Focus on Life™

How can you set-up a society like ours in case you want to repeat the current model from scratch? The instructions are very simple but do not expect people free willingly to align with your system.

Give people an illusion of control but take away their power. Centralise decision-making power away from local level where it would be most useful, effective, and also transparent. The further away and more consolidated the power the easier it is to make decisions that impact and possibly harm a large amount of people, and at the same time make people feel powerless and not capable of being in control and in charge of their own matters.

Release people from their own responsibility and tell them what they can and cannot do. This can be practiced by the powers and centralisation put in place. Most of the people are just relieved if the can obey rules and have a false sense of security where someone else is thinking and protecting their lives—in essence from themselves and their choices.

Control key resources. One of the most effective ways of control is to secure a permanent and exclusive privilege to be in charge of the means for indirect exchange. This instrument allows to manipulate, allocate, and define the direction of the society. One of the benefits of the monopoly is the right to create claims for resources without contributing anything back to the society. Using as a means of exchange something intangible or practically worthless in other usage enables to fabricate money out of thin air. This is very useful way to reallocate wealth in society.

Remove individuals’ means to protect themselves. Practical way to make people passive is to offer them physical protection and in return they are not allowed to use any other means to protect and seek justice. By monopolising justice it is possible to use the system’s resources against the very people it is supposed to protect. There is no objectivity and equality anymore when the asymmetry has been put in place: a private party against the system that is in practise defining its own rules and using coercion as a final means to execute it.

Make people dependent on your system. Create programs and schemes that distribute resources among the members of the public so that the system is acting as a middleman. Offering goods and services for ‘free’ or based on some arbitrary criteria remove the individual’s incentives to excel and support oneself. Direct employment by the system is the most natural way to tie people and resources as an integral part of the system. The more extensive the distribution of wealth the larger the impact and more integrated the system becomes to the society. One of the most effective ways to create dependence is taxation and other schemes that confiscate the financial resources from individuals. In some cases it is enough to keep intact the ‘ownership’ (or the claim for the resources) but centralise the control of the assets, for example by forced savings to dedicated funds.

Create a closed system that keeps people busy and turns them against each other. Imposed fear and lack are ways to produce an atmosphere of rivalry and controversy. Artificial lack can be fabricated by using a monetary system that has an inherit fault in it: there is never enough money to settle all accounts. This forces people to fight for resources and to protect their existing wealth by producing more economic activity out of scarce and limited resources. In short, perpetual growth is needed to keep the system going. By (re)distribution of resources via the system as stated above emphasises the fear once people are made dependent and passive for the ‘benefits’ given to them. They will turn against each other in order to protect their personal sources of dependency.

Remove personal responsibility and liability. In order to make the system work seamlessly it is beneficial to introduce a double-standard moral code where the system is not accountable for its actions in the same manner as individuals are, would they conduct the same deed. This enables central decision-making by selected members of the society without them being personally liable of the consequences of their actions. The system itself starts to live outside of its own rules and principals but is still run by the members of the society. People can only blame themselves—they have carried out all the actions.

Keep away from the limelight. At the end of the day it is not necessary to be a public figure and still influence the system. There are always people available that are willing to do the dirty work, and they can be replaced. Special privileges can be bought and the system manipulated when you have the financial resources for it. Some members of the society have a greater incentive to seek benefits for themselves and for their own advancement than to protect and cooperate with their fellow citizens. They are more than happy to make the decisions that harm the environment, people, pollute the planet, and destroy the future of the society. And in most of the cases they are not even aware of the consequences and do their acts in good faith or out of ignorance. The urge to tell others what they are supposed to do and save people from themselves appeals to many. And after all—who’s there to blame in a system like this?

Everybody talks about it and still we don’t seem to get our house in order. How can we make our planet a better place for all of us? Talk is cheap and so far we have been too ignorant to get rid of the whole issue in large scale enough.

How do you deal with a harassing and aggressive person in your neighbourhood? You let the person know that his or her behaviour is not accepted or supported by others. All of us together define the rules and the accepted behaviour in our societies. By our very actions or non-actions we create our surroundings every day. Our ignorance and tolerance for aggressive and hostile intentions enable them to exist and flourish.

