphere.

    That thin layer is everything.

    If Earth were the size of an apple, the breathable atmosphere would be thinner than its skin.

    Within that narrow margin exist:

    • Stable temperatures
    • Predictable rainfall
    • Agriculture
    • Freshwater cycles
    • Livable coastlines
    • The conditions that make complex civilization possible

    We have known this for more than fifty years.

    Then came the measurements.

    CO₂ concentrations rising sharply.
    Global temperatures rising sharply.
    Ice mass declining.
    Ocean heat increasing.

    This was not ideology.
    It was physics.

    When climate warnings entered mainstream politics in the early 2000s, the science was already mature. When Al Gore brought his slide presentation to a global audience in the 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth, it made the evidence visible to millions — but the data itself had already been accumulating for decades.

    The conclusion was simple:

    Increase greenhouse gases.
    Trap more heat.
    Change the climate system.

    Cause and effect.

    And yet, the debate continued.

    “But climate has always changed.”

    Yes. It has.

    But natural climate shifts do not explain the rapid spike in atmospheric CO₂ since industrialization. They do not explain the acceleration of warming that matches industrial emissions almost perfectly.

    The warming pattern could not be reproduced in models unless human emissions were included.

    This was not controversial fringe science.

    The controversy existed elsewhere.

    Because acknowledging the full implications meant something far larger than switching light bulbs and drive hybrid.

    It meant restructuring industrial civilization.

    Modern economies were built on fossil fuels.

    Coal powered industry.
    Oil powered transport.
    Gas heated homes and produced fertilizer.

    Entire pension systems, stock markets, geopolitical alliances, and national budgets were tied to fossil energy.

    So when science concluded that fossil fuel use had to decline rapidly, it did not merely challenge opinion.

    It threatened the whole economic foundation.

    The resistance was not confusion.

    It was structural self‑defense.

    Extreme flooding in Europe — and Hurricane Katrina in the United States — did not ask who believed in it.

    Hurricanes did not consult political parties.

    Wildfires did not negotiate with quarterly earnings.

    Heatwaves did not care about campaign donations.

    Infrastructure either held — or it failed.

    Insurance markets either absorbed the cost — or they retreated.

    Food systems either adapted — or yields declined.

    This was never primarily a debate about belief.

    It was a collision between physics and incentives.

    Modern monetary economies require growth. That is just how it is.

    Debt must expand.
    GDP must rise.
    Production must increase.
    Consumption must accelerate.

    If growth stalls, markets panic.
    If markets panic, governments fall.

    Serious climate mitigation requires reducing fossil extraction drastically, slowing material throughput, and redesigning energy systems at planetary scale.

    That implies contraction in many sectors, and our global coordination system, also called the monetary system – is not made for this.

    Contraction is punished hard inside a growth‑dependent system.

    So what happened?

    Targets were postponed.
    Deadlines were extended.
    Half‑measures replaced structural redesign.

    Not because politicians are evil or immoral.

    Because they are operating inside a system that cannot voluntarily shrink fast enough to remain stable.

    The atmosphere is finite.
    The planet is finite.

    The growth requirement is not.

    That is the contradiction.

    For over half a century we have had the image.
    For decades we have had the data.

    What we did not have was an economic structure capable of aligning with planetary limits.

    The debate persisted because the true implication was too large to admit — something even Al Gore acknowledged when he noted that fully accepting the science would trigger an unavoidable and far‑reaching imperative to change.

    To stabilize the climate requires more than policy tweaks.

    It requires completely redesigning the incentive architecture of civilization.

    And that is where the real resistance lives.

    The Monetary system itself is the culprit. Nothing else. And that was why no politician could change it. Because the solution is not political.

    It is systemic.

    If you want to explore what a systemic redesign could look like — not as ideology, but as a practical civilizational shift — follow Benjamin Michaels into the world of Waking Up – A Journey Towards a New Dawn for Humanity. The novel explores a world where incentives align with planetary limits and cooperation replaces growth dependency.

    If this resonates, please share this article. The real debate begins when we stop pretending it is one.

  • What Do We Actually Want?

    What Do We Actually Want?

    Yesterday, I posted the article What do we actually have? that explored whether we actually have enough resources on this planet to fulfill the true needs of humanity. Today I follow up that right away with today’s article; What do we actually want? Because, if we compare what we actually have to what we actually want, maybe we have more than enough for everyone…?

