Free-Range Living

 

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'Rocket science it isn't -------   The limitations of today stem from 'base' faultlines - ?'

Prince William recently stated 'It's ok to be 'not ok', no doubt trying to ameliorate against what can seem to be 'instant perfection' cultural expectations. Brene Browne, a relationship mentor in the USA says pretty much the same -for example: 'parents still love their children even when they get things wrong - they are learners in life, so getting things wrong as well as right is to be expected.' Maybe an 'experienced' mainstream culture would extend that principle to the whole culture, in that it's a compassionate approach and there is the argument that earth life is a development ground for ultimately a more spiritual life, and that humans are essentially spiritual beings ----  hence in a sense, all are 'learners' ----

'Some problems  ---- '

A recent piece in a regular broad-sheet newspaper here in the UK was bemoaning that the UK was a 'broken' country, with so many areas 'a lot less than perfect' - long waiting lists for surgeries, also for being seen in emergency hospital units, to be able to see a National Health dentist, trains delayed or cancelled, high rail fares, very high energy costs (amongst the highest) , government forever seemingly in some level of disarray, a rising number of right-wing power groupings, poor national water quality due to raw sewaage outlets, crumbling school buildings, and so on - the only ones not seeing this picture were seemingly the (embattled) Prime Minister and his cohorts ----

These difficulties though count presumably mainly for 'ordinary folk', the increasing band of the 'mega wealthy', personal wealth being apparently the name of the current game, (the distribution of wealth has apparently narrowed significantly over the past decade), not experiencing quite the same level of discomfort and instability ---- Not exactly the 'Big Society' a former Prime Minister was calling for? And yet, in terms of 'society', and most appear to live in one, wouldn't the most efficient, the most 'smooth running', the 'best' even, be one where it was clear that all national assets were nationally owned, that sectors of society functioned pretty welll on the whole, and members of the society basically got their fair share of the deal? (a la Scandanavian-type models - ?) 

   - one wealthy guy, a billionaire, on TV back along said similarly, and quoted 'society security' as being an important issue, too much inequality being a potential recipe for 'social unrest'

   - a guy experiencing a different culture writes (in a UK broadsheet paper) : 'I'm a lucky old geezer having just got back from a four week stay in Mallorca. The difference between Mallorca and the UK is      startling. Cystal clear seas, clean beaches, clean towns. A public transport system that functions, a health service that functions - no long waiting lists. Plenty of fresh food at reasonable prices, and roads      you can drive on without smashing your suspension.'

Major contribution ---?

The so-called 'ordinary folk' apparently contribute 90% of the country's finances in terms of tax contributions (which in all amount to close to 50% of their income  - pretty high, nearly as high as the high taxation in the Scandanavian countries, where the public services are said to be of high quality). It seems then, that they're not getting too much of a good deal and a situation where the already wealthy do with less and ordinary folk get more - their 'fair share' in fact, should be an answer - ? The current cultural addiction to personal aggrandisement being so strong would though seem to be somewhat of a barrier to such a 'fair share', society arrangement - ?

Those not particularly addicted to the cultural wealth and power drug must find the current imbalanced situation something of a de-motivating experience - ? (and little wonder then people are reported to be 'fed up', with very low trust in the 'system' - ?) What about all the creatives, people of the arts, of the media, of writers, of people exercising practical creative work - builders, joiners, gardeners, farmers and the like, along with public servant types, health workers, educationalists, business creatives - the list is virtually endless. What cost is it to the country to have vast swathes of the populace potentially de-motivated and 'below par' - national productivity could take quite a hit? (maybe also indicated by the increasing non-working proportion of the populace - ?) With the heavy accent there's been on personal gain, and correspondingly less on 'public service', it could be said that a needed balance between individual needs satisfaction and society needs satisfaction hasn't been maintained, the resulting 'imbalance' the root cause of many of the modern culture ills - ?

'That oft-mentioned train company in these pieces, cancelling their (public service) trains -never mind people then not being able to get to work - because they'd 'cleverly' worked out it was cheaper for them to pay the non-running fines, than put on their train services -----' (??!!)

Making money' seemingly often the main assumptive goal of much - most? - business activity, could be a 'running down a wrong road' - ? Shouldn't the base goal, the 'end', be providing 'goods and/or services to society', with making money as the 'means' - ?

'Micro life ----'

It's a squally day here in the UK midlands on the eco organic micro-holding (small smallholding). One minute there are blue skies and warm sunshine, the next dark clouds threaten and short sharp bursts of rain erupt, along with colder air   --  Rain's of course a valuable commodity here as it is to any grower - without rain, no production, needed to sustain life. It's been on short supply in this location over the past few weeks, especially in the form of several hours worth of steady rain to penetrate a good way down in the soil. The irrigator has had to come to the rescue, the soil here being of the  black loam variety - a lovely soil to work with but not one that holds moisture readily (the raised bed experiment wasn't successful here because of it - stronger 'heavier' (of some clay content) soil suiting that system  better).

It's a simple system, the hose is attached to the outside tap via a connector, with the irrigator at the other end, the tap switched on and lo and behold, around a quarter of the veg growing area being then watered, without which, veg production would often be pretty poor or non-existant, and no water meter to worry about ---  As it is, the broad bean crop is looking good, now in flower - the bees love them -  the early potatoes are approaching a third of a metre in height - should be ready for use around mid June, and both the autumn sown  and spring planted onions are showing well.