There is a very easy way to stop wars. Just follow the money. Who finance the wars? Who makes the final decisions to declare them? A war does not happen if people are not supporting nor allowing it to happen. Passive and ignorant attitude towards aggressive intentions in massive scale make us sheep that are lead to things that individuals in a personal level would not allow to happen. Our political systems are not stable–they are tilted towards reckless and irresponsible behaviour. All this is possible because of so called collective responsibility and financing—very few decide and gain but everybody pays the consequences, and nobody is personally liable. Things just happen—almost automatically. We cannot control them. Or this is how we are made to believe. The truth is that we just hand over our personal power to other people who are willing to use it, even against us. Organisations, political systems, or ideologies do not fight—only people do. Just think about it.

If you study the history you will find that most of the wars are declared by some sort of concepts or entities called nations, governments, or rulers. But only a handful of people cannot make entire societies into brainless killing machines that just destroy themselves beyond belief and any sense. How do you call a leader without followers? A person taking a walk. There are no wars if there are no people who are willing to fight. There are no wars if there are no enabling financing or weapons. Who makes the weapons? We do. Who finance the wars? We do. Who fights the wars? We do.

As long as we believe in some great archetypes of visionary and omnipotent leaders, rulers or administrative bodies that know what is good for us and tell us what to do there will always be people taking the lead and readily telling others what to do. Responsibility seems to be a very difficult lesson to learn. Similarly using one’s own common sense and reasoning are also rare skills. Why it is so hard to see that there is no such a thing as something for nothing or free lunches without paybacks?

Peace is possible only when we appreciate our own personal power and freedom so greatly that we are not willing to give it away or tolerate violent and aggressive behaviour from anyone. How do you declare wars if there are only people? And more importantly who would declare wars if there are only people minding their own business and protecting their personal freedom against any aggressor. Peace is a sign of ultimate strength—not weakness. So far we have only managed to destroy and create havoc. We have not deserved peace yet—we have not appreciated it enough to make it a reality for us. We have been driven by our personal greed, jealousy, and hate. Peace cannot be imposed—you have to live it.

Out of six billion one person may not sound like much. Still one person can make a tremendous impact on others and change the way things are perceived in the future. Our history is full of persons that have taken the first step and showed the way for others. Nothing gets done if we all wait someone else to make the first move.

You don’t need to be in the news or have a large sphere of influence to be powerful. We all have power but we decide to use it differently, or even ignore it almost completely. Power is not something external even though it may have different symbols and tangible ways visible to us. Power lies within and it is up to us to decide how we are using it. Environment or any external circumstances cannot change the fact that we are the only one making the decisions how to act and behave in any given situation. Only you can compromise your own integrity. Power is clarity of mind. And it is reflected in your thoughts, talk, and most of all in your actions.

Consistency, devotion, and dedication are qualities that increase your power. When you know what you’re doing and do it in a precise and accurate manner this is shown to the world around you as well. You are convincing. People value those that are capable of making their minds and being practical examples for others. Actions speak many times louder than pure promises or empty words. Often we only talk about things but in the end carry out very little if any of the grand ideas presented. Talking is a way to substitute action. A pro seldom needs to explain and use extravagant language to describe something that is already done. Deeds are louder than any words imaginable. What is the best way to silence a doubter? Try telling that you did it already.

So, how do you spend yourday? By your actions you define your power as well. If you are running around and talking a lot with very little substance don’t expect to get great results either. We all have 24 hours in a day. Some use it more wisely than others. Doing things is not talking about doing things. The difference is that you seldom need to broadcast your actions before actually carrying them out. And afterwards the results may obviously be available for anyone interested of seeing or hearing about them. Experience comes from first-hand actions. Your opinions are more valuable if you actually have done the task already. Our world is full of opinions—everyone having their own—resulting lots of talk and very little results. In the opposite case there would be more actions and results and less time to observe others and form useless opinions. When was the last time you preferred merely to talk instead of acting?

