Living Unchained: Building a moneyless, post scarcity society

In a playful world of augmented reality battles and dissolving water bottles, Ben finally stops doubting and starts belonging. But when chaos erupts and Peter’s manipulations surface, Ben faces betrayal and must choose where his loyalty lies. Guided by Aweena and Amo, he takes his first real step from relic of the past to participant in the present. This is the moment of crossing—from watching to...

Ben’s wandering comes to an end when he discovers the truth about Amo—she is Bianca, the daughter he thought he lost. As he grapples with five generations of family and a world run by trust instead of money, Ben confronts the boundaries between past and present, authority and care. Meanwhile, Peter plots in the shadows, and Ben learns that legacy isn’t control—it’s what continues through others. F...

Last time, we saw the lie—the way our old world manufactured pain through a story of scarcity and debt. Ben Michaels saw it too. And now, he finds himself on the edge—literally and spiritually. Because before you can believe in something new, you have to confront what you were never allowed to question. For updates on all things "Waking Up" and or to purchase the book to tag along with t...

Between past and future, Ben discovers bridges: people who translate between old systems and new, and technologies that support trust instead of control. Each encounter brings him closer to accepting that his survival isn’t an accident—it’s an invitation. For updates on all things "Waking Up" and or to purchase the book to tag along with this seasons BookCast visit www.wakingupstory.com

Last episode, Ben Michaels woke up in a future without money. No more cancer, no more skyscrapers, but also… no more wealth. No more trust fund. No more empire. This time, he returns to what used to be his world—his office, his mansion—and discovers they’ve been transformed into something radically new. And he meets someone who just might help him understand what this all means. For updates on all...

Ben’s disorientation deepens as he confronts the realities of life without money: shared abundance, trust in technology, and communities built on care instead of profit. Each experience challenges his assumptions—and begins to soften his skepticism. For updates on all things "Waking Up" and or to purchase the book to tag along with this seasons BookCast visit www.wakingupstory.com.

In Episode 1, we met Benjamin Michaels: a billionaire dying of cancer, clinging to control while the world outside his skyscraper begins to reject everything he built. Today, in Episode 2, we walk with him through his final moments—his last conversation with his daughter, his death, and the quiet beginning of something radically different. For updates on all things "Waking Up" and or to...

Season 4—where we take a journey through Harald Neslein Sandø’s novel Waking Up: A Journey Towards a New Dawn for Humanity . This isn’t a textbook. It’s not a manifesto. It’s a story—a sci-fi narrative about a man named Benjamin Michaels who wakes up a hundred years after being cryogenically frozen… into a world that no longer uses money. This season, we’ll travel with Ben as he grapples with the...

As Season 3 draws to a close, we reflect on Lewis Hyde’s afterword to  The Gift , written 25 years after the book’s release. In this powerful final chapter, Hyde explores the future of gift culture—how we support art, science, and connection in a world consumed by markets. We look at the call to create gift institutions that last beyond us—and the responsibility we all share to become good ancesto...

In this final chapter, Lewis Hyde steps back to reflect on everything we’ve explored—asking not only what the gift is, but what it means to live in alignment with it. And for us, as we reach the end of this season, that means taking stock of what we’ve learned and how we carry it forward.

Here, we follow Ezra Pound—not just the poet, but the ideologue, the economist, the man who tried to rebuild a moral society by reshaping the mechanisms of money itself. It’s a descent into myth, politics, and silence… and it asks a piercing question:  What happens when the giver tries to become the architect of the gift’s delivery system?

In this episode of  Living Unchained , we dive into  “Imagist Money,”  the fourth section of Chapter 10 in Lewis Hyde’s  The Gift . Here, Hyde unpacks Ezra Pound’s radical vision: a currency that decays, a poetic economy grounded not in usury, but in the enduring gifts of nature and art.

Today’s episode continues Chapter 10 of Lewis Hyde’s  The Gift . This is Part III —  The Jew in the Hedge , and I want to offer a clear warning upfront: This episode deals with Ezra Pound’s anti-Semitism, mental unraveling, and the psychological shadows that haunted his later years. It is not easy listening — and it shouldn't be.

Last time, we walked with Ezra Pound through his poetic awakening and his sensitivity to cultural value — value that lies beyond the realm of price. Today, we follow him deeper — into the politics of the imagination, and into the tension between the artist’s impulse to give, and the society’s habit of commodifying.

Hyde introduces Ezra Pound’s poetic method as a kind of healing response to the fragmentation of modernity — and explores Pound’s drive to use poetry as a force for integration, moral coherence, and ultimately,  gift exchange .

Today we continue with the third and final section of Chapter 9 in  The Gift  by Lewis Hyde, titled  “Saplings.”  In this moving and deeply human chapter, we see Walt Whitman emerge not just as a poet of the people — but as a man shattered open by love, illness, grief, longing… and, ultimately, trees.

In this episode, we continue our deep dive into Chapter 9 of  The Gift  by Lewis Hyde. We now step into Section II:  Adhesive Riches —a dense, lyrical meditation on how Walt Whitman envisioned wealth, value, and the adhesive force of love and democracy.

This episode is about the power of lineage, inheritance, and art — not as property or product, but as a sacred continuation. We’ll follow Hyde’s reflections on Walt Whitman and what it means to give from beyond the grave, to sow gifts that continue sprouting long after we’re gone.

In this episode of  Living Unchained , we explore Lewis Hyde’s reflections on the complex relationship between creativity and commerce. Can art survive — or even thrive — in a marketplace that prizes profit over depth? We look at how the exchange of money can alter the spirit of the gift, why some artists struggle when their work enters the market, and how creative communities have found ways to k...

In this episode, we dive into Chapter 7 of  The Gift —“Usury: A History of Gift Exchange.” Hyde explores how ancient lending practices rooted in reciprocity were slowly overtaken by interest-based systems that commodified human relationships. From Mesopotamian temples to modern banking, we trace the shift from mutual aid to profit-driven debt. Join us as we reflect on what was lost—and what a mone...

In this episode, we explore Chapter 6 of  The Gift  by Lewis Hyde—“A Female Property.” Hyde takes us through cultural traditions where women were both givers and gifts in exchange systems, exploring the complex relationship between gender, value, and social structure. Join us as we unpack how these historical patterns shape our understanding of value today—and how a moneyless world might reimagine...

In this episode, we explore Lewis Hyde’s reflections on the structure of gift communities—those tightly woven circles of reciprocity where relationships and meaning take priority over profit. After narrating the chapter, we unpack the implications for a post-monetary world, and how communities like yours and mine are already walking that path. This discussion deeply connects to the vision shared i...

What happens when a gift is refused—or cannot be returned? This chapter explores the painful edges of gift exchange: obligation, imbalance, and rejection. In this episode, we reflect on the discomfort of nonreciprocal giving, and how modern society sometimes views true generosity with suspicion. Connecting with  Unchained , we consider the social costs of living in a world where value is measured...

How does an artist survive in a world ruled by the market? In Chapter 3, Hyde digs deeper into the dilemma of the modern creative. This episode reflects on the artist’s double life—called by the muse, but bound by rent. Through stories of writers, musicians, and painters, we explore how the spirit of the gift continues to resist commodification. As in  Unchained , we ask: What would it look like t...

Chapter 2 examines the uneasy tension between gift and market economies. Hyde reveals how the labor of art often exists in a space where monetary compensation falls short. In this episode, we reflect on the spiritual and social role of the gift—how sustaining creativity demands not just material support but a cultural ethic of mutual care. Drawing parallels with  Unchained , we explore how honorin...