When an object is not moving, according to Physics, it's in a state of balance. Any forces on the object are balanced by forces in the opposite direction. The thing is, nothing is ever really in a state of equilibrium, because there are always forces acting on everything, either pushing or pulling or twisting. The Universe does not stand still, even if it seems that way to us, our perspective is a very small proportion of all that is taking place at any given moment in time. So what, you may well ask?
Balance has entered my consciousness lately and I've been thinking a lot about that. If everything is balanced, it can also be tilted in a specific direction and for human beings that direction is the result of choice. The image I've chosen for this particular note, shows heaps of stones towering over the bare patches and other pebbles lying there. Balance here is not just in terms of the piles not falling over, but also in the instability of the piles - anything could knock it over. And look at it's creation: to build it, the stones had to be taken from somewhere else, so now we have bare patches where the stones once were.
That illustrates to me the effect of greed in the world. In order for a person to accumulate financial wealth, someone else has to pay for it by loosing wealth. Disagree? Well just look at the ridiculous distribution of financial wealth in the world. Millions have almost nothing while a few have staggering amounts. Is that good or bad? Given that good or bad are very relative, I suspect that is the wrong question. As with most of life, it is a matter of choice what we do within the limits of our circumstances, but what is the point of that accumulation, which causes deprivation somewhere else? Enough history books have been written, to demonstrate the instability of our action, both towards each other and towards our home planet. For example, the wealth of western Europe and North America is entirely based on the ability to create goods and trade them, with only minimal costs for labour, i.e. through the use of slavery. We like to think of ourselves as enlightened and progressive, but forget the cost that many nations have paid for that.
And now another idiot wants to accumulate by stealing from others. And how do we react? Certainly not be reviewing which choices led to that state of affairs and what is my contribution to that situation? The biggest single contribution we individuals have made towards war and greed, is choosing the representatives we voted for. Vote for a greedy self-interested person who promises you everything you want to hear but delivers almost nothing of it whilst accumulating for themselves at the voter's expense. That's the usual contribution we make. The USA, it seems to me, has lost all perspective of what's important and is focused on blame and finger pointing in an ever more nasty way. The elected representatives are a real problem. Add to that religion. The one Christian organisation which is backing the current aggression is the orthodox one. When I read how Jesus was one for peace and joy, it makes me realise that that is not what the organisation is about, but what Jesus was all about. It's no different to the Muslim beliefs that see God as the Almighty, Creator of all, but women do not count except as baby machines.
We know that the planet is out of balance and that we could do something about that, but instead of focusing on a real objective affecting all, we focus on the loss the Greedy have to accept in order to help the planet back into balance. At least, everywhere I look, our elected representatives are trying to help those of us with no power, but not at the expense of those with the power. Suddenly this current war in the East brings Energy back into sharp focus, but instead of realising the great opportunity to really get behind alternative and safe energy sources, we start talking about nuclear power, when we still haven't sorted out how to deal with the waste products of the existing power stations. I suggested 30 years ago that a law be passed that no new building will be built that can't provide most of it's own power needs through solar energy. It's still not being supported, although there is clearly a great deal to be made with that technology.
If we truly realised how vulnerable and short-lived we are, would we spend our brief time accumulating stuff we can't take with us? Do we need several homes for the few nights we visit somewhere else? Do we have to travel around the world when all that we really need is on our doorstep? I understand human beings less and less. But I do know something: balance will be restored. That's the laws of physics. If we don't understand that and that we can help the direction of that balance, we will be ground down to nothing by the mechanisms behind the restoration of balance. I rather suspect the collective stupidity of the human race will determine our future as a species.
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