The Illusion of Wealth

The Illusion of Wealth.
Odd title. Why Illusion ? Surely wealth is the most tangible, most life affecting aspect of peoples lives.
Yes it is.
But I say Illusion, because the modern European and American definition of Wealth seems to be based on Belief.
The Belief specifically, in the existence of merit and value in things that, on the face of it, have questionable 
merit.
We live, in Europe and America especially, in Societies driven by media imagery, film stars and celebrity. 
Production of physical assets, is controlled and undertaken by enormous multinational corporations, whose reach and influence, have exceeded that of most modern Governments.
The Media, sponsored of course by the great corporations, help create the belief that certain lifestyles, goods and services, are of great merit and value. The corporations involved, quite naturally charge as much as the market can bear, to supply those aspirational products, services, and lifestyles.
Everything is a commodity.
Health , Education, Homes, Jobs, Holidays, Food, Warmth, Entertainment, Companionship, and even Religion. All neatly categorised, subdivided, gift wrapped , and available on easy credit terms.
Belief is a powerful thing.
People say it can move mountains.
People also say that things have always been this way.
Well, things have been very different, sometimes very much worse, sometimes very much better.
How can things have been better ?
Well, advances in technology, have made great differences in peoples lives. Advances in medicine have saved 
countless lives, extended countless more, and eased the suffering of innumerable people.
Medicine has also caused its share of problems.
So, surely we are now all so much better off how can it be an illusion, surely it is ridiculous to call it such?
Ah, but it is an illusion.
The Illusion sets in, when you believe the Media.
When you believe a 'high status Car' is worth the hours of your life you spent earning the money to pay for it.
When you gladly court stress, high blood pressure, and heart attack, simply for that one last promotion, that next rung up the greasy pole, that will get you your Cottage in the countryside away from the 'less worthy' masses in the town or city.
The "less worthy" masses are less worthy, because the Media has told you so. They are poorer than you, a sure sign, says the Media, that you are better. You are the Winner, they are the losers.
People sometimes actually think this way. Is that a plan for a happy and genuinely productive life?
The Media extends this premise further, sometimes with lurid headlines. The terms for scroungers, cheats and 
parasites are used regularly in relation to people fallen on hard times. Poverty is made out to be the fault of the 
individual.
Of course, some people are genuinely not suited to life inside the competitive machine of the 'market economy'.
They get chewed up and spat out, if they are lucky they may find niches at the edges of the market engine, perhaps they are fortunate enough to have a skill, rare enough to get them the bargaining power to have their own little niche, perhaps they fall in with a counter culture group that has it's own survival mechanism, independent of the machine of the Illusion.
Often though, the people rejected by the Illusion or whom themselves reject the Illusion, end up suffering Mental Illness, from the strain of trying to live within the Illusion, or from the pressures of rejection by society, that inevitably follows any rejection of the Illusion itself.
Many then die, having slipped through what few safety nets there are, taking their own lives or dying through 
malnutrition, exposure, or simply losing the will to live. With the knowledge of how badly people can and do suffer within the Illusion, it makes the plight of the migrants, chasing the Illusions Siren Song, tragically ironic. If they but knew it, they are just swapping one bad situation for another.
Many people surviving within the Illusion, suffer from low self esteem, alcoholism, drug dependence, all kinds of neuroses, brought on, by trying to live up to the false ideals of the Illusion machine.
They can't meet the deadlines, they can't get the house, the promotion, the car, the trophy wife, and rather than laugh at the absurdity of even trying, they blame themselves. They have walked into a rigged Casino, with one chip, lost it, and then blame themselves for not being good enough.
Sometimes rejection of the Illusion is demonstrated with terrible violence, as its victim lashes out, randomly or at chosen targets he or she identifies as enemies. The Illusion relies on the passive acceptance of it's dictates, and those invested in it, it's true believers, come down hard on dissent.
You see where this is going ?