    If money is removed as our primary reference point, one question immediately rises to the surface:

    What do we actually want?

    Not what advertising tells us to want.

    Not what status competition pushes us to chase.

    Not what financial systems reward.

    But what human beings genuinely want — when survival anxiety and vanity comparison are stripped away.

    ⸻

    Desire in a Monetary World

    Today, much of desire is shaped by comparison.

    Larger houses.

    Faster cars.

    Exclusive access.

    Visible luxury.

    But these wants are often symbolic.

    They signal status and security.

    They signal importance.

    They signal success.

    Money compresses many human needs into one measurable unit. The higher the number, the more secure and significant one appears.

    Yet beneath the surface, most people are not chasing objects.

    They are chasing feelings.

    Security.

    Stability.

    Freedom.

    Recognition.

    Belonging.

    Meaning.

    Money functions as a shortcut to signal these.

    Remove money — and desire must confront reality directly.

    ⸻

    Want vs Need — A Maslow Perspective

    Psychologist Abraham Maslow described human motivation as layered.

    At the foundation are physiological needs: food, water, shelter, safety.

    Above that come belonging and love.

    Then esteem.

    And at the top, self-actualization — the desire to grow, create, and fulfill one’s potential.

    Most modern consumption confuses these layers.

    We attempt to satisfy esteem needs with material display.

    We attempt to satisfy belonging with status.

    We attempt to satisfy security with accumulation far beyond what is physically necessary.

    But if the lower levels are structurally guaranteed — if food, shelter, healthcare, and safety are stable — desire naturally moves upward.

    From accumulation

    to contribution.

    From competition

    to mastery.

    From anxiety

    to meaning.

    Human wants are not inherently infinite.

    They become distorted when basic security is unstable and when competition tries to convince us to buy much more than we need.

    ⸻

    When Wants Meet Physics

    Without money as the filter, every desire faces different questions:

    Do we have the materials?

    Do we have the energy?

    Is it regenerative?

    Does it increase wellbeing?

    Ten private jets for one individual no longer appear impressive.

    They appear materially intensive.

    Planned obsolescence becomes irrational.

    It wastes finite resources.

    Extreme accumulation loses its logic when ownership no longer converts into power through pricing.

    Wants do not disappear.

    They become more honest.

    They must justify themselves within planetary limits.

    ⸻

    Abundance in the Light of Real Need

    When we strip away comparison, competition and insecurity, something becomes clear.

    Human needs are structured.

    They are understandable.

    They are finite.

    Food.

    Shelter.

    Safety.

    Belonging.

    Meaning.

    Creative growth.

    Self-realization.

    Now compare that with what the planet can physically provide.

    We already produce more than enough food.

    We have vast renewable energy potential.

    We have the materials and technology to house everyone.

    We possess millennia of accumulated knowledge.

    We have billions of capable human beings able to contribute. Plus AI and automation.

    When real needs are placed next to real resources, the picture changes.

    We are not a species lacking capacity.

    We are a species misallocating it.

    If civilization were organized around meeting genuine human needs within ecological regeneration rates, relative abundance is not utopian — it is realistic.

    Not infinite luxury.

    Not status escalation.

    But security, dignity, comfort, culture, and room for growth.

    For everyone.

    The scarcity we experience today is not primarily physical.

    It is structural.

    And once that becomes visible, the question shifts from:

    “Do we have enough?”

    to

    “Why are we organizing ourselves as if we don’t?”

    ⸻

    From Status to Contribution

    In a competitive monetary system, success is measured by ownership and purchasing power.

    In a resource-aligned civilization, success would shift toward contribution, mastery, creativity, and regenerative impact.

    Recognition would not come from extracting more.

    It would come from improving more.

    When incentives change, culture changes.

    ⸻

    The Deeper Question

    When money dominates, we ask:

    “Can we afford it?”

    When reality dominates, we ask:

    “Does it make sense?”

    This is not about suppressing desire.

    It is about clarifying it.

    When security is guaranteed, desire matures.

    It moves upward — toward growth, mastery, beauty, and meaning — instead of downward into hoarding and comparison.

    So perhaps the real question is not whether human wants are infinite.

    Perhaps the real question is:

    What kind of civilization are we trying to build?

    If it is one based on endless competitive expansion, nothing will ever be enough and we will use up our planet.

    If it is one based on dignity, stability, creativity, and regeneration, then our wants are not the problem.