For a few centuries we have gotten used to a trend of centralisation in almost all aspects of our life. The centralisation of power, money, influence, businesses, professions, education, health-care, defence, and energy are only a few examples of the current way of the world. Fortunately things do not have to be this way in the future.

Clearly there are some advantages in large units and centralisation of functions. Larger production units are more feasible and can gain economies of scale, but there are also areas in which the accumulation is not based on a voluntary cooperation and freedom of expression. Coercion typically prefers to avoid free competition and transparency. It gets its power from the very subjects that are either by ignorance or by force (or a threat of violence) alienated from their powers (i.e. rights). In all the cases the structures are kept in place by the members of the society only as long as they are tolerated or the veil of ignorance has been lifted from the eyes of the many.

In the past centralisation has been relatively easy. Limited communication capabilities and high transaction costs for different members of the society to directly interact with each other supported this trend. So called middlemen were very lucrative and desirable positions to be. Still today we see many of these operational models around us: banks, traditional media, government monopolies such as post office, healthcare, education, central bank, defence, courts etc. Naturally these are also means to support the agendas of the ones who influence and prefer to have special privileges.

The technology development has changed many of the underlying paradigms in a very rapid pace. Below some examples:

Communications: Mobile phones, email, VOIP (e.g. Skype, Fring), text messages, hotspots, p2p-networks, location and instant messaging enable 24/7 communication that has a capability of reaching millions of people in a matter of seconds worldwide. Typically these means enable cheap multicast type of communication from one person to many that was previously very expensive and available to a few members of the society.

Media: Blogs and social networking, news sites, social bookmarking, multimedia services (e.g. YouTube, Flickr, podcasting, Current TV, Joost), self-publishing, search engines, and long-tail bookstores are among the ways to shape the future of the media and how it is used. New Paul Potts are discovered the minute they appear in to the radar and can gain millions of fans even from different continents. Similarly not so desirable news are brought in to the light that are kept off the main media and freedom of choice enables to pick those items that please and benefit the user.

Banking and finance: ebrokers, internet banks, p2p lending (e.g. Prosper, Zopa), fundraising (e.g. ChipIN, Fundable, GiveMeaning, EcoMiles), microfinancing , PayPal, barter, and egold makes it more cost-efficient and cheaper to obtain loans, select one’s preferred bank, investment or lending partner or even skip the middleman altogether.

Commerce: auction sites, ecommerce platforms, productivity tools, open-source software, and cheap IT solutions enable to reach new marginal customer segments that have not been available without a cost-efficient way of reaching geographically fragmented niches.

Travelling: low-cost airlines and online travel bookings have allowed mass-tourism to take a new form without arranged package-trips.

Information: free online books, databases, websites, ecourses & programmes, wikipedias, and portals have enabled the access for information sources that have previously either been physically isolated or otherwise out of reach for the many.

These were only a few examples how our society transforms and changes every minute. In some areas the changes are more gradual and the adaptation rate is slower but many sectors are realising the inevitable shift in the way people behave and interact with their environment. The choice is always with us.

Go and check this out The U.S. vs. John Lennon. A well-made documentary that shows the other side of John Lennon that focused on social and political issues. The official web-site.

“Dillon, Read & Co. Inc. and the Aristocracy of Prison Profits” is a good case in point how the law is turned into a business driven by high level politics.
The Dunwalke-website puts it another way: “Make a law, make a business.” — Old New Jersey street saying.

See also Rothbard’s brief outlook of Wall Street, Banks, and American Foreign Policy.

Our current societies involve a third party called government that is authorised to incur into any violent actions and force in order to protect its citizens. However just by watching the news it’s nothing new to realise that these powers are also used against the very people who give them to its agent, the state.

A life without a state above its people is possible and here’s an excellent excerpt from Murray N. Rothbard’s The Ethics of Liberty about The Right to Self-defense.

Elections are coming in many countries so it is fruitful to remind both the candidates and the voters how the system works.

The receipt for the power hungry and ignorant is the following.

