There is a huge amount of nattering about the international debt situation, from the problems in Greece to the raising of the ceiling in the U.S. debt limits. What I find interesting is this: there is an assumption that the banks, the lenders all have the ultimate sway over the political decisions. Now, normally most people have to live with bills, and most people realize they are paying those same bills to cover services or goods. We all shrug and accept this as “normal” in daily living.
Admitting that you or I have gone nuts with money, debt and then face the idea that not only are our bills out of our control, but our lives depend on the good graces of some money lender, bank or otherwise, can bring up some pretty harsh anger. Losing control over our own lives is one thing we just do not want at any price, period. BUT, we shrug, admit we were not all that wise and get our anger under some control, then attempt to pay what we can afford.
Now, when we find out that the lenders are using shady lending, and banking institutions like Wells Fargo are fined, then we increase our anger. Some may just fall into a despair and feeling of hopelessness. This will compound our problems in ways most of us don’t realize.
Illness comes along and most just say “I am sick, and tired, and feel as though my body is being attacked by some virus”, which is literally true, to a point. Those who get sick are feeling sick and tired, of the way their lives have gone, of the way the world around them is treating them, and their bodies are acting completely in accordance. When despair replaces our joy, when feelings of powerlessness replace our feelings of accomplishment, when our own inner sense of true self worth becomes a sense of hopelessness and utter helplessness, we are “sick and tired”. This illness, no matter how temporary or long-term is meant to teach us to find our own power ” OUR ability to act effectively in the moment”.
Am I nuts here talking about the international debt and illness in one post? NO.
Think about it. The worry, the stress, the “giving up” of the nations is not all that much different than our own personal “giving up”, shrugging and acceptance of our inability to DO SOMETHING. We all live in a town, a city, a political area, and we all are living in the world as it exists now. When our town mayor, our city mayor, our regional representative, anyone who is representing our area, our interests goes out, we expect them to reflect our lives, our desires for a better life, better town, better country. We choose to have them go out for us.
Fanatics, no matter whether they are one single person in a village or a person who is elected in any form, is going to be one person who will do what they “see as the right thing to do” regardless of ANY consequences. There are now some who are elected to office what will take the “contagion” of debt to the extremes and will do anything to tackle that, regardless of whose lives are “afflicted” as long as the money and the lenders are pleased. When fanatics gain sway, they bring with them the ideas of “powerless people”, of “the means will always justify the ends, regardless of suffering imposed on others” and that thinking moves far faster than any virus, any mosquito, any animal ever could and will infect very quickly.
You may have thousands in debt, and you can choose to be the fanatic, force children into prostitution, for example, to pay the bills, and you may justify this as them being a part of the family that “needs to pull it’s weight”. Few of us would agree. Or, you may choose to try to find a second job, putting your own energy into attempting to solve this problem. Some of us would see that as a good action.
There are some who just give up, abandon the house, car, whatever item is carrying that debt and walk away, begin anew. “Let the bank deal with this!!” Many have done just that. BUT, the world leaders cannot just walk off, and let the “bank deal with this” unless the people are willing to allow the lenders to be the ones running the financial and social well-being of the entire country. There are two ways the people can respond, or act effectively. One way is by saying “we can and will deal with this” and find ways to do that, without causing others to suffer, or by causing a lot of others to suffer. The idealist or the fanatic.
The fanatic lives, thrives and loves fear, they use it to make others cower, to make others bend to the ideas of the fanatic. The idealist is the one who demands the BEST from the people, the one who believes in the healthy and caring people who chose the idealist to lead them, not by demand perhaps, but by example.
Confused yet?
Illness is a TEACHING tool, used by our inner selves, our bodies to say “HEY, there is something YOU need to change!” Pay attention. Living in fear is probably the worst way to go, because we are then projecting failure, disappointment, misery and above all a sense of helplessness that literally starves our bodies and our selves of the daily vitality. Living in despair is choosing to live on the road to serious illness. When countries fall into the fear, despair, and hopelessness trap, then that country is facing much more than just financial disaster, it is becoming ripe for mass illnesses. Disasters are part of the same learning process as bodily illness is, there is something that needs to be changed!!
