Lent words - Day 13 ~ Built
both of these words kind of go together...
I remember from my childhood days the parable about the house built upon sand... What a wonderful message this parable gives. The concept that if you do not have a solid foundation then everything that is constructed on top of that foundation is shaky to say the least.
From a religious concept I can understand the focus here is firmly on the individual. If you do not lay foundations of being a human being that extols the 'good' virtues such as love, humility, integrity, compassion, faith, hope, temperance, courage... (not a complete list) ... then there is a very good chance that things will be pretty rocky. Morality, ethics, values... have all taken a bit of a bashing of late... and as I mentioned in a previous blog it appears similar to the latter stages of the Roman Empire when society loses the sense of itself and people degenerate seemingly losing the virtues of being the best human being possible. Are we once again approaching this place?
I would like to open up the discussion to the wider context of the systems that we have 'Built' which organise and manage us the population in these modern times. What have we built those on? Have we built them on sand?
In our frenzy to keep up GDP (A meaningless manipulated statistic) and our marketing fueled spending frenzy for more of everything (the latest this or that)... so that we could bolster our self esteem and ego with new gadgetry and possessions compared to those around us... perhaps... perhaps we just got sidetracked a little from the solid ground upon which we once safely stood, and slid squarely on to the beach...
All... yes... all of the main systems that we operate within have been well and truly built upon sand... but let us take each of them individually and have a look at what's behind their inevitable demise...
Political systems
It is a democracy that we live in, is it? ... What do we actually understand the word democracy to mean? ... if it means we have the capability to shoot down one of the pigeons we call MP's so that we can replace it with another target... then yes that is true... we have a democracy. If on the other hand your notion is rather more than that. Something along the lines that we play an important part in the decision making process of things that happen around us, regionally and nationally.... then sorry that particular idea has long since left the building... in fact I would challenge very strongly that it ever existed at all...
Our political system is no more than a tool to keep us divided such that we will always be bickering about the things put before us... rather than we can create and innovate the 'things we want' in the first place... This system is about to fail... but it has too, it won't be pretty as she goes... but... we must innovate something far better.
Financial systems
$217 trillion in global debt that is 325% of global GDP (yes global GDP - meaningless statistic)... have you any idea how big 1 trillion is? ... 1 trillion seconds ago, it was 29,701 BC and Neanderthals were chasing wooly mammoths... if 1cm was a 1$ then 1 trillion dollars would be 25 times around the earth.
Who do we owe this money too? Answer... it's just debt... debt that is wildly our of control... and at some point something will go pop. We are just awaiting the Tsunami of the financial world... it is around the corner... This whole nonsense of continuous growth is coming to an end... at the start there was 1 earth... there is still one earth... There are some huge ego's though... and there might even be a war to cover this up... but this system must break... it is not possible for it to persist.
Economic systems
We've tried them all haven't we?... coupled up with politics... communism... capitalism... socialism... Keynsian economics... Fiscal controls... Interest rates... Free market economy... none of them work because the basic ethos of every single one of them is about money... No other species on the planet has this... and yes we do need a mechanism to exchange goods and services... to swap our skills... but actually this is coming to an end...
As automation begins to ring in the changes... there won't be human contribution to output... consequently our need to 'work' will diminish... so will the costs and therefore our need for money will go the same way... it is around the corner... but every single model we have had to date is irrelevant the closer we get to this destination... and this is a slow tide coming in... there is no reverse gear... Only way to maintain what we have already... is to break it all up... and then rebuild it again... we shouldn't do that...
Are we built on sand here? .. you bet... because greed and the desire to manipulate, corrupt, control and be superior to others has been instilled and conditioned into us... we must unlearn it...
Energy systems
We are now moving steadily along the lines towards renewable energy. The whole fossil fuel economy has enabled us to bloat the human race faster than ever before... and rush towards these climactic times. We are poisoning this planet and our own home. The planet will still be here... we might not be if we were to carry on.
But of course we won't carry on.... we won't carry on burning fossil fuels because people want more autonomy. People want to be able to have energy for their homes, but they are fed up with these fat cat utility suppliers basically holding us to ransom... so we will produce our own energy... take back our power (excuse the pun... not intended) and it will become progressively uneconomic to burn fossil fuels and pollute our planet.... there are a few trends coming into play here..
