Sunday Stream (275) ~ Capitalism

Poetic insight & philosophy by Cecil Lee.

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mtmynd
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Sunday Stream (275) ~ Capitalism

Post by mtmynd » March 18th, 2012, 12:59 pm

[note: I was going thru my writings and came across this which I wrote May 28,2002. That was nearly 10 years ago and it still has relevance for today's materially oriented world that so desperately wants the latest and shiniest new products that are cleverly marketed to all of consumers]
Capitalism

Upon reading two news articles on the net today, I found myself curious about Capitalism.

First article was about the Arctic and how the Inuit have noticed that the winters are shorter and far less cold than they were in years passed...how new insects have been noticed, ones that their language has no names for, since they have never seen them before, and how the meat from their traditional food source is sickly, i.e., the animals have something wrong with their intestines, and the general feeling that the earth is not right. The Inuit can no longer 'read' Nature, because things are changing.

Second article I read was about Santa Fe, New Mexico. This has become a region where the drought has affected the mainstream way of life. The watering of lawns is limited to once a week, and may be reduced to none at all. However, there is a large self-contained community there for the very wealthy, a community that has its own clubhouse and large golf course. It seems thru some fate that the owner of this complex has the water rights to use as much water as he sees fit to keep the golf course green. The locals are up in arms, so to speak, about this waste of water. This self contained community insists that it has the right to do so, because it is a business. If the golf course died, the fancy community may no longer have the rich moving there.

I was reminded about the fragility of our planet by those two articles...how other obnoxious activities are occurring throughout the world in order for its peoples to feed their families. The Amazon rain forests being logged mercilessly, and for what? - money to buy food for the loggers, money to buy homes for their families.

I could recite volumes about how the earth is being depleted of its resources, but I think most of us are pretty much aware of how much is being lost for the sake of financial survival. And that is the point: "financial" survival.

We have come to call it Capitalism. Free trade. International commerce. No matter what we call it, there seems to be no regard for the consequences of capitalism. We, collectively, consume daily the earths resources at a neck-breaking speed, multiplying at a tremendous rate, each and every one of us requiring food, shelter, energy to cook our foods, keep us warm, keep us cool. Over 6 BILLION (when written) of us folks needing this precious commodity - energy - to keep us from dying, to keep us healthy, to keep us happy.

Energy has a by-product - heat. Apparently this global warming has something to do with our consumption of energy, wouldn't you think? Do the people that control the energy give a shit? They are in the same capitalist boat as we are...but they are behind the wheel, driving us to destinations unknown. Where is our port, out harbor...what shores shall we wander upon when and if we reach one?

We all may have opinions, but all opinions are cheap. The earth has no price. It is our home. Nature is our provider. How do we live equitably upon this one rock in the universe and not destroy our home?

Has the time come to face these questions with honesty...with a straight face...with no bullshit clouding the issues? Does capitalism have the answer, or is it time for something new?

[end]
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That last question I feel is more important now than it was 10 years ago. There simply isn't enough money to go around our 2012 world population of 7 BILLION people a quick and snappy way of saying our global population today, 3.18.12 has reached Seven Thousand MILLION people, each one requiring nourishment and shelter at their very minimum. With every grain of rice or every glass of water up for sale to the highest bidder we are headed to a disaster never before imagined in our history upon this singular planet.

Only yesterday I was startled to read an article where "one of the worst poaching massacres in decades, as many as 200 elephants have been killed for their tusks since January by poachers on horseback from Chad and Sudan..." These innocent and nearly extinct animals who have shown a high degree of intelligence, were (apparently) slaughtered for a "... rising demand in Asia for jewelry and ornaments made from elephant tusks." This happened in Cameroon's Bouba N'Djida reserve

Take the lives of 200 endangered animals only to saw their tusks off their lifeless bodies and then thru a moneyed system eventually reach the supplier who in turn will make jewelry from those same tusks and sell them to the highest bidder. Capitalism is flourishing while wisdom and compassion are barely surviving in the drought of common decency and our most precious need for beauty... and how can the beauty of a wondrous animal such as an African elephant ever be replaced by some jewelry piece that incorporated that same animals tusks?