Firstly, create an abstract system that is superior to any individual and call it something good in general. A state will do if you cannot come up with anything else.

Secondly, impose some rules and regulations that are forcible by violence in case of disobedience when necessary. By the rules and laws take away from the individuals their basic rights and sovereignty to the point that they will not directly exhaust under them. Don’t bother with minorities (individual is the smallest), just make sure that the majority is behind you. Naturally a large part of the regulations are to collect massive amounts of wealth from the population for unspecified common good and welfare of the people.

Thirdly, let the people select some individuals to represent themselves and let these individuals form parties if they like. Obviously these individuals are paid by the state and they are not responsible of their actions to anyone, the least to any individual who has elected them. To elect a representative once in a few years is a great privilege itself and it will suffice. After all, it’s the people who have elected all the representatives and thus they are responsible of their actions as well.

Fourthly, hire state officials and a ruling elite to run the state. Since they are paid by the state they are objective and keep only the good of the people in mind. Give posts for intellectuals in order that they become dependent on the state. This ensures that the majority will back the state.

Fifthly, let the state officials and the intellectuals to come up with more rules and regulations. After all the state is about managing the people, for its own good. Impose also strict penalties for breaking these rules. Enroll a substantial amount of bureaucrats to monitor the overall system and make them write studies and reports. Measure the productivity and demand ever more paper work and red tape in order to keep the system busy and inflated. This is the state’s shop front and thus it has to look busy and efficient.

Sixthly, start to utilise the confiscated wealth for special purposes and privileges benefiting some minority groups (i.e. individuals or entities) defined and decided either by the current majority or by the state officials. Make sure that the decision criteria are flexible in order to adjust for ever-changing circumstances and situations. This is the prime motor of the state apparatus: take away rights in general (be innovative) and provide special exceptions, privileges, subsidies and permissions to few. This creates the prestige and the continuous need for consulting with state officials.

Seventhly, endorse the necessity and great achievements of the state apparatus. Make clear that everything done by the state is for the well-being of the people and the state itself is totally unselfish. Do not forget to add that it is very hard and difficult to take care of everyone’s welfare and thus the current budget is to be enlarged in the future.

Eighthly, create a lot of public debate how some minor portions of the budget should be allocated and to whom. This will keep the public busy and the larger budget moments can be allocated smoothly to the interest groups lobbying and providing the best possible leverage.

Ninthly, favour the majority by budget allocations and promises of better future. Praise the poor and the people dependent on the state aids and state support. Frown the wealthy, rich and those of individual type. Contrast them to the non-profit status and common good of state that is not selfishly focusing on its own interest but the welfare of all. Increase the tax burden in order to make it difficult if practically impossible to become wealthy and thus financially independent of the state. The already rich are only interested to maintain their status and thus they are nothing to worry about.

Tenthly, if there are some domestic problems and public concerns about the justifications and actions of the state blame everyone else but the state (e.g the business cycle, global trade, bad weather, difficult circumstances).

And the bonus: use the opportunities created by the lobbyist, business and most of all the flexible legislation for personal wealth on top of the good pay and perks provided by the state.

The economy is based on the productivity of us, the people. If we are taken off the equitation, nothing gets done either. We live by our efforts and abilities. Everything in our society is based on the efforts of someone, and his or her capabilities. If you need bread you get it from someone who has produced it. Nothing is created out of thin air. We are dependent on each other, and our intellectual capabilities. Some are having more brainpower than others but nevertheless we all are in the same boat. All the work is needed; otherwise the system would not function. If there is no bread how to get the rest done?

There are only two basic ways to work: voluntarily or by force. The first is based on freedom and the second on fear and threat of violence. You can enslave people to work manually (i.e. mechanically) but it seldom works for tasks requiring innovation and creativity. Intellect cannot be forced—it is an act based on voluntary free choice. Therefore any society will first lose the efforts of its most capable and able, its prime motor—the future potential. This minority does not make much noise about itself. It acts like any individual who knows one’s worth and value. They merely walk away and find a place where they are appreciated or simply just stop creating altogether. Why bother and for what?

