You Aren’t What’s Wrong With The System

Hey friends! I have three posts coming up for you over the next three weeks. 

There has been a LOT of talk lately about liberation from the systems of oppression. Lots of talk about why our society is so messed up, and what we should do about it. Lots of talk about why we are destroying our planet and bodies. Talk about why we are so divided.

I want to explore what I think is our route to true liberation. I want to dive deep into what I see as being the fundamental, root issue that’s leading to the imbalances we see on the planet right now, and how we can shift that so as to create new systems that actually work for us.

I would really love to hear what you think - either at the end or at the end of each section, so do leave me your comments. Let’s take this apart together and see if we can’t come to some pragmatic steps forward.

We all want to see a better world and a better future - so let’s really explore how we can create that.

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We Aren't Going To Consume/Produce Our Way To A World That Works For Us:

We aren’t going to produce/consume our way out of the problems we’ve created for ourselves via over consuming and producing.

We aren’t going to BUY our way out of our issues.

We aren’t going to have individuals ‘consciously consume’ all the way to liberation from the excesses of culture that lead to the deliberate and tangential exploitation and impoverishment of the many.

When the system we are working with is built upon foundations that are out of sync with reality, we aren’t going to make small tweaks or changes to that system and find relief from our issues.

The fact is, our current model of LIFE is built upon the idea that THINGS are what have value. That profit IS the end goal, that production of goods is inherently worth something in and of itself, that goods and services are worth something in and of themselves - and that we the people must bargain, earn, compete and squabble for them - proving our worth to the system in exchange for having what we need to survive and thrive.

This is TOTALLY backwards. This entire model is fully built on a LIE - the lie that ‘things’ are of value, and that life must earn the right to have access to things.

Think about this for a moment.

We’ve created a culture where we equate ‘working hard’ with being something virtuous. With being important. With being something that then makes you worthy of having your needs met. But this has no pragmatic end point - there’s no understanding of working hard ‘enough’ to create what is actually of need and of value in so far as providing for us what we require to LIVE. Rather we are now swimming in a culture where we don’t know what our needs are, what enough is, so we produce, produce and produce, as well as consume, consume and consume to EXCESS - having no idea where the boundaries of practicality are because we aren’t working or consuming to meet needs. We aren’t working for the end point of being able to support ourselves so we can then explore what being ALIVE is - we’re producing and consuming for the SAKE of producing and consuming. The very act of production and consumption have become the POINT - instead of the means to a very practical end.

In a HEALTHY society, production - working - would be a means to an end. It would be done just enough to gather and create what we need to support ourselves, and we would only consume as much as we need to support ourselves - and then we would spend the rest of our time LIVING. Enjoying. Playing. Expressing. Communing. The point of work wouldn’t be to earn status, value, perceived worth - it would be what it is in reality - a method of acquiring what’s needed so we can have an experience.

We have a system where the rich are getting richer and richer and richer off of the menial labor of the ‘wage slaves’ below them. We have a system BUILT on the idea that some people are more deserving/worthy of having their needs met, of amassing more and more wealth, power and influence at the EXPENSE of the masses. These people RARELY offer back to society anything even close to something that’s as valuable as the amount of resources they’re hoarding - and yet so many of us don’t bat an eye at this, or even SUPPORT this system, because we have bought into the idea that being rich and powerful is a GOOD THING. We want it to be possible for ourselves, we want to believe it’s possible for us, and thus we allow those who are in these totally manipulative and harmful positions to stay where they are - even celebrating and praising them as symbols of liberation - when they are in fact PURE symbols of the systems that REQUIRE that large masses of people don’t have access to what they need for basic survival. 

People Who Can't Meet Their Basic Needs Aren't 'Not Trying Hard Enough':

Our current system of wealth generation was BUILT on some people deliberately holding more than they need, using force and violence to get others to do inhumane levels of work and labor so that they could amass wealth for themselves. This is how ALL productive nations got their start - a powerful few exploiting the labor and time of the group to create large amounts of goods/services that then profited the top and left the bottom masses begging for scraps. Forced into work. No other choice but a life of suffering.

This eventually morphed into the culture we now have - where we no longer have masses of people who are knowingly enslaved in a system that will NEVER give back to them what they are putting into it, because what they are putting in goes straight to the people who already have way more than they need, but rather we have a WILLING society of working slaves. We have hordes and hoards of people that go to work, perform services that - if they quit we would ALL suffer greatly (think garbage collectors, teachers, nurses, janitors, farmers, checkout clerks and so on) - who don’t make nearly enough to cover their basic needs. Meanwhile we have people like CEO’s, athletes, entertainers and so on who are making MOUNTAINS of dollars off of the backs of these exploited workers - literally are ONLY in the positions of wealth and power they are in BECAUSE they have people under them working for less than what would support them - and we let it happen because we are convinced that we too, if we work hard enough, could become rich and powerful like the people at the top.

We’re told that the people at the top got there through hard work and offering something of value ‘to the marketplace.’ We’re fed this message over and over - they pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and ‘made something’ of themselves. They worked the long hours. They sacrificed time with their families, their health, the free time in order to WORK - and look! It paid off! We are sold the idea over and over again that if we aren’t covering our bases - it’s a fault of ours. We’re not working hard enough. We’re not doing the right KIND of work. What we have to offer simply isn’t valuable and therefore WE aren’t worth having our basic needs met.