We have gone mad in our untamed and senseless desire to make money for a singular purpose - to survive, some to barely escape hunger and thirst all the way to those who feel they cannot survive without an extra 10 million dollars in their bank account... unrealistic our world, this world of hu'manity, has become.

This is what happens when compassion (our highest form of love) has no room in our societies to thrive... when wisdom becomes a foreign language that has no purpose in our narrow-minded lives where the fixation for money has become the gauge of our intelligence. We will eventually pay for our shortsightedness, perhaps not in our lifetimes but the debt will have to be repaid and far too many will reap the consequences.

The only solution on the horizon is that of seeking an alternative to our present form of exchange... one that values our hu'man brothers and sisters over the amount of monies that presently have a stranglehold on the peoples of today. Will that day ever arrive? Like all things for our species, we will always be faced with two choices. It is incumbent upon our instinctual goodness to choose that which benefits the well-being of this planet.


cecil
3.18.2012

Picture of the Week:
"Togetherness"

Image
photo: cecil [taken in Santa Fe, New Mexico... artist unknown]
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Re: Sunday Stream (275) ~ Capitalism

Post by stilltrucking » March 18th, 2012, 8:16 pm

new definition of a socialist, "a black man with power" That kind of change won't happen overnight but you know that. In the meantime some say we have passed the tipping point so it doesn't matter anymore, nature, or Nature, or nature's God, will change everything for us.

another sunday stream
I enjoyed and picture too.

Cultural evolution can be very fast, one generation I think, maybe it has happened already and I missed it. So paranoid Cecil, I see plots against children everywhere, corporation man, organization man, a generation of vipers out to seduce the children into capitalistic slavery.

this bit is puzzling to me, makes me feel I just don't get it. "not enough money"?
There simply isn't enough money to go around our 2012 world population of 7 BILLION people a quick and snappy way of saying our global population today, 3.18.12 has reached Seven Thousand MILLION people, each one requiring nourishment and shelter at their very minimum. With every grain of rice or every glass of water up for sale to the highest bidder we are headed to a disaster never before imagined in our history upon this singular planet.

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Re: Sunday Stream (275) ~ Capitalism

Post by mtmynd » March 19th, 2012, 12:23 am

Re: "this bit is puzzling to me, makes me feel I just don't get it. 'not enough money'"?

With damn near everything having a price, is there really enough money for everyone to pay for their very survival anymore? That is the point I was attempting to make. 7,000 million of us, J.T., with more on the way. I simply don't see how that many people can be treated equitably, i.e. fed, clothed and sheltered... the bare minimum most us need. The competition seems to be really fierce and getting more so each passing month.

Good to see you up and about, amigo. I was beginning to wonder about your health... you well know how we old timers are, eh? The weather and our health are hot topics! :lol:
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Re: Sunday Stream (275) ~ Capitalism

Post by stilltrucking » March 19th, 2012, 9:18 am

I been working with the hypothesis that the universe holds everything we need, that nothing is lacking.
I read an interesting quote from Goethe, "everything is metaphor" Joseph Cambell says God is the metaphor for what our intellects can not understand. I am paraphrasing that.

That is how I use the Word these days when I talk of tipping points and nature's G d.

I been wondering about my health too, I guess it is pretty good for a fat old man. But the drum of time is beating so loud I can hardly hear eternity. So I quit tobacco smoking. My lungs can't take the strain anymore. I use an inhaler to quell my nicotine addiction. Thanks for taking an interest. Hot topics indeed.
:)

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Re: Sunday Stream (275) ~ Capitalism

Post by mtmynd » March 19th, 2012, 12:14 pm

Re: "I been working with the hypothesis that the universe holds everything we need, that nothing is lacking..."

