Solving the Problems of One's Own Living

With all the talk about what somebody else (government) can do, what is never discussed anymore, is the possibility that one can solve their own problems -- by themselves, as their primary responsibility, and the objective of their very living.  Unless one does that, the situation is indeed as hopeless as the vested interests make it out to be.  

That is the culture of these times -- cultivating the belief that not only is it necessary to achieve anything except by organizing a mass number to go along with them -- in forcing someone else to do something for them -- but is even thought to be impossible that one can ever, or should try to do anything for themselves anymore.  That is exacerbated by living in crowded cities which foster this feeling and sense that one is powerless, and the victim of their own environment -- rather than the creator and master of it.

So the only thing left for everyone living in such a society, is to force somebody else to do something for them -- and never simply and more efficiently, to do it for themselves -- first and foremost, and then if that proves impossible, to mobilize and organize more help.  That is obviously the first resort to solving any problem -- and not making one's own problems, everybody else's -- who have their uniquely own problems to solve.

Even the gravest problems of our times -- casting a shadow on out to the future, is the problem of increasing dependency, caregiving (for others), running out of money and people to do so, if everyone requires more than themselves to take care of themselves -- as though it were a gigantic pyramid scheme favoring those who got in first, and have secured all the assistance they can before any others can establish their claims to it.

In that manner, there is never enough to go around, because the more resources available, is quickly absorbed by those requiring evermore, and so these problems become predictably worse -- as the problems of living in contemporary society.  How will we be able afford 30 years of being totally dependent on others to take care of our daily living and every need?  The obvious answer, is that we shouldn't be living that way; that is not living at all.  That is merely consuming as many resources as possible -- as the American way of life -- as an end in itself, without any productivity, meaning and purpose.  Certainly there is no fulfillment, as everyone simply gets worse, and is encouraged and supported to do so.

The wise ones will be the first to recognize the futility of that way of life -- as well as the true objective of human life in becoming more independent on everybody else to fulfill their every need, and will realize nobody else could serve one's own needs and purposes they can themselves -- or would want to.  Otherwise it becomes prohibitively expensive trying to force another to do what one could do better for themselves -- each and everyone of us.

That is the life we can choose for ourselves -- and no longer be the pawns and victims of everybody else -- in the nameless and faceless, "government,"  which we've come to accept unquestioningly, as the definitive authority on such matters -- because we ceded that power to them, and has become an irrevocable and exclusive right.  Meanwhile, they work and live in cubicles -- as the "best of all possible worlds" -- because that's what everybody else wants to do also -- hoping to accumulate enough of a fortune, to allow them to be completely useless, for 30 years or more.

There has to be something obviously wrong with that "dream scenario" -- that all the financial advisers and care industries, are adamant that they are the future.  We see it playing out in the test tube environments like Hawaii -- where the cost of living is 5 times higher than the mean everywhere else -- and those at the bottom, are ignored until they ultimately just go away -- somehow.  But that's not a plan -- or any solution.  That is not the desired "Paradise" one hopes is the best place one can hope to be -- because the cost of that caregiving, is the highest in the world, and for that reason, families must band together even tighter and unfailingly -- for that purpose.

Otherwise, they just go away -- and nobody knows, or wants to know of their fate somewhere else -- because they have for all intents and purposes, perished -- because certainly that is the fate of all who no longer reside there.  But the reality is that most invariably go on to much better lives -- although they can no longer surf everyday.  Life goes on, and gets better, as the objective of their lives -- and not simply to get worse, so they can consume infinitely greater resources -- before everybody else beats them to the punchbowl.

Societies are laboratories of experimentation to find out what works -- better, trying the many things, and not just forcing everybody into the one -- that is predetermined from birth for everyone.  That is a society still living in the dark tribal ages of brute force determined by whole can amass the larger army to force their ways on all the others.  In this case, it is those who can control the vote.  And that becomes an end in itself -- just to exercise that power, and nothing else.  It does not matter what they do after the election -- and nobody cares anymore, and didn't even care to vote.

Those are the experiments in "democracy" that go wrong -- because they overlook, or have no guiding principle of greater independence and autonomy -- as the real reasons for being.

"The Total Package"

There used to be a time when time and resources were so scarce, that any one person, could only hope to be proficient at one thing -- even and especially at the expense of all other things.  In such a world, one might be a good breadwinner, but also be the worst person in the world -- to achieve that.  

The idea that any one person, could be all things, or as complete a person as they were capable of being, was such an alien concept, that anyone suggesting such a thing, was thought to be suffering from delusions of grandeur -- or at the least, be unaware of their shortcomings and inadequacies, and probably repressing and denying them -- to make themselves "look good."  A few thought it sufficient, just to look good, or to control the image others had of them -- even if it meant "false and deceptive advertising."

All that mattered, was getting the other(s), to buy what they were selling -- even if there was no actuality or substance behind it (the claims).  That was notably and distinctively, the 20th century mind(set) -- of everyone being less than a whole person in themselves, as the ultimate realization of society as an mass manufacture assembly line.  In such a society, each individual, could only do one thing -- repetitiously, and unvaryingly -- until they themselves broke down from that mechanical repetition.  Then younger, more nimble hands would replace them.

But what became of the old and weary?  More often than not, they just continued in their downward spiral of disintegration and deterioration -- but were compensated for their years of service with pensions sufficient to keep them alive.  But other than that, there were no guarantees of "happily forever after."  For that, each was left to their own designs -- and fates.

At that point, many begin to fail -- even when all things may be as equal as they will ever be.  That happens because life is more than just about "making money" -- but reveals itself as the sum and totality of the whole -- and not just one part, no matter how disproportionately expressed and developed relative to the whole.  It is the whole -- and balance, that gets them to where they want to go, and be.  Many realize that too late, while others never realize that at all -- and the is the reason for their underlying sense of incompleteness and incomprehension -- that makes life seem endlessly more difficult and hopeless -- even when they thought they were on the verge of utter triumph and vindication -- in the one sliver of their focus and preoccupation.  Meanwhile, the world was collapsing around them.

Then we read about such lives in their spectacular dissolution -- that invariably, most did not see coming -- because they too, were focused on only one parameter of their activities, and not the whole of that life.  When that is finally seen and understood, then it all makes sense -- and nothing else was possible. We cannot infer the whole from the part, but necessarily have to see the whole as the whole -- and not selectively repress and deny what we like, and see only what we want.

That has been a problem for as long as people have thought they knew something worth knowing -- and distinguished themselves above the others -- as God's chosen few.  Reality and actuality, has no such separations and fragmentations -- into those who know, and those who do not -- as many are wont to do.  That creates the difficulties of their lives -- the artificial and arbitrary divisions, making the transition from one to another, difficult and impossible.  Each individual, is the totality of the whole, as the indivisible -- of the good and bad, the knowledgeable from the ignorant -- and embracing that acknowledgement, is the comprehension of the whole -- and not the continued endless arguments of the parts -- thinking they are the solution to anything.

Thus it is said, "Those who know, do not talk; those who talk, do not know."