With money as our functional companion, we can choose our own paths and not be wholly consumed by the demands of tribe and family for our personal survival. While we certainly haven't freed ourselves from violence (gangs, organized crime, jihadists, international conflict, etc.), money is mostly a tool of peace. Indeed, I suggest that money leads to more acts of peace, love and brotherhood than any other social institution.

Unlike our ancestors, most of us do not fear hordes galloping over the hills unannounced to ransack our homes and inflict horrific carnage upon our families and communities. Nor are we forced to pledge fealty to some sort of overlord in exchange for protection. Our cultivating ancestors lived in a state of constant terror. To the extent aggression is a part of human nature, money does a good job of diverting it. Instead, it enables functional combat through business and athletics.
Instead of generating deadly forces, today's fearsome warriors hit the roads, their offices, the gyms and the boardrooms.
With money, the wannabe conqueror-kings go forth for market share, not physical territory. There is competition, surely, but it challenges combatants to generate wealth rather than destroy it. "Winners" are generally those who create new wealth and induce others to share in this creation process through their labor, their investments or their collaboration. We still need armies, but they are a far cry from the galloping hordes of Genghis Khan.

Money also requires and enforces discipline. It brings order and needs order. The rules of law and custom are required for it to function effectively. This means creating cultures where trust and respect dominate. Most money transactions, both large and small, require mutual trust and accountability. That does not mean that all business relationships are examples of loving kindness, but those that violate trust are not sound and do not last. Most money-based transactions are civilized.
Money also encourages invention and exploration. The prospect of financial reward inspires creativity and risk-taking of the sorts that advance knowledge and generate progress. That's been especially true in the remarkable last 150 years. From energy to transportation to communication to exploration, the human race has done amazing things in this time frame.
Could the folks of 1862 have possibly imagined agriculture circa 2012? How about automobiles and airplanes and the infrastructure they use? Or telephones and computers? Contemporary business practices? HD television? Modern medicine and people's longevity? Space?

Of course, these advancements also pose threats such as resource exhaustion and the destruction of the old and beloved. What doesn't? But the stuff of 21st century life is amazing. It would not be possible without money.

Finally, money empowers the heart to speak effectively. Taxes and charity let us care for one another in many ways. When tragedy strikes, modern money's portability is remarkable. For those in desperate need, money is now easily collected, whether it is taken up by Salvation Army bell ringers at Christmas or sent via texts to earthquake victims.

There are jobs that money doesn't do so well, particularly when it comes to social services. These generally rely on voluntary or indirect money sources, such as charities and tax collections. These indirect money sources are necessary for education, medicine, police, fire and the armed forces, areas where it is virtually impossible to engage in the self-supporting activities of a "for profit" enterprise. It is hard to price caring and sharing, but obviously we need them.

Money as we know it has problems with these social needs. For one thing, money does "yang" (or "male") functions better than "yin" (or "female") functions. Social service work has traditionally been communal and unpaid or poorly paid. I suggest it has not professionalized particularly well.

Nonetheless, we can still recognize money's potential and tractability. It is about unused energies being captured to meet needs that have been unmet. It does not have to be based solely on Adam Smith and rigorous capitalist principles.

Remember, anybody can issue money, not just sovereign governments, so long as someone will take it. If a monetary system is run with discipline, currencies can be used creatively to address a wide range of issues. It is already happening around the globe, from the Brazilian "Saber" currency for education, to the "Fureai Kippu" complementary currency for elder care in Japan, to Ithaca, N.Y.'s local currency system (Ithaca Hours), to the worldwide LETS bartering systems. Creative money design focuses on unmet needs and unused energies. It works.

Money values integrity, peace and predictability. It enables progress, sharing and freedom. It rewards those cultures and people that can put it in perspective and avoid its seductions.