Countries, cities, towns, villages, and families are all OUR context for our lives, so why is it that some people who are living in the middle of a mass illness NEVER get sick? Why are there villages, towns, cities, even countries that don’t have huge debts? Why do some people have absolutely no illness even without any inoculations or constant washing of hands? All of these are good questions for everyone to think about. Are these people and places somehow far more “blessed”, wise, above the common?
No, they all had problems, they all were much the same as everyone else, except for on vital thing. THEY believed in themselves, in the ability they had to deal with their lives without causing others any pain, but with the idea that they could act effectively. Those people who seemed untouched by the Black Plague (which killed MILLIONS) the mass epidemics that are war, the mass effect of fanatics (the survivors of unspeakable misery) all had one thing in common. They did NOT follow in the mind set of misery, powerlessness, hopelessness, despair and fear. They adjusted, they learned, they used their own small lives and their own ability to be active! If one thing did not work out well, they did NOT think they failed, they moved their own belief into another way of doing things, of thinking about their lives and then tried that. They acted on the inner sense of self-worth and the inner sense of power to change their lives, which in turn, changed others.
Now, back to the larger world. A country is much like a personality, with it’s own beliefs and abilities. When troubles come, as they always MUST, then the country can respond by abdicating the ability to act effectively, or it can draw on the idea that this is a lesson that MUST be learned. A kind of illness or affliction. IF the fanatics are “running the country” , then the solutions are going to be ones that CAUSE pain and suffering, the means are “justified” and all the suffering is “for the greater good”. IF the sickness is financial in nature, then money MUST be taken and from ANY PLACE, except those who have the money. The wealthy are regarded as those who are NOT the failure, not the cause of the sickness, but those who have succeeded and must be revered for doing so. The poor, the impoverished, the ones who have huge debts are the ones who, according the belief of the fanatics, are failures and must, accordingly, pay the price. The idea is that the people who HAVE money, the wealthy, are doing something right! Wealth is regarded as success, debt now becomes “failure”. Remember, this is the view of the fanatic.
IF, however, there are leaders who are NOT infected with fear, who believe in the ability of everyone to ACT EFFECTIVELY in the moment, then there is a huge difference in the way the country will behave. Leaders REFLECT the beliefs of the people, and when those leaders are not infected with fear, hopelessness, failure, powerlessness, hopelessness, and are reflecting that back to the country, then there is a HUGE difference in how the country deals with the debt, the sickness. Such a leader will find ways to bring out the best, the most innovative, the ability to LEARN and change behaviour. Obviously, most people are not of these extremes, but somewhere in the middle, like most of us. There are some who would be “suicidal politicians” who DEMAND that the country NOT increase the debt, but put misery and pain onto the country “in the cause of financial good”, justifying that demand using any means. Those politicians will demand that there be NO change in fiscal taxation, no change in the status of the wealthy, no change in the way those who are “successful” are treated, and demand that others who are seen to be “financial failures” are the ones that face this sickness alone. Those “suicidal politicians” have NO intent to be elected again, but to impose a solution on the country according to a “promise” that MUST bind all who made that promise, regardless of the outcome.
Here is where the idea of contagion works it’s worst. The fear, the demands, the fanatical ideas can create a HUGE amount of hopelessness, powerlessness, and eventually a mass “illness” appears. It can appear as rioting, it can appear as natural disasters, it can appear as an epidemic, it can appear as a war, but IT WILL APPEAR! The natural zest we all have to MAKE A BETTER WORLD is the best and healthiest zest for living we have. What can I do? What can you do? Find ways to keep ourselves out of the mind and contagion of despair, hopelessness, and live and act with our own desire to be the best we can be, to change what does not work well for us, to use our own creative selves and above all, to love, respect and believe in ourselves as good, decent and caring people. . When trouble comes, then you and I need to stay out of the mind set of despair, fall into the idea that sickness must befall us, and to become the ones who act, who believe we can and will deal with this, without falling into the pit of hopelessness, despair or act as if we don’t have any thing we can do.
Are the banks at fault? According to the fanatic, no. Are the lenders the “victim” here? According to the fanatic, yes. Strange way of seeing things, but there are lessons to learn and one of them may just be that the money world is one of “making a profit, at any cost, by any means” which may just be part of the things we all need to learn. Or the lesson may be that the Quality of our lives, the peace and growth of each of us, does not depend on how much money we have, or don’t have, but on whether we are able to live with a sense of purpose, a sense of worth, a sense of our own value as people, actors and those who can act without fear.
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