For us the visible reality is the real thing. We associate ourselves with it and respond to it as well. Often we feel uncomfortable and find hard to match with the world around us. Inside we are at distress with the outer reality. It does not reflect our ideal inner state.

Throughout the ages it has been said that the visible world is not real or it is called as an illusion or maya. Plato had his famous The Allegory of the Cave which described the same with a dark cave and shadows that the people we’re obliged to observe - not the true figures or the outside world. These metaphors are hard to grasp and to realise by us living in the modern world.

Still nothing could be more true. Maybe the phrasing could be different but the original message remains intact - always. This visible reality is the one where we communicate and observe. Still we are present in other planes as well. They are not visible to us but still we are members on those ones as well. Beside the physical body we have also our feelings and emotions as well as our mental capabilities. They are as real for anyone as the physical world itself even thought we cannot see them.

So, where’s the real reality and what does it mean? The world every wisdom tries to illustrate and refer to is the reality of thoughts. That is where anything is first created - it is thought out. Only after that it can be expressed and materialised. No matter are we talking about going shopping, building a house or even speaking. First it has to be created and then it is a matter of realisation depending on the case at hand.

A thought without any feeling is not complete. Saying ‘I love you’ without a feeling is meaningless. Similarly the feeling or the passion / desire has to be combined with the thought. Together they are something. This applies to talking, building a house or any other matter. (The third required element is power or will to execute or carry out the matter but this is just a hint for the considerate reader and not relevant for the topic.)

Why should we not focus on the outside world and instead purely concentrate on the inner higher reality? No matter where you look you find the wise words that encourage to look inside or as Pythagoras has so nicely put it: “Man know thyself then thou shalt know the Universe and God.” These should not be understood in a manner that one ignores the visible world or isolates from the world. They purpose is to encourage to focus on the essence or the source where everything is really taking place and where one can have control and real influence on the visible world.

First this may sound quite a bizarre or contrary but just consider how much in control of your world you really are? Are you pretending to be in control or just really facing the facts that you are only an observer for the occurring events. A feeling of being in control is not the same as having a real influence on the issues and understanding what’s really causing them. Can you have a peaceful and happy life?

Some people can. And they have followed the advice. They have realised that in order to achieve something one has to look inside and find it first there and only after that can it materialise in the outer world as well. Actually nothing can prevent it from occurring shall the desire be strong and persistent enough. Why is this so hard to believe and start to implement?

Simply because we are used to live and look outside of ourselves. We take it as granted that by doing something in the outside world we can make something to happen in our desired manner. But what happens when you start to do this? One creates a perpetuity machine without even realising it and having a chance to jump out. Often only the final desperation makes the person to get out of the cul-de-sac and start to look inside for strength. Only then can something start to happen. The reason for this is very simple. The outside reality is just a mere cause of the activities that happened before - ie. the results or the reflections of the mental thoughts and feelings. Nothing can ever change in the outer reality till the thought and emotional structures are changed accordingly.

One has to ’see’ and ‘feel or believe’ together the desired outcome first and only then it can start to happen. If you just look the current state of the visible world and take it as granted without any creative and passionate effort then nothing will ever improve or change. Actually the opposite often happens. A negative spiral is created - things look so bad and hence I will be so depressed and so on. Naturally a positive inspiration and feeling is also possible to happen - then only the sky is the limit - isn’t it?

Why is this so hard to believe - still? Since we do not see the real reality and thus we do not consider it matters. We think that we can think, feel or say whatever we feel like without much consideration or significance. And look the state of the world today! Have we been able to live in peace and love each other as humans? How about your thoughts and feelings - only loving and peaceful everyday and towards everything, permanently?

Maybe we should start to consider more carefully the wise words repeated so often to us throughout the centuries. We even have living proves of people who have achieved a permanent state of tranquility and happiness. Even the latest science do not disapprove this. Einstein and quantum mechanics can do wonders if one wants to study them. Why is it so that the observer effects the observation or to put it differently the thought effects the thinker.