Lighting A Candle

Much better than cursing the dark.  If I had all of the answers I would likely be either a super villain or the second coming.  Needless to say that I neither do nor am.  The very best that I can do is open a dialogue.  I can attempt to draw together those who have the capacity to conceptualize reinvention.  The crux now is that life has become about only phenomena while never prioritizing noumena.  Don't know the word?  That's ok.  The spellchecker doesn't recognize it either (although it is cool with "spellchecker").  Phenomena is what happens.  I type a key.  A leaf falls from a tree.  A car rolls off the assembly line.  Underneath that, around it, permeating every iota of it is the noumena, the essence of the occurence.  Think "there is no spoon," except here the phenomenon of the spoon's existence is irrelevant.  Noumena abounds regardless.  Tie it all together and it's like the Force or what many like to call god.  I could rant on how organized religion serves primarily to assert the agenda of a small cadre of thinkers rather than enable freedom of thought as it should, but, alas, I shan't.  Maybe some other time.  I could pick any of the aforementioned facets of modern life and endeavor to dissect it a bit more.  Perhaps the most edible is the notion of capitalistic exchange.  Most of you are either disinterested in the topic or already grasp the premise that capitalism is designed to breed innovation.  To rephrase, people make advantageous choices, commit beneficial acts primarily for their own personal betterment, i.e. cash.  Other economic models tend to fail in this regard because that incentive is absent and some other motivation must be substituted, often fear and force.  As a wise man once said "People should not be afraid of their government, the government should be afraid of it's people."  Thus, fail.  If one builds a notion of human advancement based on historical happenings then, truly, the unavoidable conclusion is that capitalism works best.  Unfortunately, the corollary is that human beings are essential selfish, self-serving assholes.  Got it?  Good.  Now take a look around.  We've all been bred to accept capitalism as gospel truth and we've been handed enough luxury and opulence to keep us quiet.  I don't even want to hear about the impoverished.  Not only does capitalism breed a lower class, but the worst off in the US have it far better than many in the Third World.  I'm not purporting that there is some grand conspiracy at play, but, rather, for the first time in human history, we have the ability to take a step back to take 39 steps forward.  There is a better way.  A better way for all aspects of life.  The bourgeois soma that we stuff down each day sure is tasty, but it does function to dessicate us all.

So where's the candle?  I might only have a lighter spark, but here it is.  Exchange could be based on human worth, could be founded on the principles of utilitarianism and self-responsibility.  Talk about a bitter pill for the teeming masses to swallow.  We need to hash this out, give it real boundaries.  Yesterday demands it and tomorrow depends on it.  Between our borders, more than anywhere else, majority rules.  In order to affect any sort of progress a coalition is necessary.  But, as with any addiction, the first step is admitting that there is a problem.

Peace.  Here's Bob Marley -