The Rock and The Spot

If the love of money is the root of all evil and comparison is the thief of joy, then why is our society and subsequently our lives centered around it?

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The room

Imagine we are watching a room full of people; in here there is plenty of food and water. In a corner of the room, one sat down and would listen to people and direct them in what they should or shouldn’t do in life; they were considered to be wise and respected. Some time passed, and so did this person in this corner of the room. Upon their passing, the people in the room missed their presence and suggested they should bring that back. So they agreed whoever were to sit in this corner would be this person; everyone would listen to this person and what they had to say and the direction they would point to as a group.

This was fine for some time when this person was an advisor, but when people assigned the power of wisdom to this specific spot, it spoiled people's perceptions of what was real. Everyone was confused and thought that the spot was what brought the value and not the wisdom of understanding. Soon everyone wanted this spot, and sitting there became the highest ideal.

As curiosity was fostered within the hearts of the people in this room for the spot, it opened the door for all possibilities, whether good, bad, or indifferent in pursuit of this idea. Some people will run, others will trip, and some will wait and do nothing.

While everyone was running for this spot, someone was tripped. Now, since there are certain actions that happen that almost always instigate an immediate response, like tripping, the one who was tripped shoved the tripper, which ensued a shoving match. The shoving match turned into a fight, which turned into a fight for life, leaving one dead. Now this was the first person killed, and it shocked everyone in there. “How could two people let themselves do this to each other? What a shame,” they thought. “This needs to change!” They said. But it continued, and this became a way of life, a life of revenge for everyone who was to be hurt while running for the spot. A spiral.

When the people became tired of the ruthless eye-for-eye living, one decided to rise up and say, “Who are we? What have we become? Are we animals?” And instead of suggesting they change their ideals away from the spot, they suggested they create a more righteous way of revenge called 'justice,’ and they called this idea law and order.

For some time they sat, and they deliberated and made rules of what was okay and not okay to do in pursuit of this position. “You can do this, but only if this happens before. You can't do this no matter what. You deserve a trial in front of everyone, and they will suggest the outcome of what happens to you.” Everyone was happy that they had new checks and balances and there was less overt blood.

One day one of them rose up and said, “What does this spot do for us? We have everything within this room already." The people stopped for a moment and thought to themselves, ‘He is right’, until one of them stood up and said, “No! That's not true; why would we have it if it was worth nothing? My father died trying to get it; was his death in vain?” The man whose father was killed told everyone that this guy does not honor the death of their ancestors. The people got mad and they killed the one who rose up. When the law got wind of it, they agreed the death was righteous. Stating “his ideas and words gravely upset law and order and cited everyone to remember the days of old when their ancestors were living under an ruthless animal order of eye for eye with no order. We cannot return to that.” Everyone agreed to set this as a precedent for the future to stop dissidence.

The spot remained, and the people continued.

While people were pursuing the spot, they were getting innovative in their pursuit. And groups started to form; with more brute force, they could take the spot with ease. When the other people got mad and said, “What about our rule of law?" The group responded, “We have our own rule of law, and it says we can kill you to control the spot!” Then the other people formed their own group and began to fight first with sticks, then stones; from stones they went to metal, and the evolution never stopped.

At some point in time someone looked into the past and saw the progression of the weapons used to kill the enemy and began to praise the spot, saying, “Oh great spot, thank you for helping us create the sword to kill our enemies. Without this spot, we would never have the sword to defend ourselves. Thank you, great spot! You saved my life from them!” Everyone heard his prayer and agreed, saying, “What would we have without this spot, eh? Look at all our progress!”

One day, one of the men within one of the groups was holding the spot, and he had a wave of realization wash over him, sobering him to the thought of betrayal. He saw that if he were to leave this spot for even one moment, someone might betray him. So he became afraid to leave the spot to go eat. He became hungry—very hungry. He tried to endure as time went by, and he started to devise a plan on how to get someone to bring him food. So he looked around and said, "Wow On the ground, he saw there were some yellow rocks that didn't look like the rest; they were shiny. He started to collect them, and one day he picked one of them up and said, “This rock resemblance is shiny and beautiful like me! There are a finite amount of them, like there is a finite amount of me; they resemble my power! Look here! If you were to have any of this rock, you will be able to feel like me.” The people all looked in awe and eagerly agreed and started to search for the rock. They would do anything for this rock to feel like him. The king took advantage of this and gave the people this rock to fetch him food every day.

Soon everyone who did anything required this rock in exchange for their service. Music, carpentry, and food fetching were all corrupted for the exchange of this rock; no one was doing it for the love of it, and they were doing it because everyone wanted to be like the king. Society formed to move around, and with this rock, one had to participate in the functions of the rock to function in society. Let's call this rock gold.

