Part of the reason I haven't been blogging as much is because I've been assisting my wife with her barn chores (gotta keep horse board low). Recently I've been doing more of the chores on my own and so have been listening to esoteric themed podcasts while cleaning horse stalls. Yesterday happened to be a chore day for me, so I loaded up my MP3 player with an episode of the excellent, Paratopia (hosted by Jeremy Vaeni and Jeff Ritzmann). The episode was an interview with Gregory Sams, author of a book called Sun of gOd, which makes a case that everything may be alive.
There were many interesting conversations throughout the show, many revolving around how science now at days (at least in the western world) is driven by need (or greed) for funding, which prevents many scientists researching more "out there" subjects. This is something I've pondered before, particularly how it effects us as a society. I can't tell you how often I wonder where we'd be now if we just eliminated the "need" for money. Sincerely I believe that it's keeping us from truly "progressing" as a society and I feel we need to strive to get away from it.
Another thing they covered was the interesting relationship between science and religion over the centuries. Sort of a love hate relationship from the start, with religion oppressing science, then vice versa. Related was the subject about how when science begins to find stuff (such as some quantum mechanics theories) that began to almost transcend the "science/religion" barrier, they are often avoided (although not necessarily by choice), largely in part do to fear of loosing funding. That of course brings everything back round to stuff mentioned in the paragraph above.
This whole idea that money is standing in the way (not because of a lack of it) of things is one I've had for awhile now, even before listening to the podcast yesterday. I've noticed as I watch the way our society works, money is pretty much necessary to live. It drives everything. Basically it comes down to, either you have money, or you don't deserve to be happy. At least that's the feeling I get from our current consumer driven world.
The problem itself extends far beyond happiness however. Our health care system here in the US for example, is well, crap. Sure we have good doctors and can do a lot more then most countries can, but if you don't have much money, you're screwed. If faced with a life threatening event (illness or injury) you're forced to either basically choose death or massive debt. To me neither one is very satisfactory. Sure there is insurance available, but not to everyone, and now at days it's almost as if it doesn't even cover enough. Plus a large portion of society knows that if you have any medical conditions (like diabetes or heart problems) before you get insurance, they might chose to not even cover you. Why? Because you're a risk between them and the almighty dollar.
I could get even more into this subject, beyond health care and into to the corporate sector, but I do believe that is another post. Partly because I want to actually clarify my thoughts on the subject in full post, and also if it's not clarified, I might sound crazier then I actually am. So until next time, I suggest checking out Paratopia, as well as the blog and website of this guy called Suelo who is living moneyless in Moab, Utah. I think he's onto something.
5 comments:
The monetary system does needed to overhauled. The way it works now is design to benefit the few at the expense of the many. One of the biggest mistakes this country ever made was the Federal Reserve Act. When the government called for the creation of a private central bank, they turned over the nation's economy to private bankers. The banker Mayer Amschel Rothschild said, "Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes her laws." The creation of the Federal Reserve gave the bankers control the U.S. economy, and they have used it to benefit themselves. We have a debt based economy, where all of our money is essentially a debt in itself, because it is 'borrowed' from the Federal Reserve.
The words "captitalism" and "democracy" get thrown around a lot, but one you don't hear often is "feudalism," which is still what our society is based on. The idea that individuals can own certain properties and certain resources is a feudal concept.
So yeah, a new monetary system that doesn't just benefit the elite could certainly help our situation. We'd probably be much better off just not having an official monetary system. But I'm afraid people have become so accustomed to money, I fear many people would have difficulty adapting to a society with no established monetary system.
Here's a quote to think about: "Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men,
we didn't have any kind of prison.
Because of this, we had no delinquents.
Without a prison, there can be no delinquents.
We had no locks nor keys and therefore among us there were no thieves.
When someone was so poor that he couldn't afford a horse, a tent or a blanket,
he would, in that case, receive it all as a gift.
We were too uncivilized to give great importance to private property.
We didn't know any kind of money and consequently, the value of a human being
was not determined by his wealth.
We had no written laws laid down, no lawyers, no politicians,
therefore we were not able to cheat and swindle one another.
We were really in bad shape before the white men arrived and I don't know
how to explain how we were able to manage without these fundamental things
that (so they tell us) are so necessary for a civilized society."
- John (Fire) Lame Deer
Sioux Lakota - 1903-1976
Of course, it wasn't always peace and happiness all the time throughout the Native American world before Europeans came (some tribes were known to fight other tribes), but I think we might be able to learn something from how their societies operated.
Hey, glad to hear you've found Paratopia and that you're still out there posting!
Jeff, I love that quote! Reminds me of some themes in the Tao Teh Ching.
Deidre, I'm glad I found Paratopia too. And the posting will continue, just not sure how often...
Hi Naveed,
Glad you enjoyed the Paratopia interview, as did I. Just pointing out that my book title is "Sun of gOd" and not Son of anything. Big difference indeed.
A big setback for money came when it stopped representing anything other than your government's promise of worth, and we all know how sound are promises by politicians.
Gregory, thanks for letting me know I had the title wrong. I corrected it in my post.
Indeed promises by politicians aren't worth much now at days. I think that is quite evident with the current president who got in on promises of change that don't seem to be going anywhere.
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