Wealth you can own comprises only material things or energy. (Of course there are also the truly valuable things like love, but that's not what I'm talking about.) By cultural pressure, habit, and necessity, when we find ourselves without enough -- or with fear of not having enough in the future -- of material things, we sell our labor, typically for employment but sometimes by contract.
The problem is that we let society tell us how to do it. Those blips on a computer screen representing pieces of paper that used to represent silver or gold, which itself represented value somehow -- those blips are at quite a remove from real value, when you look at it that way. We continue to work for them because they continue to pay the bill at the grocery store. But we rely on them, and they could be devalued at any time, and the system could come crashing down. And they keep us beholden to a system that seems to respect our interests and needs less and less.
Hear talk of starting a revolution (non-violent, of course)? The next thought is that the powers that be are so very wealthy and powerful that a revolution could never succeed. But what constitutes their wealth and power? Having a lot of money and things, of course, constitutes wealth. But it's only by social agreement that you (the wealthy, powerful person) can keep that wealth. In other words, it's the law, which exists by social agreement, that protects your wealth from other people simply taking it. And power comes from the people around you, your bodyguards, the people who work in your company. All these people support you because they see their well being coming from -- depending on -- their relationship with you.
In other words, it's all by social agreement. People take part in this agreement because it seems to benefit them and their loved ones, sometimes to the point of keeping them alive.
Most do it through employment. For x number of hours per day, you sell yourself to me. You use your energy any way (or most any way; of course there are some limits to protect the employee) I tell you to do it, and I will pay you for each hour. Typically the higher the pay the more latitude the employee has in how to do things, how to use his/her life energy to accomplish the employer's goals. Some jobs allow for true creativity and flowering of the employee's energy. Others put the employee in a box and require even moral compromises in return for that paycheck.
Widespread obedience to the system encourages the system to expect obedience. And so we go on a spiral of giving up more and more of ourselves. And because the people at the top want more for themselves, we get less and less for what we give.
The start of the way out is to reclaim your energy. The first step is to recognize that you are a person with rights, including the right to use your energy in the way you want. Sure, necessity is ever present, forcing you to use energy in one way or another. But do not assume that the only way to satisfy necessity is through traditional employment, which perpetuates the system as it is.
If working at McDonald's or Walmart is the only way you can keep your children fed and clothed, I am not suggesting that you quit. But start thinking, as much as you can, less in terms of working for a paycheck and buying, and more in terms of creating and swapping. Got a little patch of space in front of your house or behind it, or maybe in a public area where you are allowed to plant things? Plant some vegetables and harvest them for your family. (But first get the soil tested to make sure it's not contaminated.) Cook more of your own food, rather than eating and serving prefab frozen stuff from boxes. Buy and sell things at yard sales.
Most importantly, talk to your children about skills they can develop so that they can work independently of a job. Independent contractors (tho not always called that) work in fields including landscaping, housecleaning, writing, editing, computer repair, medicine, and law, to name just a few. Work is well compensated in some of these fields, not so much in others.
If neighbors and friends need something that you can do for them but they cannot do for themselves, be generous with your help. Next time you need something that they can do for you but you cannot do for yourself, most likely they will be happy to help you out, if only selfishly, to show you that what you did for them first was worthwhile, so that you'll do it again next time they need. This is the start of a barter system.
Money has the advantage over barter that money is fungible; you can use it anywhere. But barter has the advantage that it is between just you and one other person, with no intervening government to mess with the value of your money or collect tax. So tho you still need money to live, you can increase your wealth by bringing barter into your life. And trading services informally could help you find something you can do that people are willing to pay for, so that you can work by contract rather than employment.
Think of your life energy as something you can trade, in creative ways, for the things you need. If everyone does these things, we will all become gradually less dependent on the system.
In short, I think the way the system seems to have us on the ropes comes from the way we have come to view the system. IF we can see ourselves as more independent and act accordingly, we can weaken the system and perhaps, I dream, expose the system for the mere mental construct that it is. Then we can start to create something better to replace it with. That is revolution.
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- Only we can save us.........