Some time went by, and one who was observing everyone chase after this ‘gold’ began to speak out. He was saying it was ludicrous to believe this rock had any real value when they have all they need. The king got nervous and got him killed promptly and swiftly.

This cycle continues, and eventually everyone forgets why they are in this room and what the purpose of the spot is. All they want is either the spot in the room or a lot of rocks.

After some time, they started to petition the creator to create more spots and more rocks because this was unfair. Tales were developed that in the next life everyone would have their own spots made out of rocks. Everyone was happy in this hope and continued to make the prayer for it to come true.

Instead of praying to not seek the spot, they sought more spots.

The creator gave them more spots by making more rooms with more yellow rocks, but this did not suffice the appetite of man, and this only led to more affliction.

Amidst the torment of this ‘curse’ every now and then, ones would come and preach the opposite of what the people prayed for. To stop wanting the spot and the rock. This indicates to the people praying that they don't value their prayers; they don't value their God. They were charged with heresy and were often if not always killed.

Times went on, and they would say there is a curse in the ground for making this rock and having space for the spot. And instead of leaving the rock alone and the spot in the corner and gathering in the middle to eat and enjoy the tastiness of the food, they kept the fight for this rock and spot.

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Back to real life,

In real life, we have all agreed to fabricate life around these ideals, the rock and the spot (cash, gold, power, and fame). Since gold is finite, power is competitive, and fame is isolating, when we pursue these three things, we begin to partake in a scarcity, competitive, and isolating mindset, believing that this is the only way we will survive, and we get the negative side effects and outcomes of holding said beliefs.

In this paper, I will talk about the current systems fixation on power and cash. I will show the side effects of the system and how it is maintained through improper information diffusion and incentivized ignorance. I will then go into what I believe the highest ideals of society should be, which is enlightenment. Not just the enlightenment within the soul, but enlightenment in all subjects shared amongst all of humanity.

The room that I explained above is what we are all in. We have sacrificed the bountiful nature of the world for the pursuit of these finite ideals. We have also sacrificed what could be a collective ‘good life’ for the pursuit. What is a good life? a life dedicated to the soul and curiosity. Life is made for the exploration of the soul while in your body. Life is not for the surplus of the pleasures of the body.

Internal anguish

Giving your body anything more than what is needed to thrive is internal anguish. It is felt and internally seen as wasted time.

The soul’s desire is to achieve a higher union, learn the complexities of this world, and contribute to all while learning.

As we focus on things that do not directly reflect the soul, we suffer because the soul is limitless, yet we are acting in a way as if it were not.

Our society forces our souls to perpetually witness ourselves pursue a dead-end outcome as if it is limitless or the source.

This leads to massive internal turmoil.

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Today

I have seen frequently on social media that we people that are feeling this internal anguish are labeled as weak and must muscle through it. Saying things like women and men two hundred years ago didn't feel this way, so you shouldn’t either.

This is ridiculous. In a parable, do not curse the horse for hesitating to be driven off a cliff and say its father never hesitated in running through an open field.

Men and women back then didn't have to go through and do the same things we have to—we have far more fruitless pursuits. They had a more enriching life with goals beyond only making money; they were much more in tune with their environment and pursuits of real and higher education for the betterment of themselves and their communities. Now higher education and even caring for the environment are all quantified for cash incentives.

We can't contribute in the ways we want to because we are told we won’t be able to survive and thrive. The system disavows our ideas and input. We as a species desire new innovation and ideas. And a society that values profit maximization and power does not desire new innovation and ideas, for it disrupts the current status quo by potentially upsetting the current beneficiaries. Therefore, the system naturally rejects and suppresses the new ideas we have to offer, leaving us with the feeling of worthlessness and futility.

It feels as if we are unable to escape the latches and grips of the greed for money and power. Very few of our options in life are pure from this systematic greed. We realize this internally, and it pains us; this is one of the causes for this global epidemic of sadness and disgruntlement in life.

It is not because of genetics, mental weakness, or even a curse that we feel this way, but rather because it is environmental, either through regulation or cultural stigma, we are being disabled.

Many of the options today are corrupted. 

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Why don't we seek to know?

Inherently, the system promotes us to believe those who are thought leaders are the ones who know, and if they say what we believe is wrong, the risk of ostracization for thinking and saying something different is too great.

Whether we would gain the adventure, the truth, or the wisdom, we miss out on all of it for not seeking what we yearn for.

Are we the pursuit, the outcome, or the desire?