Tesla, Elon Musk and others who are paving the way for free energy ideas (and there will be many more) is simply an unstoppable tide of common sense... however much "hard ball" the fossil fuel industry plays the game is up...
The whole basis of our expansion and 'so called riches' has been based on fossil fuels... is it a house built on sand? ... of course it is, unsustainable, and the foundations are weakening...
Religious systems
Labels have always divided people... we are becoming less inclined to want to label people. If you asked an alien to look down on this planet. The observation would be... water, land, lots of different creatures and an abundance of these beings.. mostly they have 2 arms, 2 legs, a head, body and they come in different shapes, sizes and colours... No mention of countries... no mention of politics... no mention of languages, no mention of beliefs... just a whole heap of folk based on the same anatomy.
So religion... perhaps a way to organise, control and manipulate people who largely stayed in one place... may have been a good idea... but its relevance in its current form in a 21st century world looking rather tired and dated. In fact the attendance at churches is diminishing except in some smaller factions.
Morality and being a good human being with values, principles and with good virtues is becoming more and more important... but people want to be able to come up with the answers that work for them, and to find their own way...
Like I said in an earlier post... if Jesus looked at what Christianity has become... then I am sure he would agree... it's all unfortunately been built on sand... the church has become an institution to perpetuate itself and has lost its way... man does that to stuff...
Education systems
Education to enable the vast majority of us to be able to read, write and do maths was an amazing idea. You could cast your mind back to the time when most people couldn't do these things it would have been a massive enabler. Certainly not an idea built on sand that one... but in today's modern world?
The education system is all about telling what we already know, asking our young to regurgitate what they have heard (under all kinds of man mad stress - exams)... rewarding those that are good at that... and for those that aren't? ... well you tried... go play with your low self esteem.
Today's education system unfortunately stifles creativity and problem solving. It limits thinking to 'the way it is' conditioning; inside the box possibilities only. Mavericks and noisy young folk who don't 'fit in' being worked on 'often with drugs' to normalise their behaviour back to acceptable levels of obedience.
This education system is based on sand. Solutions? ... get the parents to realise that qualifications in a world where we have to invent our own work, invent our own days, invent how we want to spend our time, invent our own definition for happiness... don't come attached to an exam pass paper.
Health systems
We already see the seeds of change in this sector. There is a long way to go, but innovative gadgets to measure our own health are on the rise. It won't be long before a gadget can tell us if we are a diabetic, or about to suffer from a heart attack or whether levels of certain markers indicate other serious conditions at early stages.
We have been in the land of sand for a long time though. Ageing populations, declining centralised hospitals, reductions in patient appointment time... and solutions to our ailments all dispensed in a tube, bottle or syringe. The pharmaceuticals for the masses era is in decline as increased data storage and point of care digital testing means that patient care at the individual level is almost upon us. Starting with self diagnosis, early detection and prevention.
But these hugely powerful pharma companies won't go quietly... they have much to lose... They don't want people being prevented from getting ill... or worse still cured. It is probably why nutrition and good wholesome food has been left off the medical agenda for so long. If you are going to run a sick service you need a steady flow of sick people! ...
This sector has been in the sand pit for a long time now... The answer to our NHS in the UK is about self diagnosis, taking responsibility, early detection, prevention... and if we could all just start eating proper home cooked food again that would go a long long way to solving our issues.
What haven't we built?
I have spoken at length about what we have built... and there is a lot of rework to do... but actually what haven't we built properly?
We have no real systems in place for sustainability. How could we? ... we've been far to busy in destructive mode, chasing the elusive "Money God" fuelled by lust and greed to focus on actually looking after our planet.... definitely just playing in the sand... not even started to build anything yet...
No systems for community. We probably in reality didn't even know we needed any systems for this. Over the past 70 years as community has slowly dwindled for a variety of reasons... smaller families, increased movement of people, individualism, WiFM (What's in it for me) and capitalism. We have gradually seen the dismantling of community, people don't speak to each other any more... people are fearful to let their kids into the street... walking home from school almost a thing of the past...
All is not lost... in conclusion...
We are in for one heck of a ride. But... there are so many good things going on in the world right now too... it's just the systems, institutions and hierarchies that we have built are going to need rebuilding... and from the grass roots up... that means you and I ... and to do that we need to innovate and CREATE ... which is word 14... coming soon!!
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