We can make demands ‘til we’re blue in the face. All we will ever get are small concessions that will make no difference to the status quo of the power structures. The changes we desperately need are not going to be brought about by politicians. They have to be brought about by us and we need to address this now.
I propose that the first change to enable the New Society to evolve must be our concept of economy. To do this, we must look at what economy actually is and what its objectives are. It has become such an ingrained element of our consciousness that we find it difficult to imagine how life could even be possible without an economy.
But economy is not air, it is not water, it is not food and it is not shelter. These are the things without which life would not be possible. Many would say Ah! But economy is the means by which we obtain these things! That is not a logical argument. It is simply a doctrine that illustrates exactly how ingrained this belief actually is.
Economy is simply an idea and nothing more. It is a way of thinking. It is a fiction. In the same way that a game of chess is not war but simply a fictional representation of conflict, money is not wealth but simply a fictional representation of value.
Imagine you are stranded on an island that has plentiful fruit and edible vegetation, fish and game are abundant and the land is fertile. The inhabitants of the island are warm, friendly and welcoming. There is constant celebration, music and joy. Would you particularly want to be rescued? Now imagine that another person from the same shipwreck was washed ashore on an uninhabited and desolate island. Vegetation and wildlife are scarce; there is little fresh water and not even enough trees to build a serviceable shelter. However, the island had been used centuries before by pirates to stash their loot… and the other castaway finds the hoard of gold.
Which of you is the wealthiest?
This puts the Western civilisation concept of wealth into perspective, doesn’t it? Money used to represent a certain weight of gold or silver but what is gold and silver? What makes these metals so precious? They are considered to have value simply because they are comparatively rare. It is only since the development of technology that gold and silver has had any practical value at all. Until then, they were simply decorative metals. They are too scarce to serve as a general material for making vessels, which, because of their malleability, they are ideally suited and too soft for any other purpose. Their value has always been an aesthetic value and, therefore, fictional.
When we talk of the value of our homes, we are invariably referring to the current price of our homes should they be put onto the market. The value of a home is the number of people it can accommodate, the shelter and security it provides and the comfort and level at which it reflects our taste and requirements. These only change when alterations are made to affect these aspects. Market forces (another fiction) can only affect the price at which a house can be bought or sold and, regardless of how market forces may go up or down, the value remains constant until actual physical changes are made to the structure to effect the advantages it provides.
The price of a loaf of bread is considerably higher today than it was ten years ago. But the value of a loaf that will feed six people today is exactly the same as that of a loaf that would feed six people a thousand years ago. Value is real and, therefore, remains constant. Price is a fiction and changes whenever those who control the rules of the game change the rules. A dollar or a pound or any other currency has no intrinsic value. It is a game and the rules of the game are to pretend that the dollar or whatever is equal in value to the things for which it can be exchanged. The word: “pretend” is significant here. Those who control the game decide what we are to pretend the money is worth. It is like a game of ‘Simon Says’ combined with ‘Monopoly’. Simon says a dollar is worth a donut and that becomes the truth. No matter how many of us say a dollar is worth a house, until Simon says otherwise, a dollar is worth a donut. It is a game. Furthermore, we are not playing the game any more than the pieces on a chessboard are playing chess. We are being played.
We can stop any time we want to. We can announce that a dollar is worthless and refuse to acknowledge the rules of the game… and then what? Do we loot the stores? Do we turn on each other and grab what we can? Or do we change the rules of the game ourselves. It seems impossible to do unless Simon agrees but Simon is totally dependent on everyone acknowledging his authority to dictate the rules. A dollar is not worth a donut because Simon says so but because we all acknowledge that what Simon says is true.
As long as our civilisation is based on the illusions of power and fictional wealth, it is destined to fall as every other civilisation in the history of Mankind has fallen. As long as we all buy into the illusion that Simon has the power to dictate our lives, Simon will always abuse that power. As long as we all buy into the illusion that Simon controls the concept of wealth, Simon will always be the wealthiest person on earth while others decay in poverty. If I were under the illusion that I ruled the world, I would be regarded as a deluded madman. But, if I were able to convince everyone else that I ruled the world, it would become a reality… but I would still be a deluded madman. Consequently, the world can only be ruled by deluded madmen.
