The Paradox of Modern Life and Economy

Off you go into the countryside

There was a time when a very substantial portion of the human population lived off the land in rural areas scattered across the planet. Since the industrial revolution, large portions of human population began to move towards cities to engage themselves in industrial production and other pursuits related to an urban life.  Consumption of energy and industrial production began to increase and with advent of things like antibiotics,  human population too began to increase rapidly. Nations that could produce and consume at increasingly large rates or provide for increasing consumption to other parts of the world grew rapidly. It is here that an inherent paradox and contradiction began to be built into modern economies.

Many realize that the current rates of consumption in the most developed economies such as the US are not sustainable. As resources like energy and materials diminish, the planet may run out of cheap resources. On the other hand if humans begin to reduce consumption and return to simpler lifestyles, the economies will stop growing and sink into recession. It is a case of die if you do and die if you don’t. That is why economists in the US jump with glee when retail sales and consumption increases as it did over the last quarter but that pushes up the cost of dwindling resources like fossil fuels and the economy tends to push back into recession all over again causing repeated dips.

Of the two scenarios, one of increasing consumption and the other of reduced consumption, common sense appears to suggest that reducing consumption, at least excesses and wastages, is the more enlightened way to go. It should be welcomed. However, governments and  economists would prefer that this does not happen because if consumption reduces, GDP growth reduces. The national budgets are a percentage of  GDP, therefore an economy in recession implies that governments would be compelled to either reduce expenditure or go into debt; or go into deficit and monetize the deficit (print more paper money in excess of GDP).But then a day comes when the debt becomes too large to service, some of it is defaulted and cheap debt is no longer available as has happened in Greece.

Incase a government reduces expenditure then it is unpopular with the population as is Greece, Ireland or UK currently. An unpopular democratic government then gets thrown out in a democratic election. In case the government goes into debt, it can postpone its problems for a future government or future date. If deficits are monetized then inflation takes place and that is like an additional tax on all citizens, an invisible tax, that is not shown in the tax returns but hurts much more since it hurts the poor as well as the rich. Since the democratic countries are the dominant ones in the world today hence an economic philosophy that is favored by governments that are elected for short terms prevails. Hail consumption, who cares for grandchildren.The sad truth in some countries though is that they are the grandchildren of past excesses. The future is here.

In the meantime, while governments struggle with these problems some people loose their jobs and end up on the street. In a recent post, John was commenting in his blog that persons ending up on the street and begging are despised. To my mind stepping out of the economy and its stress is not such a bad idea for a person who is willing to enjoy not much more than sunshine and fresh air. However, if a person gets into begging that is despicable since it involves bumming on someone else. It is better for such persons to return to the land and make a simple living out of it.Backed by the government a planned move back to the land can create a huge number of quality jobs and there is a separate post on that called AM farms in this blog. Just search for it using the search tool on the top left corner of this blog.

I presently live in India and have witnessed the rural way of living that is still not very different in some parts to the way of living prior to the industrial revolution. In some cases the life is hard, especially if the weather gods have been unkind (The worst off were those that went into debt from time to time encouraged by modern or traditional bankers, eventually forced into suicide) but in other cases and that is still the majority, rural farmers have a little surplus to tide them over the bad years. They do not have the luxuries of modern societies but they are stress free and happier as a result of it, most times. If they have some surplus they build a cement and concrete house. If they do not have a surplus they build a mud and thatch house that comes for free. It requires labor but the labor is often spread across several years so that it is not a pain. They have no money for medical treatment and medical drugs. Hence they die peacefully without having to suffer debilitating side effects and conditions like cancer. Most are able to grow enough wheat for their own consumption and if you think carefully this is a versatile food grain, a variety of grass that can sustain a human diet. Think of the many forms wheat can be turned into. First there is a range of leavened and unleavened breads. Then we have cookies, biscuits and cake, with a bit of processing one may have noodles, pasta, pizza, khus khus (a North African thing) and a croissant. When one grows wheat then that produces fodder for the cows. Farmers who keep up to four cows end up with at least one that is in the milking stage and that provides butter and more protein or cheese. Once in a while two or three cows begin to produce milk simultaneously and that is the time to sell some milk and get a new wardrobe for the family. When a farmer gets too old to farm, either his son does the farming or he sells/rents his land and lives off that. No wonder more of poor rural persons laugh more often than rich urban ones who are found to be irritable and sulking frequently instead.

When I told a modern economist of an economic model based on reduced growth (that included proportionately reduced government expenditure) for a change, the urban economist laughed heartily. The laughter was a pleasant change. He remarked that a diet based on wheat is not a low carb diet, that he is currently on. None of the farmers I met had ever heard of a low carb diet. When told about it they laughed heartily.  Similar laughter on all sorts of sundry things is common with this lot of unsophisticated ruffians :)

Holy, Holy, Holy

Once I read somewhere (I forget the reference) that many meetings are like a visit to the toilet. It involves much sitting, noise and eventually the outcome is flushed down the toilet.