This is all a lie.

This entire narrative is a total lie. 

The reason people don’t have their basic needs met in a society as rich as most of us live in - has nothing to do with their capacity/incapacity to work hard/be productive/hustle. 

MOST people who earn less than a living wage are working MUCH harder than the people being glorified as the heroes and saviors of our culture. MOST people who live paycheck to paycheck work multiple jobs, long hours, sacrifice their health, their happiness and time with loved ones in order to work and STILL don’t have what they need to make a decent life for themselves.

To think that our society has poor people, people who are in systems of crime, people who are incapable of ‘making it’ in our economy. because we have a lot of lazy or unmotivated citizens is insanity. 

Rather, we have a system that doesn’t value life - and what we DO value, for the most part ISN’T ACTUALLY VALUABLE.

Again, when we look at the people who are working and not making enough - we find essential workers, health care workers, cleaners, maintainers, people who grow our food, who transport goods, who caretake - in REAL REALITY if these people quit their jobs - we would all SUFFER. Greatly. Society would fall apart without these people - and yet, they are barely surviving/not surviving.

On the flip side, we could EASILY stop consuming what’s produced from ALL celebrities, stop watching sports, fire all C.E.O’s and investment bankers, people who have amused wealth through the stock market and - biggest of all - get rid of all the people who simply INHERITED their fortune - and society? Would be perfectly fine. Probably better off without these people and the systems that are supporting their wealth.

It’s a total sham to say that people are earning what is reflective of their service to society. Our economy is not based on actual value - it’s based on the illusion of wealth, power and entertainment - those are the people who are ‘thriving’ in our current economy. Not people who actually offer needed services to humanity.

Again, this idea that anyone can just pull themselves up by their bootstraps and garner success - it’s a lie. The very fact that so few have so much is a reflection of the fact that they are earning in a system that NECESSITATES that people ‘below them’ stay there. There has to be limits on upwards mobility for massive groups of people in order to sustain the obscene hoarding of the people at the top of our society.

Our Systems Of Wealth DEPEND On People Not Having Enough:

Let’s be very, very clear about this - there are NOT enough resources on this planet for all of us to be millionaires. For all of us to live how the rich live. There are not enough resources on this planet for all of us to eat how the rich eat, to have homes like the wealthy, to travel like the wealthy, to own things like the wealthy. There isn’t enough human labor for everyone to have the LIFESTYLE of the wealthy where they are served, catered to and supported by low wage earners. There.is.not.enough. In order for them to stay where THEY are, they NEED people below them who can’t get out of their low earning jobs, who don’t have access to education, who make due with not enough, who SUPPORT the system by being willing participants in their own slavery, who are trapped in cycles of crime and poverty - in order to be where they are.

Those at the top REQUIRE slaves.

Require the poor.

Require that there are people to scapegoat, create fear around, to attack and belittle and shame.

They are where they are BECAUSE of the systems that abuse these people - full stop.

It’s only possible to be wealthy because of the poverty.

We have been SOLD the idea that things will fulfill us. That success in this system will fulfill us. We’ve been told that we are at once going to find meaning, individuality, identity, community and purpose in the things we CONSUME and PRODUCE - and we’ve been sold the idea that if we’re unhappy, struggling, depressed, anxious, coping, self sabotaging or in any way not making enough money to support ourselves that WE are weak, WE are broken, WE are flawed for not fitting into the system - rather than seeing that we are REACTING to a very broken way of life. We have bought into the lie that goods and services are what are of value. We’ve bought the lie that consumption and production are means to joy, fulfillment and purpose. We’ve bought the idea that people should have to EARN their right to live, and that our system as a fair grading system - that it’s making objective choices around who is and isn’t offering something of value to society. Thus, if you’re poor, you deserve it. You failed in some way and it’s your fault. The system has it right and YOU are the problem.

We have been sold the lie that people are making individual choices and it is THAT which is determining the outcomes of their lives. 

We are being sold the idea that anyone can be healthy if they just choose to be.

That anyone can make millions if they just find their niche, work hard enough, provide enough value. That anyone can create an ideal relationship.

That anyone can move up in this world if they just put their minds to it.

That anyone is capable of educating themselves and then offering something back to society that will then be valued.

We have been told that anyone can find meaning and purpose in this economy, that if we all just ‘discover our unique gifts’ that gift will be automatically valued and we will be given ‘abundance’ if we ‘step into it.’

We’re told that it’s possible for anyone and everyone to have a great life - you just have to work for it. We’ve been told that those with addictions, mental health issues, physical health issues and so on - who aren’t generally considered ‘valuable’ in our society somehow CHOSE to be that way. That they could have ‘fixed their lives’ and chosen to make something of themselves, but instead just chose to be weak, drains on society.

We’re told that if we had a system of social welfare where people automatically had their basic needs as a guarantee, that this would discourage people from working and contributing to society - that this would create a welfare state where everyone is just looking for government handouts. We’ve been told that humanity is naturally weak, lazy and unproductive, and it’s only thanks to the few intellectual/hard working top tier people that we have anything good at all.

This is the biggest lie of all.

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Have a sit with this, and I'll see you next week for part two!

<3