True Wealth is the freedom to spend your one limited and reducing asset, as you choose, in a friendly, safe and supportive environment, away from fear, stress, anxiety, and negativity.
Your one true asset, is your life, the days of which may be long and arduous, spent vainly trying to make the next million or indeed the first, or spent in enjoyable and productive ways, creating happy memories.
Your life may indeed be very short, lowered by unlucky chance or the malignance of others, knowingly or unknowingly affecting the world you live in.
Wealth, in it's original sense, meant that which creates well being.In Britain after the industrial revolution, most 
of the Labour movement reformers, aimed at improvements to working conditions that improved well being. Holidays, reducing working hours, weekends off, sick pay, pensions. These were all things to make life worth living for the workers. These things all affected the companies bottom lines, but to my mind and I'm sure many others, would all be considered good things.
Actual pay rates, were only part of the picture.
In reality, Wealth is defined by lifestyle, as much as money in the pocket.
In the 'Market' based economy, lifestyle is bought, and it's bought with money.
In an increasingly high tech future, where classic labour, and working is largely irrelevant, other ways of defining how people have a Lifestyle, will be needed.
Money, that row (if you are lucky) of numbers on your Bank Statement has gained it's own Mystery Cult, appointed it's own High Priests, Gurus, Sages, and Conjurers.
Unfortunately, the use of money with the greatest emphasis on it's use as a store of value , has created a high score mentality in some people. They consider their status as defined, not by what they do, what part 
they play in Society or their Community, but by the notional Market Value of their House, their landholdings, their Stocks and Bonds, their 'Cash pile', and their antiques.
(In Britain) A sort of Postcode snobbery has arisen. A cheaply built 1930' semi detached house can now, cost more than twenty years average wages ! (£400,000) Twenty miles away, a virtually identical property might only cost £160,000
Travel a hundred miles, and the self same quality of building perhaps with a much larger garden, could be £80,000 or less, depending on the area.
It is a crazy system, based on belief, and peoples inability to really judge the true value of what is right in 
front of their noses.
Of course, if you own a house in one of the popular areas, you can potentially sell up and leave that area and 
profit out of the difference, by moving away from your home town or city, into a strange town or city. Such a person would quite rightly, regard themselves as a winner. The surplus money would quite possibly enable them to have much more free time (time is the only true wealth) and importantly, choices.
Choice, is an indicator of Wealth. If you can choose your job, or when you will work, you know you are well off. If you do not like your work, or have no choice how you work, you know that at the end of the day, you are not yet wealthy.
Unless, you believe the Illusion.
If you believe an expensive Car, a stressful long hours job and a big mortgage that'll take thirty or forty years to 
pay off are signs of wealth, then, well good luck to you. Pay the extra for Private Healthcare, you may need it.
Of course, the latest plastic and microchip gadgets are important symbols of wealth too. Don't forget to trade hours of your life for those too. The whole Funfair ride depends on you spending your vouchers as you get them, keeping other Hamsters running on their little wheels.
Perhaps, people need a reality check, Governments certainly do, and the mostly self appointed organisers of resource distribution and production, really need to step outside and get in touch with the real world.
Do you maintain the current Illusion, which will last while enough resources are left, whilst enough financial 
conjuring tricks can be performed, and whilst enough people have sufficient paid jobs, real or imaginary, to maintain the 'spell'?
Or, and this would be the hard thing, do you put your heads together and plan a new Enlightenment, one that 
encompasses all the people, and changes the World, through technology, without actually blowing anyone up in the process?
It is quite odd, how some people view blowing things and people up, as using technology to improve the world.
The third option, is of course, to continue to worship at the altar of Money, prepare your bomb shelter, or island retreat, and wait for the inevitable social collapse, as pressures of technology and business failure, deliver the chaos of violent social upheaval. The Illusion Bubble just has to pop, the scales will fall from the eyes, and the cheated populace will well, what will they do?
Realise they can make a new world, without you?

No comments:

Post a Comment