As Raymond pointed out as a comment to a post in this blog, as regards spiritual matters, much time is wasted in worthless spiritual discussions and arguments. Nothing could be truer. Spirituality involves many things that are felt rather than seen. It also includes abstract concepts and therefore a meaningless argument becomes all the more likely. As a simple example consider how meaningless is the argument between two men about whether a particular actress is sexy or not. What is sexy to one may be repulsive to another, since in such matters much personal experience and taste is involved. Just as beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, spiritual understanding is in the heart of the beholder.

Consider the frequent argument between, theists and atheists whether God exists or does not. Often the argument takes place without bothering to clarify what a person means by God. God is not seen and therefore different persons develop different concepts about God. To one man God, the Almighty, is someone who sits on a crystal throne in a crystal mountain surrounded with shining white robed angels that keep singing – holy, holy, holy. To another person God is merely the entire universe, both the seen and unseen aspects of it. If two such persons began an argument about whether God exists or not it is quite meaningless. If both believed in the latter argument that God is the entire universe then too the argument is meaningless. There is nothing to argue about in the latter case.

The two that regard God as the entire Universe may however argue about the fact that the Universe or Almighty God has an intelligence that can interact at a personal level or not. It might be just dead matter. However this argument too would be futile incase God was such that it left alone those who do not grant it a consciousness and intelligence, and only interacted personally with those who did. If this were the case both persons would be right.

Coming down to more specific arguments two persons believing in God and engaged In a spiritual discussions may begin arguing if God is inside us or we are inside God or if God sits separately on His crystal throne to the melodious chants of holy, holy, holy. On the other hand to a person who believes that God is the universe then all of these positions could be true simultaneously. A mighty king sitting on a throne is also a part of the universe; we too are inside the universe, while some of the universe is within us. We might even regard the Universe as our eternal father since we are made up of elements from it and say that I am inside my Father and my Father is in me, or we might say my father and me are one since the universe is one single entity.

Regarding the Universe as a Father of all of us we could argue endlessly about the fact that a particular saint was the Son of God or not and go to war over it. Or, we might just silently say that he has to be a son of God just as we all are.

We could go on to argue that a mother is a Virgin or not, or that a virgin birth is impossible while a doctor may come along and say that he does that all the time through sperm injections. We might then argue that a virgin birth is with a spirit or matter without defining what a spirit is.

We can then change the topic to whether the soul exists or not and badger a person to death who holds that a soul exists, when all that the poor fellow implied with the soul was that part of the self that feels pain and pleasure, joy and sorrow, a part that all life presumably has.

We could make our arguments more intelligent by beginning with definitions but define with the help of words that are not defined, so that in the end the discussion may be like the outcome of the meeting described at the beginning of this post – shit to be precise, if one may use unpardonable language.

As they say beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. The judges of a beauty contest have an understanding enlightened enough to distinguish between a buffalo and a cow. Spiritual understanding too is in the heart of the enlightened.

Man, Environment and Self

This morning the local newspaper here in Jaipur (Rajasthan Patrika, 25th of January 2011, page 9) devoted a page to describing the deeds of a few ordinary individuals who had devoted several years of their own time, effort and money to improve the environment. This Newspaper is imbued with a high degree of social responsibility and it has made many contributions towards improving the quality of life in our province. Therefore it devotes considerable space to highlighting such stories from time to time.

There were stories of persons who had created huge forests bit by bit around their villages, cleaned and created lakes and pathways through the mountains. As they worked on their projects, others in the area were motivated to join in and help, so that the results were truly impressive. The reports were highly encouraging, yet also embarrassing to me personally. I talk a lot in this blog and elsewhere about contributing to improving the planet, yet have not done much personally in this direction myself especially recently. This year my sole contribution has been planting three more trees on the street I live.

I am aware of the fact that a person who talks while illustrating little by example is pursuing a shallow goal. Nevertheless. I carry on with my message in the hope that if it encourages a few more persons around the world to do a little more for the environment, it is better than doing nothing. Earlier this year I turned sixty and with age one’s energies reduce, therefore it is not easy to make a considerable direct physical contribution to the cause. However, that might partly be an excuse and there is a need for me to design new projects where I could make a direct contribution as well. I shall certainly turn my attention to that. Man, just in order to live causes the destruction of the enviroment through creation of roads, cities, farms, industries etc. Therefore to compensate by making a contribution to the environment elsewhere is every man's obligation. Enough areas in need of improvement can be found in any part of the world from the most degraded to the most pristine ones.