    Our system is.

    ⸻

    If this article resonates i invite you to share it. The conversation about desire, value, and our collective future is one worth expanding.

    If you want to experience a glimpse into a future where humanity has created a brand new world like this, I invite you to explore these ideas further in Waking Up – A Journey Towards a New Dawn for Humanity, where a future civilization has already redefined wealth, success, and human aspiration.

    Sign up for the free newsletter below and receive a free companion book containing the first 4 chapters of the novel and a deeper dive into the concepts of the book.

  • What do we actually have?

    What do we actually have?

    We often hear the same sentence repeated again and again in political debates, budget meetings, and everyday conversations:

    “There isn’t enough money.”

    Not enough money for better schools.
    Not enough money for safer infrastructure.
    Not enough money for healthcare, climate transition, or protecting children.

    But do we actually have enough resources if money is not the obstacle?

    Money is not a resource.

    Money is a permission system. A token. A bookkeeping layer placed on top of physical reality. And it is man-made. We create it from nothing — mostly as debt — and inject it into circulation as loans that must be repaid with interest.

    Yet repayment does not come from money itself.

    It comes from extracting, producing, transporting, consuming — from the planet. The main resource depletion comes from trying to repay the never ending debt.

    So for a moment, let’s remove money entirely.

    If we omit it completely, what do we actually have?

    We have energy.
    We have land.
    We have water.
    We have materials.
    We have technology.
    We have knowledge.
    We have human time and skill.
    And we have ecological regeneration rates.

    That is the real inventory of civilization.

    Do We Physically Have Enough?

    For basic human wellbeing, the answer is clearly yes.

    Food

    We already produce more than enough food globally to feed every human being on Earth. Several times over. Hunger today is not caused by insufficient production. It is caused by distribution systems, purchasing power, conflict, and waste. In other words, it is caused by the monetary system itself.

    Energy

    The amount of solar energy striking Earth each day exceeds total global human energy consumption many times over. Wind, geothermal, hydro, and storage technologies are already capable of supplying far more than we currently harness. The constraint is not energy availability — it is infrastructure, investment priorities, and political will.

    Housing

    In many countries, empty homes coexist with homelessness. We have the materials, the construction knowledge, and the technical capacity to house everyone safely. The bottleneck is not bricks, timber, or engineering. It is access.

    Water

    The planet holds vast freshwater reserves, and we possess desalination, purification, recycling, and distribution technologies. Water itself is part of a continuous planetary cycle — it evaporates, condenses, falls, flows, and can be cleaned and reused again and again. The issue is not that water does not exist. It is how it is managed, allocated, polluted, and whether we choose to treat it as a renewable flow rather than a disposable commodity.

    Technology & Coordination

    Never in history have we had this level of technical sophistication. We can monitor ecosystems from satellites, design regenerative agriculture systems, 3D-print buildings, coordinate global logistics in real time, and model climate systems with advanced computation.

    The limiting factor is not capacity.

    The limiting factor is organization.

    The Real Constraint: Regeneration Rates

    There is, however, a physical boundary.

    The planet regenerates forests, fisheries, soil, and freshwater at measurable rates. It absorbs waste and carbon at measurable rates.

    If extraction exceeds regeneration, systems destabilize.

    This is not ideological. It is biological and thermodynamic.

    So the real resource question is not:

    “Is there enough money?”

    It is:

    “Are we operating within ecological renewal rates?”

    If we align civilization with regeneration rather than with financial return, abundance becomes possible.

    Not infinite growth — but sustainable sufficiency.

    What We Have, In Reality

    We have:

    • Enough food production capacity
    • Vast renewable energy potential
    • Sufficient material resources for safe housing
    • Advanced global coordination technology
    • Knowledge accumulated across centuries
    • Billions of skilled human beings capable of contribution

    What we lack is not resources.

    We lack alignment.

    Money often makes scarcity appear natural. But most of today’s scarcity is structural — created by ownership systems, pricing mechanisms, debt pressures, and competitive growth incentives.

    When money becomes the primary lens, access is rationed by purchasing power.

    When physics becomes the lens, access is organized by availability and regeneration.

    Remove the permission-token layer, and civilization must face physical reality directly.

    That may sound restrictive.

    In truth, it may be clarifying.

    Because once we look at what we actually have — energy, land, materials, knowledge, and human capability — it becomes difficult to argue that poverty, homelessness, and ecological collapse are caused by a lack of resources.

