create
The traditional approach to life has become one where we work our little arses off for 40 years, vegetate for 5 years and then die…nice eh?
The word tradition is a funny one. It implies that this is the way that things have always been done, but in many cases and in all avenues of life, traditions are rarely very old; its just that they become ingrained very quickly when they are deliberately used as tools by the puritans and capitalists that prevail in any particular age to subdue the masses into doing their bidding for them. I say puritans and capitalists because I think the two are closely related, they are the nay sayers, the party poopers, the haters of freedom and free expression They need us to conform to serve their own ends. If you don’t buy a bigger TV or a new car they lose out, it hits them in their pockets hard if you don’t play along. And it threatens the very fabric of the system they have invested so much time onto creating.
The whole system is cyclical and that’s why the whole system is in such a bad state at the moment; we are at the bottom of the latest cycle of boom and bust. They are so bloody greedy that they cant see the futility of their actions and they have grown accustomed to using politicians as puppets. All of the politicians are of course out for their own pocket lining reasons, so the game is sealed up from the start. The capitalists got so greedy that they nearly spoiled the game for themselves; except that they didn’t really, because they knew all along that no matter how bad it got, they could just put pressure on the politicians to print more money and restart the game.
They are now in a phase where they have creamed off most of this newly printed loot for themselves and are holding governments to ransom to print even more. They aren’t lending it out to people to buy houses and they aren’t lending it out to the small business that need it to keep running. If they don’t pay it out to these groups then the game stops for a while. But the accumulation of wealth doesn’t stop for the top 1% of the wealthy, because they just keep skimming off the cream. Eventually of course they will allow the game to restart. They are just allowing the pressure to build and re-filling their own coffers for now. Once they feel they have done enough to get back in the game at a strong advantage they will. Then you will see the cycle start to go around again. They need to leave enough time to allow for a bit of forgetting by the gullible.
The plebs have to forget how good the house prices were before, we all have to get used to it the way it is now…so that they can start to improve it for us. House prices will start to rise very slowly toward the point where they left off, but not for many, many years, maybe 2 decades. It used to be that they could only make money when the market was growing, when values were going up. Then they figured out a way to make money when things were going down with short selling and casino style trading. The only time they couldn’t accumulate new wealth was when the markets were static, but now they have figured that out too. Just let the pressure build enough so that the governments feel so threatened that they start up the printing press.
However, they overlooked one thing, for the game to keep working and to build back up to their previous success levels, the punters…you and me, have to keep playing; and of course enough of us will to allow the game to continue for a while yet. There’s also enough demand for a place in the game from all of the people who previously missed out in the developing world. China and India want a go on the funfair now and then South America and maybe even eventually Africa, by which time the previously developed world will have gone through enough generations to have forgotten the bad times and it will all start up again.
Work
However, you and me don’t have to play. The beauty of such a connected word is that development time for ideas and movements has shrunk immensely and we can now choose to do things differently. The irony is that we always could make that choice, but now its easier.
There was a time when we all thought we had to conform to tradition, go to university, get a job, build a career, take the death pledge (mortgage), work until all of our good years were over, build a pension, retire and then die shortly afterwards, completely bewildered that its all over already.
Our parents followed the plan like sheep in their droves, but every now and then there was a renegade sheep, a trouble maker, a layabout, idler or free spirit. There’s more of us of that mindset now and our numbers are growing due to the ease with which ideas can spread and take hold.
The old traditions have been found wanting, found to be false and more of us now are being true to ourselves. A lot of us are catching on half way through and realising an immense feeling of freedom and exhilaration.
The trappings of wealth have been found out, they are actually the trap of work, a little consolation prize paid for with our freedom, our spirit and the stifling or even murder of our creativity.
The idea that we can own a house or indeed own anything is crazy…we are all going to die soon, sooner than any of us usually care to think about. That’s why we need to be shirking work and creating a living; a life for ourselves.
Look at the state of the world we live in, all around is Poverty, Hunger, Misery, Depression, bad Parenting, Divorce and Melancholy…is that worth perpetuating? I don’t think so. That’s why we need to do things differently from now on.
Embrace the Old Traditions
In the old traditions people still worked, or rather they created beautiful, useful stuff out of thin air and they were revered for their skills and brilliance They enjoyed what they did, they rejoiced in celebration with their compatriots and they lived closer to nature and embraced the seasons. Some were specialists, but many were jacks of all trades, like many of us are now. One eminent blogger calls this multi-potentialism and it is the antithesis of the modern coercion to specialise, to concentrate on one career path or skill set..bollocks to that..have a patchwork lifestyle if you damn well want to..in fact do what the hell you want to every day and forget what you’re told to do by the puritans..the fun killers.
These traditions run deep and are real traditions and real history. The rest, the mortgages, the ownership, the work ethic is new, imposed and manipulative and serves the ends of others not us.
Make Things
You can reclaim your freedom, the spirit of your elders and ancestors by simply being creative and looking for ways to make that part of your strategy for improving your life, and the lives of those you surround yourself with and whom you encounter in your daily life.
No Goals
One of the most damaging aspects of this new go getting life that we are all supposed to live to keep the big hamster wheel tuning is the continual setting of goals and targets. There can be no better way to control people than to encourage them to set unattainable goals and then to beat them up when they fail…reject goals. Attainment of goals is futile and takes your attention away from what you feel best able or up for doing right now. Surely the way to be productive is to be spending your time on the things that crave your energy this very moment? Missed goals of course equal misery, pressure and anxiety, so why put yourself under that unnecessary pressure in the first place. It’s certainly crazy to allow someone else to put you under that sort of pressure. We’ve all been slaves to the tyranny of goals in the past, its time to forget goals and put our energies into creating beautiful things.
How do you feel about traditions, creativity and goals? Let me know in the comments and share your experiences.
Photo thanks to Vandan Desai via Compfight