As pointed out elsewhere in this blog, personally to me making a contribution to the environment is a highly spiritual thing to do. Any attempts to improve the environment and to commune with nature are a subset of communing with the vast Infinite consciousness that throbs through every cell of the universe. During moments of such communion one experiences a great joy. One’s own trials and tribulations appear very small, a small temporary blip in this vast infinity of time and space, something that will disappear in an instant, metaphorically speaking, anyway. One may wonder at times that in such states of joy, one might be ignoring the more immediate needs of the small finite self. However, that is not my experience, because the needs of the finite self are met not just by ones own effort but also by the actions of the Universe around us, and it is my experience that the Universe then magically contributes to meeting these needs in an effortless magical sort of a way.

Photo from http://publicdomainpictures.net

A Sound basis for Atheism

Amongst one of the reasons for atheists to be atheists is that God cannot be seen. I feel that is not a good enough reason to be an atheist. There are better ones. There are a lot of things that cannot be seen such as radio waves, gravity, love, hate free will etc. Atheists do not deny these other things. Other atheists try to deny God based on reasoning and logic and that too is a poor basis because for every piece of logic they offer there is a counter one. Some others deny God because of fear, frustration, anger, hurt etc. all negative emotions and this only strengthens the belief of theists.

The only sound basis for denying God and being an atheist to my mind is faith. There can be nothing more secure than that.

On the other hand there can be nothing more secure than accepting God because of faith and that is what my previous post was about.

My Love and Safety Net

One may have witnessed the marvelous and joyous dance of acrobats that seem to fly and dance through the air high up above the floor. Down below is a taut safety net that can prevent an accident incase a performer misses a grip or swinging hold. Without that net the performer would be a fearful nervous creature, scarcely joyous. He may even suffer a serious accident incase he continues to perform.

An infant that learns to walk and take a few steps falls repeatedly is full of joy in these attempts. The infant is secure in the knowledge that his parents are around to pick him up and nurse him incase the fall hurts. As a child grows older, he ventures further out into the fields, yet secure in the knowledge of love that his parents have for him. It is his safety net. What if the child develops some bizarre sort of amnesia, and forgets that he has loving parents waiting at home? He may wander away from home into the wide world. He is then likely to become fearful, nervous and expose himself to dangers.

As adults do we have any safety net? A sense of security that comes from other humans one interacts with is extremely fragile to my mind. To me, it comes from God. Without the knowledge that He is there to protect and nurture us at all times, life would be full of fear and scarcely joyous. It is true that I do not have the courage to survive entirely on my own but I am not ashamed of it. I recognize the vast Universe and its forces as far too vast as compared to my finite little self and to my mind any sort of courage against It is nothing short of foolishness.

I do not regard God as a human like figure. I see God in the stars, sun, oceans, forests and mountains and everything else besides. Just as loving father sits down on the ground at times to talk to a child, at his level, I believe God too to can project different images if that eases communication with Him, even some that are human like. To me God is the entire universe, but a universe imbued with intelligence, consciousness and love in some similar way as I am imbued with these abilities and virtues in a small way. However my virtues are finite and limited, His are vast and Infinite simply because His extent is vast in space and time. To forget Him would be like the child with amnesia as mentioned in an earlier paragraph.

One often offers gifts to a lover. In the same way those who love God may make their offerings in temples, monastery and churches; or they may help a child or a handicapped person in need because they see that child or person as a manifestation of God. Or, some people recognizing that the planet earth we live on is also a motherly manifestation of God make an attempt to enhance the life giving qualities of the planet by planting a tree in the wilderness or by blocking a source of pollution into a lake, river or ground.. It is true that the powers of God are infinite and these meager offerings can scarcely make a difference to Him. No building ever made by man is as grand as the structures put up by Nature such as the lofty Himalayas and no plantation as large as the vast natural forests found on our planet. However, our loving offering are nevertheless noted and appreciated just as a true lover appreciates the smallest gesture of affection from a beloved. We may be small but because of that the love of God must indeed be great for us, just as the love of a mother for an infant child is at its peak.

By planting a tree or cleaning an area free of litter immediately around us we can definitely improve our surroundings in our limited time and space without that being any gift for God. On the other hand, there are enough humans now on the planet so that if they went about it in earnest they can also destroy the life giving qualities of the planet. They are doing a pretty good job of it at the present time. Who cares if nuclear weapons are dangerous for the planet just as long as I can keep them to maintain my superiority and who cares if the forests are destroyed so that I am assured of the money for a new car, a larger more impressive home, dresses and boats. Yet whatever form the destruction takes, mankind can only cause some destruction in his own time and space. The Universe knows how to take care of itself as well as all life it brings forth in Its own time and space, such is my belief and whenever secure in this knowledge I walk with joy and fearlessness through life.