    They are caused by how we choose to organize them.

    So perhaps the real question has never been:

    “Do we have enough money?”

    Perhaps the real question is:

    Do we have enough wisdom to use what we already have?

    If this reflection resonates with you, I invite you to explore these ideas further in Waking Up – A Journey Towards a New Dawn for Humanity, where a future civilization has already reorganized itself around physical reality rather than financial abstraction.

    And please share this article if it resonates. The conversation about resources, value, and our collective future is one worth expanding. Don’t you think?

  • The New World on This Earth

    The New World on This Earth

    The Language of a “New Earth”

    In recent years, many have spoken about a coming New Earth.

    Channelings describe guidance from higher councils. Some speak of the Arcturians. Others describe DNA activations, frequency upgrades, and planetary ascension. There are daily transmissions, spiritual messages, and visions of humanity stepping into a higher timeline.

    For many, this language carries hope. It suggests that something greater is unfolding — that humanity is not alone, and that transformation is inevitable.

    I do not dismiss the symbolism in this.

    But I interpret it differently.

    Earth vs. World

    The Earth is a planet.

    The world is the society we have built upon it.

    The oceans, forests, atmosphere and soil — these belong to the planet.

    Money, ownership(or stewardship) systems, nation-states, laws, markets, institutions — these belong to the world.

    The planet is natural.

    The world is constructed.

    This distinction matters.

    Because if the world is constructed, it can be reconstructed.

    What If the “New Earth” Is This Earth?

    When I hear channelings about a New Earth, I do not imagine relocation.

    I do not imagine boarding starships.

    I do not imagine abandoning this planet for another dimension.

    I imagine something far more radical — and far more grounded.

    I imagine a new world built on this same Earth.

    The soil remains, only improved.

    The oceans remain, only cleaned.

    The sun still rises, only through clean air.

    But the agreements change.

    From Ascension to Responsibility

    Some narratives suggest that humanity will be upgraded — that our DNA will be activated, that higher beings will assist, that a collective shift will simply arrive.

    I don’t argue with that. It might be.

    But whether or not Arcturians are transmitting messages, one thing remains clear:

    No external force can redesign our economic system for us.

    No galactic council can restructure ownership into stewardship on our behalf.

    No frequency upgrade can automatically replace incentives rooted in fear and scarcity.

    If a new world is to emerge, it will emerge because humanity consciously chooses to grow up.

    That is not less spiritual.

    It is more responsible.

    A New Consciousness Emerging

    If there is a “New Earth” unfolding, it begins with something subtle but undeniable: a new consciousness waking up within humanity.

    Across cultures and continents, more people are questioning old assumptions. More people sense that something about our current systems does not align with our deeper values. More people feel the tension between what we have built and what we know, inwardly, is possible. Thus, the New Earth is taking shape in our minds. In Consciousness.

    This is not mystical spectacle.

    It is awareness.

    It is the growing realization that:

    • endless extraction cannot continue

    • value and worth is not the same as price

    • ownership is not the same as stewardship

    • competition is not the only way to organize society

    That awakening is consciousness expanding beyond fear-based survival logic.

    And when consciousness changes, behavior follows.

    A Shift in Consciousness That Becomes Structure

    A real shift in consciousness is not fireworks in the sky.

    It is a change in perception that leads to new behavior.

    And new behavior leads to new systems.

    When enough people:

    • stop equating worth with money

    • stop accepting artificial scarcity as natural

    • stop believing that ownership must enclose abundance

    Then the structure of the world begins to change.

    That is the New Earth.

    Not because the planet changed — but because the agreements did.

    The New World on This Earth

    The New World does not require escape.

    It does not require denial of science.

    It does not require rejection of spirituality.

    It requires clarity.

    The planet is already here.

    The resources are already here.

    Human creativity is already here.

    What must evolve is the story we are living inside.

    If humanity chooses cooperation over competition, stewardship over extraction, and shared inheritance over exclusive ownership — then a new world emerges on this Earth.

    No rescue.

    No relocation.

    No waiting.

    Just a conscious decision.

    And perhaps that is the most profound shift of all.

    ⸻

    A new world begins the moment we realize it is ours to build.

    If this perspective resonates with you, please share this article so the conversation can expand.

    Follow Benjamin Micheals when he wakes up in a new world where humanity has already been waking up in the novel Waking Up – A journey towards a new dawn for humanity.