'Small-scale life support ---- '

The fact that the micro-holding here is a sort of 'life support' unit is useful in these uncertain and challenging times (America/Israel war with Iran currently interfering with supplies, particularly of oil, causing significant price rises and future instability --- ). Half the year's potatoes and all the onions are usually produced here, along with vegetables to pick all the year round and other useful supplies such as salad stuff. One 'living strategy' here is to have adequate reserves - the previously collected wood is currently being sawn up to provide next winter's energy requirements, along with a reserve supply of smokeless fuel, bought at pre-high energy cost prices.

To watch the wood store steadily increase over the summer with regular sawing sessions gives a good sense of 'practical security', plus a useful motivationary effect, in that action can be taken to at least partway offset the vagaries of the 'global system'. The other positive psychological effect is via the satisfaction gained in being involved in the provision of life needs - in this case food and energy supplies - seems to be 'useful and meaningful' activity ---- 

'Independent livers ---- '

 Off-gridders are likely feeling good about their previous decisions to be independent of the big power firms, some of which appear to be making large profits in the current energy crisis era, the off-gridders' investments not only paying off in crisis times, but also stabilising their domestic energy costs for quite awhile to come. Here at the micro-holding it's a part-way system, but given that the solar panels are often fuelling the (smaller) air-source heat pump, then heating the two day living rooms 'for free', plus providing free hot water via a gizmo on the solar equipment, which directs unused home-produced electricity to the hot water tank, a degree of insulation from the ravages of rampaging energy costs is gained.

'Broken system analysis --- '

Why then, here in the UK a 'broken' system is being experienced - ?  One potential analysis runs along the following lines :

 'The 'very strong' focus on individual gain/self aggrandisement has meant that quite a few individuals now have very considerable wealth, that wealth distribution has narrowed to maybe the 'narrowest' ever' :

                                                             - wealthy folk are reported to be stressing over their position in the wealth league table and seeking ammmelioration of their stress feeling via therapy. Some might be   tempted to say in the longer-term they'd do better by looking at the potential causes of the stress -and their own reactions? +

                                                              -in the paper today survey results that 75% of the UK's super-wealthy would support paying more tax if it lead to better public services.

'The strong focus on wealth creation has then focused people overmuch on money, then away from other non-monetary values such as trust, sociability, loyalty, personal motivation sources and the like' :

                                                               - plus, as above, the 'scurry for money' has obscured a base objective of business activity - to make an effective contribution to society                                                  (a group of chief executives of companies stated this themselves in a letter to a broadsheet newspaper back along)

'The strong accent on money making/wealth creation has over-focused people on short-term gain at the expense of needed longer-term considerations' :

                                                                - a local-to-here manager of a building supplies firm said ' It's ok pushing for more sales to follow the 'max profit' making trend, but if it means less focus on customer service and some customers feel they've been pressurised into spending money, they can react by taking their custom elsewhere when they next need supplies. Yes, there can be 'short-term gain' but then leading to 'longer-term pain'----- 

'The current vogue by some of not wanting 'negative' effects,plus the rising use of A.I. may lead to unrealistic business results expectations and/or potentially dangerous situations not being recognised' :

                                                                 - bankers when considering applications for borrowed capital, are well aware of a condition known as the 'rose coloured' spectacles syndrome, where expectations are solidly positive, and often on the rather high side. Traditionally, bankers liked to see a downside' analysis included in the lending proposal -if conditions went against the venture, what did the situation look like then? If the 'downside analysis' showed 'squeeze viability', maybe with appropriate and realistic measures, then bankers (and the business owners) become suitably reassured.

                                                                  - the increasing A.I. usuage could in some instances lead to potential dangers (i,e, in 'real' reality) not being recognised and hence 'walked into'.

'The widespread take-up of the 'freemarket approach' could have lead cultures down a 'wrong road'' :

                                                                  -- It's likely that the freemarket model stems from the economists 'perfect market' model', which had an important proviso, that to work effectively there had to be 'many buyers and sellers' in the market place, This has not been the case in the 'freemarket' system, hence the growth of vary large commercial concerns with plenty of evidence of monopolistic behavior, market place bullying, lack of respect for individuals/small outfits, 'big is best' approaches,over charging, over-influence in cultural affairs --------  all potentially distorting true freemarket conditions.

'Way ahead --- ?'

' Man has the key to the door to heaven, which though also fits the door to hell ---- ' 

 (Richard Fenyman, renowned former U.S. scientist)  

'We used to build civilisations, now we build shopping malls'   

(Bill Bryson, well-known U.S.author)                                                     

'Modern cultures have been less influenced by experience, are more dimensionally limited, and have lowered ethics, sociability, longer-term consideration and civilising effects' ran one piece in a broadsheet UK paper. If some of the limitations are negatively affecting modern life, the useful move is to be able to recognise the situation then to steer a different, more effective course.  There's no rule that says in reality that everything must be  'fully ok' - as the quote above, dystopias as well as utopias can exist.

If man  is effectively on a learning mission through life, as ever in learning situations presumably things can go awry as well as well. The redeeming move is then for souls to be able to summon up the courage to face the reality, positive or negative, to change course if necessary and then to reap the benefits of 'smoother life sailing'. Such situational moves could apply to individuals' lives, and also in the wider context, that is for cultures in general, then to reach the 'calmer waters' -----