All three desire the highest ideals, so the other two will follow, and the fruit of the three will better portray our souls.

There is something to gain from seeking the truth, even if it has been found before.

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Missed opportunities

Something I have seen in Africa is people will listen to whatever the eldest says because culturally it is believed that since they have lived the longest, they know the best. No matter how right or wrong the claim is, they will listen with full faith. Age is social rapport.

Is that much different than in the west? with professors, thought leaders, pastors, and social media influencers. Positions with social rapport, and we often listen with full faith and therefore fail to question what we ourselves believe or want to know. The only difference in the west is we have the choice of who we will listen to, and it won’t just be our fathers or grandfathers.

Imagine the amount of possibilities that are missed out on in the west and in Africa because we have taken the answers of one of these thought leaders instead of finding the answer for ourselves.

Hierarchy through information inequality

The foundation of the system is information inequality, and the hierarchy is created to support this ideal.

The current system's power is ‘protected’ by keeping the mass of people unenlightened in the fact that there is enough for everyone to survive, thrive, and learn. It seems to be under the mantra, “Ignorance is a tool for the system, and education is a weapon against the system.”

People will become subject to miseducation that their friends and family are unfit to be in the know.For example, when the printing press was first invented and reading became more accessible, there was an actual opposition movement of people that believed society should not learn how to read, for it would threaten social order, and that the common man was unfit to read, for he would be too dangerous.

Looking back at this, we can all see how ridiculous this is, and it is completely rooted in the desire to uphold and perpetuate the status quo.

The core belief that our brothers and sisters will abuse knowledge, for my demise, goes back to the scarcity and competition that the current system relies on for value. We know the place where the value is found is false, but something repeated enough times, even if it is known to be a lie, will be regarded as a truth.

Information 

I am not talking about information purely in the realm of knowing equations but more so knowing where society is moving and by what means (think innovations that will make this movement possible and why society is society moving there).

Where there are people, there is money, and if you know where the people are going, you can position you and your assets there for the increase of value in things that are currently undervalued and make that profit of the difference. The financial system is a by-product or outcome of society; it is a reaction, not the source.

Opinion leaders

When one makes more money, they have more power. They will be paying people to work for them. This means they will be the source of people eating. If you control what a man eats, you kind of control them. Most of us are risk adverse when it comes to jeprodizing our own and families meals; that is why “we tolerate evil.”.

I don't see humans as inherently evil, and I see most ‘evil’ acts are done out of reactions to an event in their lives, causing them to think they must do this act to survive. I am not saying evil actions do not exist. I do, however, believe if people were more educated on limitless potentials, they wouldn’t be seeking to commit acts of desperation rooted in finite ideals.

The man who is paying everyone will also be seen as an opinion leader. These people want to continue their grip on the movement of society because they gain so much that they often dash any newcomers, and then we get the cycle of bad actions toward each other.

Birth of Isms

Tribalism and idolization take root in these scenarios because the opinion leaders naturally hire people that look like them to enforce their legitimacy because they understand each other and have loyalty for growing up together. Think Italian mafia.

People then cheer for ‘their’ person to become king of this room because they will look out for them more than the ones who do not look like them. This is the root of racism and other isms. We fear those who don't look like us gaining control of this room and subjecting us to the harm that has been done historically to the non-controlling party.

IE Rwandan Genocide: One tribe controlled the country during the colonial period, and they subjected the marginalized group to egregious horrors. When the colonial party left, they put the other tribe in control, and that tribe sought revenge for the past. This is a game of eye for an eye. Now tribes fight for thousands of years, and 'that's just the way it is.’.

This is the cycle the world is going through in America with the Blacks and Whites, in Mali with the Bambara and Touregs, and in Mexico with the Spanish vs. the indigenous. Its everywhere. We have to forgive our ancestors for their actions. Because ultimately those actions weren’t done to us, but we hold grudges and the negativity like it was.

All of this is upheld through not having the understanding that there is enough for all of us to live and this'spot’ in the room is made up. Where it is understood there is enough for all, there will be little to none of the ignorance.

Classism, racism, all isms are based off of this; remove that, increase awareness, and all isms disappear, and awareness is the only worthy thing to take ignorances place.

“Most of us hate anything that we don't understand." Kris Kristofferson, The inverse of that would be to love what we do understand.

We hate what we don't understand because we were punished as little kids for getting the ‘wrong answer’. Humans hate punishment; we began to hate what we didn't understand out of fear of punishment. To get out of it, we have to love to understand what we don.

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Everything seeks to be perpetuated/live forever. In our case, through collective loss

The system encourages the participants of the system to perpetuate the system, usually unknowingly.