... except enlightenment. that would help immensely.

hu'manity is not much until the light comes on and we realize we are part of the universe... one tiny droplet in the oceanic eternal.


Thx, J.T.... I have to go drop off Nate's rental videos and pick up a couple of necessaries at the local Albertson's. We were under attack most of the day yesterday and thru half the night by an massive wind storm that obliterated the views most of the time. What a relief to wake this morn and let our dogs out to a quiet rain gently washing away the dust that penetrated most everything outside.
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Re: Sunday Stream (275) ~ Capitalism

Post by stilltrucking » March 20th, 2012, 9:30 am

Logic is not my strong suite, jest wondering if there would be more enlightenement if there was more money. :?

Front came through, cool and rain. Grass is as high as an elephants eye cause the lawn mower don't work. Listening to the bear and his wife discuss the mower reminds me of the old Odetta/Harry Belafonte song "There's a hole in the bucket"


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Re: Sunday Stream (275) ~ Capitalism

Post by mtmynd » March 20th, 2012, 3:58 pm

Re: :"...jest wondering if there would be more enlightenement if there was more money..."

Probably more enlightenment with far less money. Money began with the exchange of silver and gold... as we all know both of those elements are shiny and causes one the distraction. The green and even plastic those have evolved into don't hold the same attraction but with enough of either, cash or credit, can buy us the shiny distractions we hu'mans so dearly love. :lol:

The weather here has been about as strange as I've ever seen it---- it began Sat with a beautiful, calm, clear day until mid-day when the winds began turning into a city-wide dust storm that lasted until late evening. When I got up Sun around 5:00 or so and let the dogs out, I was blown away by a gentle rain going on. That went on until mid-morn then blue skies and clear day... until 1:oo or so when all of a sudden hail came blasting thru banging on the windows for about 5-6 mins covering the ground and then a very loud thunder clap overhead brought a terrrifically hard rain going in different directions. This blue thru after about 15 minutes of so. Again blue skies and calm until early evening when there was snow! not enough to cover much but brought down the temps to friggin freezing. It stayed cold and breezy throughout the night until the next morning when winds began again... gusts that were straight from the belly of hell screaming thru my leaky windows. Winds stayed with us off and on thru-out the day and most of the eve including cold weather (just 5 days earlier it got up to the high 80's... so warm I was thinking about turning on the a/c!). This morn the winds were up a bit but the cold never left... some 34 degrees with a wind chill that lived up to it's name.

How's that for a report? It was free... only you had to pay for your internet provider. Damn decent of me, if I do say so myself. ;)

It's 1:55p and I gotta get some food down me... leftover pasta casserole I cooked up Sunday night. Sorry, J.T., but there's not enough for you otherwise I would email you a plate...

Cut the grass before the rain raises it another foot... or find a hungry goat.
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Re: Sunday Stream (275) ~ Capitalism

Post by stilltrucking » March 20th, 2012, 9:02 pm

It must have been one of those blew northers that blue through. I betcha you did that on purpose. 8)

Spelling ain't my strong suit either :wink:

My sister has been thinking about a goat.

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Re: Sunday Stream (275) ~ Capitalism

Post by mtmynd » March 23rd, 2012, 1:16 am

Re: "I betcha you did that on purpose."

I could win that bet very easily but it would be akin to taking candy from a mere child. That was a misprint that snuck right by me, amigo... on my left side actually, attaining a speed that left me breathless as the noise roared leaving a field of dust in my vision. Wicked! ;)
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Re: Sunday Stream (275) ~ Capitalism

Post by Arcadia » March 25th, 2012, 10:30 am

It´s quite probable that money will be more virtual than the original idea for most of us in the following years and at the same time the mainstream world will be even more money oriented. Are we ready for that kind of surface dissonances??? I don´t know, but I always have a vague faith. :)

gracias for the stream, Cecil!!!!!!!!

saludos,

Arcadia

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