I think we all share some familiarity with this phrase. Usually uttered by someone near and dear when you were dealing with life altering disappointment. I can recall hearing it, or some variation, from parents, sibling, and friends. Quite frequently coupled with 'life's not fair'.
Which is a very valuable lesson that we all need to learn.
Cuz, life isn't fair. In fact, real life is downright harsh and brutal.
Which is something that we humans, as a species, by and large, have forgotten.
In the past, when I've heard the utterance of 'welcome to reality' it was in an instance when the working complexities of modern American life were suddenly revealed, when the unfairness of the system was naked and apparent.
I think in the future the phrase will take a whole new meaning.
Cuz the 'reality' I was sarcastically being welcomed into, is in fact, an all encompassing illusion.
Pause for a moment and consider the uproar surrounding the finical market, and realize that the average person's lively hood is tied to a system that deals almost solely in intangibles. Face it, our entire economic system is just a huge Monopoly game. There's very little real, tangible substances underpinning the market. If it were based on something concrete we wouldn't have hedge funds,or be able to just print more money to pay a debt.
(If I tried to do that, which, given the right equipment, I could.... I'd end up in jail.)
The capital stock (or just stock) of a business entity represents the original capital paid into or invested in the business by its founders. It serves as a security for the creditors of a business since it cannot be withdrawn to the detriment of the creditors. Stock is different from the property and the assets of a business which may fluctuate in quantity and value.From the Wikipedia entry on stock.
Note the word 'represents' in the first sentence. When you buy stock yer not buying anything real, yer buying an idea of something. If yer lucky, you get a piece of paper to represent your representation, though now days I'm sure that's not quite as common as it used to be. Supposedly you are paying for a part of the business, but I'm sure if you turned up and tried to use your part ownership in some real fashion all sorts of hell would break loose.
In real terms our entire monetary system is based on the idea of the value of a dollar, and the dollar is no longer tied to anything real.
And even if it were still backed by gold. What is that in reality? It's a pretty rock, that in and of itself really isn't good for anything. You can't eat it, use it to make a fire, or wear it. If yer stuck out in the middle of nowhere with a lump of gold, it's not gonna do you much good. Though I guess you could throw it at the bear that's trying to eat you and hope you have good aim.
The only real value gold has is the value that we agree to give it.
Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context.[1][2][3] The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past, a standard of deferred payment.[4][5] Any kind of object or secure verifiable record that fulfills these functions can serve as money.Again from Wikipedia. I added the emphases on 'generally accepted', cuz it just goes to prove my point.
The whole of modern human existence is a consensual illusion that we all automatically embrace. The vast majority so deeply immersed that we think this is the only way the world could be. The truth is, the world could be a vastly different place, if we choose to make it such.
The era of industrialization is coming to an end.
And I'm not seeing a graceful decline in the cards.
We need to start asking ourselves what we want the future to be. We need to realize that our lives, as we have made and accepted them, are in REALITY just one big game.
Ask yourself what happens if the market collapses?
What happens when a dollar is only worth the paper it is printed on?
What happens if the oil runs out?
I'm not saying that any of these are going to happen anytime soon. I know better than to make predictions. All I'm urging you to do is to entertain the possibility. Play 'what if' for a few minuets. I feel that this is a very vital thing to do. Cuz we are living in a house of cards.
And I think most of us realize just what that really means. If you've never tried to build a house of cards, and I'm sure there are quite a few in the younger set who have not, give it a try. (Pokemon cards will work just as well as a traditional deck.)
We need to start trying to come to grips with the realities of the world. We need to start thinking seriously beyond the present game and asking the hard questions.
What is life going to be like when the environment is used and polluted beyond repair?
How would you move around, heat your home, if there were no oil?
What do you have that you could trade for a side of beef?
What are we going to do when our Monopoly game comes to an end?
Maybe if we start thinking about it now, we'll have an answer when we really need it.
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