Participants will engage in social and physical contracts of implicit and explicit ‘investment’ and ‘agreements’. Pressured to fill our side of the obligation because of shame, false pride, and false nationalism Participants will engage in legal, financial, political, and physical war even if it's a loose-loose scenario because we can't let our country down, even if they are going to lose in the scenario ahead. Participants fall into a sunken cost fallacy; we have invested so much we can't back out now.

What a system is built on is what it’ll beget—in this case, shame. There is a lot of it here, and we will feel the shame in our participation. You cannot separate the building from the foundation. If you milk a goat, don't expect to get cows milk; expect goat milk.

The system is also set up so that if one of us were to fail, others would be burdened with the liability of the financial or social reputation loss. This subconsciously implies to the participants not to try anything new, for we dont want to burn our fellow loved ones. We are in a collective loss model, not a collective win model.

Also, to leave or change a system we are also implicitly invalidating the belief that ‘its just the way it is’. That is very hard for us to accept sometimes, when we have been told our whole lives there are no other alternatives, and if there are any, it is only the lesser of two evils.

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Nobodies truly winning in this.

Even the financial beneficiaries—a vast majority of them—are very unhappy with the life they are in. To be a beneficiary, you have to love the game of power and money. Granted,  some of them love it, and I don't take that away from them. If that's what they love, that's what they should be doing. But a majority of them are only doing it because they were told to do it, so they take on the belief to love money and comparison to keep their success. Then, although they gain the world, they lose their souls, and a life has been wasted before the body was put in the dirt.

Anything beyond sustenance and thriving is unneeded and feels like wasted time. 

We are living this life like we can take any of it into the spirit realm or after life. The collective knowledge of this causes pain. Our bodies come from the earth and have an internal biological clock for its time to stop working. Everyone's time is different, as we all know. The experience in this body is finite. But our experience as our soul is infinite. We trade in our valuable time within our bodies for finite resources that have no benefit for our souls.

There is simply no amount of money that can cover the cost of unfulfillment.

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How to get out of it

I believe we should change our highest ideals of human success to enlightenment in all subjects and not accumulation of currency and power, so that we can save ourselves the pain of dying long before we hit the bed of dirt waiting below.

Everyone is worthy of knowing what we seek to know.

If not everyone, then who is worthy to know the truth?

I am worthy to know the truth, and if I am, then you are; if you are, then we are.

Liberalizing the flow of information

We can't teach everyone everything—for now—but we can make it easier for them to learn when and what we desire more effectively and efficiently than ever before. Which is really cool.

Through technology like social media, AI, and Wikipedia, along with positive cultural encouragement—beyond school—to learn and share results, we can progress more effectively and efficiently too.

We could be in a win-win model where failure is learning, which is winning, and achieving the goal means physical, social, and emotional progress within society, which is also winning.

Think of the improvement for all of the human condition that would ensue in a system where knowledge is equitable to all. A non-physical thing can be given equal to all. It is only a matter of priorities.

What I like to think of is that there are books hidden away in corners of old libraries that are written in less spoken languages (Tamasheq, Tirgraynian, Sanskrit, etc.). For hundreds of years, this knowledge was reserved for only the ones in this region who could read. And now, with technology, we can fast scan this information and convert it to any language, and now that information will be taken into account when searching about specific topics. Now there are secrets from long ago from the labor of our ancestors that are being uncovered for today's and forever's use.

Historically

Historically, anything that has greatly eased the flow of information has improved society's mental and physical well-being. No matter how suppressed or expensive it may have been at the time, it has become a way of life. All suppression of truth has been surmounted by the desire to connect with our fellow man more effectively and bring benefit to our communities through problem solving.

Inventions that quickened the flow of information:

1. Baskets (20,000 BC)

2. Pottery (18,000 BC)

3. The wheel (4000 BC)

4. Domestication of the horse (4000 BC)

5. The sail (3000 BC)

6. Written history (3200 BC)

7. The pull-behind carriage (2000 BC)

8. Printing press (1440)

9. The engine (1712)

10. The train (1804)

11. The telegram (1837)

12. Asphalt (1870)

13. The car (1886)

14. The airplane (1903)

15. Satellites (1957)

16. Telecommunications (1960s)

17. Social media 2000s

All of these have eased the flow of truth, information, people, and commerce faster, therefore creating a more educated and innovative society. Curiosity and empathy are the roots of the creation of innovation. The spread of ideas and knowledge is the main driver of improving human and environmental conditions.

Who will farm?

Some people love to farm; let the farm.

Who will do medicine?

Some people love to do medicine; let them do it.