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The Magic and Necessity of Green

Consider a plate of steak and potatoes. Add a few steamed and buttered green peas or broccoli on the side and immediately the dinner plate looks more appetizing. Sprinkling a little chopped green parsley or cilantro on potatoes or garnishing a roast with a sprig of parsley, a plate of pasta with chopped cilantro or green chilies, a meal of fish and potatoes with some green coleslaw on the side make an otherwise ordinary meal more appetizing and nutritious.

Just as green adds life to food it adds life to buildings and urban constructed spaces. There is something depressing about a building that has no trees or bushes around it. In modern times when depleting green cover of the planet and global warming have become serious concerns, anyone who helps increase greenery contributes to the health of the planet. The atmospheric carbon dioxide does not need a visa to cross national boundaries and therefore a tree planted anywhere on the planet helps absorb this green house gas and contributes to the planet as a whole.

Many scientists and NGOs are crying hoarse to limit the emission of green house gases generated by the burning of fossil fuels. In my view this is effort wasted. People eventually choose the most economical method of meeting their energy needs and as long as burning fossil fuels remains the most economical method to produce energy they shall go for it. In time though fossil fuels will begin to run out and become more expensive. It is then that alternative forms of energy will become more economical and the generation of green house gases diminishes.

In the meantime, an effective route to reduce green house gases and send them where they belong is to increase the green cover on our planet. This is something everyone can contribute to. Homeowners can plant more trees and farmers can reserve a portion of their land for planting orchards. National governments and big corporation can assist measures to increase the forest cover on any land suitable for the purpose. Forests not only help in controlling climatic devastation, they also help protect the bio-diversity of our planet. Once species are lost the most essential component of life – a variety of genes are lost on the planet.

Often there is competition between the need for forests and agricultural land for food. There need not be such competition. Large tracts of land not suitable for farming lie barren on our planet. It is such lands that are the best candidates for forestation. Moreover, forests planted by man can consist of food producing trees. There are a number of trees that produce fruits, nuts and vegetables as well as edible foliage and these can be planted as food forests in a mixed format i.e. not as an orchard of a single species. Urban dwellers would love to spend a weekend in such a forest to pick their own food for the week in a controlled manner – perhaps a prescribed basket each for a small license fee.

Five Stages of a Human Life

May the life of this sweet baby in the photo be blessed and full of Joy. The beginning of a human life is indeed inspiring and full of Joy. With some gentle care and a little foresight the joy is sure to last a lifetime.

In order to analyze human life I have found the analogy of a lifetime with an average working day convenient. A human life may be divided into five twenty year periods each and compared to the five periods of a working day – morning pre-work hours, morning working hours, afternoon working hours, evening and night.

Each period of life involves fun and work. Presently this post is restricted to the work aspect. An important aspect of this work in each stage involves preparation for the following stage of life.

Thus the morning preceding a normal workday consists of getting ready for work. The first approximately twenty years of life similarly involve getting ready for a working life. It is a time to develop disciplined, productive habits as well as acquire education. If this preparation is a useful one then a human being may hope to acquire a decent job and make a success of it.

The next twenty years, up to age forty, may be regarded as the forenoon of a workday. It is the time of life when one is most energetic. If these energies are well spent then one can excel at one’s occupation and rise to senior levels in the next phase. It is also the time to marry and raise a family. A job well done at this stage becomes an asset in later stages of life.

The age from forty to sixty is a period of reducing energies just as it is low in the afternoon of a normal workday. However, it is also a time that one may have risen to a senior position in one’s career. It is wise at this stage to start preparing for retirement. This means deciding upon your retirement home and making an effort to save for retirement. Big cities or their vicinities are the best locations to find a job. However, during retirement a quiet countryside or small town may offer the best post retirement option. The best time to locate a retirement home is now in this third stage of life when one still has sufficient energies and the best possible income to set up a new home.

The fourth stage of life from sixty to eighty may be compared to the evening of a workday. It is time to relax and take it easy. Some are compelled to work through this evening and some choose to work, especially business persons that are self-employed, since they do not have to retire officially. However, just as in a normal day if we work through the evening, we may not be fully up to the task the next day, something like that can happen in a human life too. A soul that has not had the opportunity to resolve the dilemmas and emotional encumbrances of a lifetime at peace is a cluttered one and this may lead to an inappropriate future birth in a new life - a new day of work. A quiet evening - a life in peaceful green surroundings – refreshes far more than a boisterous or busy evening. The results are apparent next morning. An average human life is considered here. There are individual variations and exceptions to what has been written.

The last and final stage of life is from the age of eighty to a hundred. It is comparable to night – a time to go to bed. Some persons are disturbed and excited at bedtime and cannot go to sleep early. They may suffer from insomnia. They stay up late or toss and turn in their beds, but as they say early to bed and early to rise makes Jack healthy, wealthy and wise.

PHOTO: New Born by Peter Griffin from http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/