The reason our civilisation is crumbling is the same reason that the Roman Empire collapsed… and Egyptian Empires collapsed… and every other civilisation in history collapsed. We have not learned the lessons and, if we are to have a civilisation that can endure, we must learn them now. All failed civilisations (and we must now accept that ours is also a failed civilisation) have been based on the power of the few to rule the many. I have already intimated that those who aspire to power are deluded madmen. But consider this: it takes just one deluded mad person to fall into the delusion that he or she rules the world. It takes seven billion deluded mad people for that to become a reality. We must begin by accepting that we are all responsible for the failure of our civilisation. It is now time to learn the lesson.
Let’s now come back to the subject of economy. The objective of economy is not to create wealth because economy is incapable of creating anything by virtue of the fact that it does not exist in reality. Economy can only create illusions of wealth and that can only be achieved by creating illusions of poverty. The objective of economy is to maintain and manipulate poverty. People in poverty feel disempowered and, because we all buy into the illusion, they actually are disempowered. It is the poverty of the majority that makes it possible for so few to rule.
Money is effectively a con. It is the means by which people can be made to do things they wouldn’t otherwise be prepared to do. Power is also a con and gives the authority to make people do things they wouldn’t otherwise be prepared to do. Why do people need to be made to do things they wouldn’t be prepared to do?
True, some of the jobs required to maintain the infrastructure are not particularly pleasant. Neither is unblocking drains or cleaning the oven. The incentives to do these are clear drains and a clean oven. With the technology we have today and the rate at which new technologies are developing, more and more of the thankless mundane work needed for our infrastructure are automated and this is a trend that is likely to continue. Let’s look at an insane example of how money acts as a barrier to progress:
Money has usurped genuine progress as the ultimate goal of industry. Items are being produced not because they are needed by society but because they can generate money. But in order to sell items that are not needed by society, an entire industry has been created dedicated to advertising. This generates money from the manufacturers of largely useless items in return for convincing the masses that their lives cannot be complete unless they feed their children on Turkey Twizzles.
This hysteria for useless things that can catch the imagination of the masses through advertising generates a huge amount of money… which is something that doesn’t actually exist independent of our belief that it is real. However, research into cures for diseases, methods of feeding nations caught in famine etc. is hampered by the lack of something that doesn’t actually exist in reality.
The US alone produces so much grain that the annual surplus would feed the rest of the world. Most of the surplus is destroyed. The reason it is destroyed is because this abundance would keep food prices down and inhibit profits. So something of real value and is vitally needed by so many people is destroyed in order to generate more of something that doesn’t actually exist in reality.
We have the means of producing enough food to feed the world. We have the logistical ability to transport the food to anywhere in the world where it is needed. We have the means to irrigate deserts. So why don’t we? The only barrier to achieving this is the lack of money. We just don’t have enough of something that doesn’t actually exist in reality.
We could feed the world if we had the money. But what is money? It is something that Simon says is worth whatever Simon decides it’s worth. But, beyond Simon’s imagination and our acceptance of the dictates of Simon, money does not exist.
So let’s imagine a world in which we do not need the false incentive of money to do what our society needs us to do. The advertising industry is no longer needed because there is no incentive to create what society does not need or want. The incentive for research would be the use to which we could put the discoveries. The incentive to contribute to society would be the improvements to society our contribution will achieve.
The incentive for a teacher to teach is the joy that a good teacher derives from teaching. The incentive to invent is the joy that inventors derive from inventing. The incentive to build is the joy that builders derive from building. All of the major professions are activities that provide their own incentives. Many of the joyless mundane tasks are already capable of becoming automated. Here, we have another insanity in our system. The reason why we do not automate all the jobs that no one really wants to do is because automation would cause mass unemployment and, without jobs, the people would not be able to afford the goods that industry is creating. It is a self-perpetuating folly.
What is unemployment? Is it idleness? Unemployment is simply the situation of not being in a position to fill a role in society in return for a financial incentive. Why don’t unemployed people train for skills that are valued by society? The reason for that is the cost of training and few can afford it. What would unemployed people do with their time if they were truly free to do anything that was physically possible? In this current culture, many would opt for following the lifestyles of the rich but this is more a reaction to the money-oriented society in which they live than it is an example of the nature of most people.
We are constantly bogged down with financial stresses. We resent going to work because it is yet another demand upon us. People who work at jobs they hate are usually employed in an industry providing useless junk that then needs an advertising industry to convince people to buy it. Society does not need those industries and the creative people currently employed in such industries would be better used in industries that truly serve society.
What is the objective of banking? It simply deals with money. Without money, it is not needed.