Who will clean the streets?

Some people love to do public sanitation; let them do it.

I believe deep down we all know a good life is achievable for all and all of our needs can be met (I can prove that logically with math and stats in another paper).

Furthermore, we don't need to operate out of scarcity anymore. People love to do certain things and trades within society that create functions of day-to-day life, like farming, electronics, mechanics, and so on. We need a society that creates the opportunity for all to do what they are inclined towards and make a change if it was not the right decision as efficiently as possible.

The atrocity is forcing people to do things they love that are under the grips of money and power, because these things are curiosity and innovation. We all just want to dive into our own curiosities and creativity to contribute to the world. What you love will either bring new ides of efficiency, design, and function naturally, or you will see the secrets of the universe in what you do. This is all very changeable. We still can survive, thrive, and do any other “ive” in pursuing our very own unique contributions to the world.

Humans and ecology—Mycelium

Have you heard of Mycelium? It is the backbone of fungus, one of, if not the most survivable species here on earth. The way it works is through highly efficient information diffusion and partnerships with other species. When it grows underneath the soil, it goes around and makes connections and agreements with other species that will benefit both parties through the exchange of information or goods like minerals, metals, and gases. IE Mycelium is aerobic, so it consumes oxygen and dispels carbon dioxide. It is often observed to have relationships with anaerobic plants to exchange O2 for CO2.

What I find fascinating about mycelium is how it transfers information to the entirety of the organism it is in contact with. There could be two different mycelium structures that are both massive, and when they meet, they will not fight one another but instead will diffuse everything they know about the environment and hostile and friendly species completely and totally equally.

Mycelium moves as a whole but still as independents. I think we humans should model our societies closer to this than what we are doing now. That is one of the ways to achieve “equality” and prosperity. We could accomplish great things.

The way I look at humans and ecology as a whole is that we are seeking to constantly relay information back and forth to evolve and better improve the life condition here on earth.

Social Media

I see social media doing what books and letters used to do just far faster. People often discount social media as some drug, but I highly push back against that because, if you really look at it, people are going on social media to learn in one way or another.

Every single thing about social media is to learn; whether it's fashion, cooking, laughter, news, innovation, or social justice, it's all to learning. We just haven't realized its potential fully yet.

My speculation for the future inventions will be something like this in no concrete order:

• Extremely cheap and safe energy

• Fast and instant transportation

• Telekenesis/Evolve past languages—maybe a global language.

• Better information-retaining abilities.

• Microchiped information that can be put directly into one's body and one can learn a mass amount of information instantly

• Access to all of the global libraries and archives instantly

• Translate all of the languages ancient and present to something understood by the receiver.

• Merge with technology; our bodies will become bionically enhanced; the mind will be enhanced with technology; but the human soul will remain.

These are just my assumptions on what will happen for better or worse. But ultimately, I see the world going in this direction and becoming an ever more connected place. The days of hierarchy or rule and systems based on finite resources are soon to be over. Humanity is on the verge of a consciousness merger just through innovation and information diffusion.

Conclusion

Imagine the progress we could make if profit and power weren’t the highest incentives but rather exploration and understanding. The fulfillment and happiness one could achieve in this life is gaining valuable wisdom and truths to pass on to the next generation. All it takes is a shift in mindset alone. A shift to look deeper into our immediate surroundings and the complexities and curiosities of our mind, and then relay it to others!

The way forward is together. Not through common loss and strife, but curiosity and exploration. We do not need a common enemy; we need a common cause. And I believe that the common cause is Enlightenment for all.

Thank you,

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Things that didn't make the final cut.

The danger of a more educated population is not as dangerous as an ignorant nuclear war.

It is inherent in humans to pursue truth. When we pursue truth, we fill purpose. We can make our societies better in the physical and mental sense by encouraging the seeking of truth.

Seek not to fill your coffers with money but rather your mind with information, your heart with content, and your table with friends and food to share. For this is a healthy life.

Enlightenment in all fields should be the highest goal.

Seek the source, not the reaction: reaction vs. source

Finances are a reaction to your environment. If we chase money, it is like a cat chasing its tail. When you chase a reaction, you get frustrated from the feeling of lack of progress. When you chase the source or enlightenment, all things that come and go benefit you because all things come from the source. Not all things come from money and power.

The system rewards inequality, therefore rewards evil acts in some way or another.

Humans are not evil and do not have to suffer the mental anguish we have today.

The less we know, the less we can do.

Ignorance benefits only a few and harms most.

Can't enslave an educated man; can’t educate the slave. Educate a'slave’ and he is no longer a slave.

The truth will always win.