There are a number of homes that have been designed to generate their own energy and efficiently conserve that energy to the extent that they even contribute their own surplus to the National Grid. If one house can generate its own energy and contribute a surplus, every house can do so. Industries could also do so and those that require more energy than they could possibly generate could utilise the surplus energy produced by everyone else. Yet governments insist that renewable energy is insufficient to meet the needs of society. This is a lie put forward by the nuclear industry and the petrochemical industry, which finances politics and is done so in order to protect their financial interests. The truth is that there are no investment opportunities in renewable energy. Sunshine and wind cannot be bought cheap and sold at a profit. So the nuclear industry and the petrochemical industry are not truly needed. We already have the technology to enable consumers to produce their own energy and contribute a surplus for other uses. Most transport can be converted to use renewable energies and the reason they are not is because it is not a project that attracts investment opportunities.
Each time, the barrier is money. A society without money would allow people to either be engaged in professions that they love or enjoy more leisure time. If education is free, more people can be trained to do rewarding work that benefits society. Money is the basis of most crime and all wars. It is the basis of oppression and exploitation.
Money is not an enabler. It is a ball & chain. But it is not shackled to our ankles… it is one we choose to carry. All we have to do is let go.
New World Order:
Now I am aware that the advocates for a New World Order are making promises along these lines. They talk of a “One World Currency” (God forbid!) and now there’s talk of doing away with money altogether… and introducing implanted chips. Now before I even get into the reasons why we should not let that happen, let’s look at this latter proposal: Implanted chips replacing money? So is that going to end poverty? If poverty can be ended with implanted chips, why can’t it be ended now? Because poverty is necessary to control the masses. If implants end poverty, it will be because they remove the need for poverty and that means that the masses will be controlled by the chips. I can hear the advocates already: No more crime because the chips can disable criminals in their tracks! No more terrorism because the chips can halt the terrorists in their tracks. If necessary, they can even kill from a remote control room. That will make the world a safer place! The hell it will! Our governments are not fighting crime… they are engaging in crime. They are not fighting terrorism… they are engaging in global terrorism!
The changes humanity needs are not going to come from the politicians. They are all now so invested into the burgeoning global power structures that it has already gone beyond the point of no return. America has already become a corporate-owned police state and US citizens who rely on CNN, Fox News and the Washington Post for their daily dose of prescribed truth haven’t even noticed. Those who have noticed are simply dismissed as “conspiracy theorists”. Yet people are now being arrested for attempting to close their own bank accounts (police taking orders from the banks), people have been arrested for growing organic vegetables (orders from companies like Monsanto who plan to take over global food production), doctors are being arrested for curing cancers without using chemotherapy (orders from companies like Novartis who specialise in oncology drugs and….. er… carcinogenic pesticides). They are now introducing unmanned miniature drone aircrafts that can photograph individuals, dispatch teargas, tasers, grenades and bullets. Yet all this has crept up on them without the majority even noticing. They still cheer the very politicians who sign away their freedoms and, in some cases, their lives and chant “U! S! A!” while their government is setting up the system so that no one can voice protest… and survive.
The changes our politicians (at the behest of the corporations) have in store for us will be a tyranny such as the world has never seen. One doesn’t need a crystal ball. Just look at historical inclinations of power and combine that with present day capabilities.
We cannot allow those who currently hold power to decide the future of humanity. It isn’t about cuts or bank bonuses. It’s about whether or not your children or grandchildren will kill themselves before they reach adulthood because their lives are so intolerable. We have lived in fear all our lives and it has been so down the centuries: fear of authority, fear of terrorism, fear of communism (if you’re American), fear of losing the things we have accumulated. All that is a walk in the park compared to the fear our children and grandchildren will be living under if we allow this to happen.
There is no point just protesting and certainly no point making demands. The only recourse open for us is to begin to create the new societies ourselves. Decide our own systems to replace the old economies; design our own administration to replace the old governments and refuse to acknowledge the authority of those in power and refuse to acknowledge the currencies. This is not going to be easy! It will be chaos and while the police and the military are still taking orders, it will be hellish. But the alternative is equally hellish so we have nothing to lose in that respect. Whether we take action or do nothing, the immediate future is very ugly. But, if we do nothing, this ugliness will stretch on into the distant future. If we take action, maybe… just maybe we can deflect the path of humanity from the bleak and terrifying existence that lies ahead.
We can blame the politicians, we can blame the banks and corporations but, if you really want to know whose ass to kick, you can start with mine and keep kicking until every ass but yours has been kicked… then bend over. It is not the responsibility of the politicians to sort this out. We allowed this to happen. It’s our responsibility.
