devaluing ourselves and our future---- observing our past…

In the era before modern industrialization, there was a sense of living within the molds of natural cycles as agriculture provided everything from transportation to clothing and food for us. Then something happened.

In the 1800’s, modern economic theories went through a boom period—a blend of mathematical arts and neo-politics, combined with inventions that suddenly allowed expanded travel and new visual perspectives--- created a medium ripe with opportunities of growth.

With the grandeur of travel and the growing world, imagination grew. Jules Verne wrote of the mysterious worlds within the world we know--- far away travels to ‘discover’ and wander to. Oscar Wilde pushed the sexual boundaries of the Victorian era while amusing the very proper households during evening cocktails and private parties. Science Fiction, Transcendentalism, Modernism and more, became born by a fireside in Switzerland as the new crop of writers influenced by the pre-Bauhaus and growing revolt against the puritanical standards tested boundaries. As railroad barons expanded their control of commodities in the USA, Zepplins took to the air and telegraphs made global communications across seas faster --- acquisitions grew, ships grew and dreams grew. The elite classes would develop even more taste for power through acquisitions--- and eventually, as individuals traveled further, it became less easy to transport the stock of amassed items.

By this time, almost all ‘discovered’ or ‘integrated’ civilizations had been practiced in the use of monetary exchange systems, whether in precious metals or printed notes. Contracts, remittances and legal demands in written, sealed form were ‘common’ among the civilized or advanced nations. To replace the weight and volumes of amassed items, it became a convenient luxury of the elite classes to simplify and carry ‘exchangeable’ goods, like money. Slowly but surely, it became the basis of the new training; we trained each other to understand the greater the amount of ‘money’, the more privileged and educated, the more blessed, the more ‘selected’ and powerful---

Conquests were not yet over, of course. However, conquests would amass more – but in order to conquest, it cost ‘money’ to pull farmers away from their crops and factory workers from the production lines. But in the days of nature based cycles and early industrial life, the suffering could be compensated for by some as people were well accustomed to ‘save for a rainy day’. There was hope one day, they too would amass enough to start a different life in a different place. Perhaps they might invest a little extra into the local church or business, or local community affairs, but in the anti-colonial imperial world, there was less likely to go to governments that would engage in conquest wars. Without solidarity by religion or by feudal monarchs, it would need ideology and shared imagination. It would mean people would have to be taught a new value system on money, where if the returns from wars and conquests were not directly shared with everyone, the farmers and the factory workers wouldn’t notice. It would mean people would have to get used to seeing the tangible as an intangible, so they’d be removed from the physical reality and place their ‘faith’ in a new banking and economic system, validated and vouched for by their government.

Then there came credit. A perfect imaginary hole we call ‘investments’ but where we sign the rights of our real earned assets and collections to those awarded the authority to create paper returns for investors. Generations later, we’ve all become accustomed to the complexities of the terms and the ever-changing theories and derivatives. And we are sold on the idea of using the ‘value’ of our ‘assets’ on paper as collateral towards buying cars, boats and houses on ‘credit’. Little, if ever, do any of us actually ever touch and feel, or see the actual ‘money’ now. Slowly, we’ve traded in bulky full wallets containing notes and turned all of it into mysterious electronic transactions to ‘speed up our lifestyle’. We are somehow convinced this is the ultimate barter system, where we are directly receiving goods while exchanging for such against the hard earned electronic dollar value automatically deposited into an account, somewhere. Or, we are awarded with goods if we have now amassed ‘credit’ to do so, instead of actual ‘money’.

It’s a funny thing when humans separate themselves from the tactile and sensory sensations from the physical things. We separated ourselves from nature enough that most children will never know the sight of curious wild fawns peering into their cabin bedroom windows. Eventually, almost no children in the Americas will taste a ripe apple as they pluck it off the tree for the first time by them.

As we separate ourselves from the complex flow of real cash, the numbers in the accounts become more blurry and the commercially large chain of economic linguistics run from one network advertised rumor and promise to another. We are told to be responsible and trained to follow the leaders of our generations. Confused and dazed and distracted by material desires like flash video images that influenced the MTV generation, we mindlessly wander into the advice of the neighbor’s favorite financial consultant and accountants. We cast out our trust and faith in ourselves while casting it blindly into (paid) advisors who are merely strangers. Then action films and television scripts command the time for our imagination to grow, as the days are spent walking amidst the multitude of human suits that toil for hours in a flow chain usually thousands of miles removed from the actual product, for the sake of our debit accounts becoming ‘credited’ with a paycheck that is hardly ever ‘cashed’ directly anymore.

And when the balance numbers decrease or become a negative value—we have become accustomed to assuming the values will ‘bounce back’ or, if we still have enough credit, we can ‘purchase’ extended time on things owed for a while. An endless cycle of imagined cash flowing in so many directions, we are asked to purchase spreadsheets programs and ‘quick books’ on our computers so we can ‘track’ it better.

It seems that shifting the physical reality of a solid piece of money, from gold, to silver, to paper notes and now to credit --- we are ultimately depreciating the physical sensation and when fully imaginary, it may become as valueless as a fairy tale. We’d not have any need to respect or appreciate what its origination was. We’d become even more confused as to what our productive purpose is for. A number in a networked computer system, just doesn’t seem to have as much value as an intangible object.

It’s funny how a smell or a particularly soft cloth might conjure up images of our childhood comfort zones, whether a musty smell of a grandparent’s basement or a damp pet, and a favorite teddy bear. Vaguely, I might occasionally recall the interior of an old bank on a Friday afternoon, when the mimeograph ink and stamp pads left slight chemical smells in the air with all of the fresh smell of money since the might have more on a Friday to accommodate everyone. There would be annoying long lines at times, but often, the memory of community members saying hello while in line, and the latest gossip from the tellers--- and the smiles by the bank managers handing out lollipops to children. One could sense the pride of hard earned labor as cash was counted into their hands. People would have respect for the cash, as they gently sorted what would be spent for groceries, going out, and bills. The tellers might also verify their checking account balances so the checks they need to send out next week would clear.

I don’t think all of this was done intentionally or planned in such organized fashion as to create a global domination matrix by a grand consortium. But I do often wonder the what if it were the days before credit and banks--- if barter systems would allow people to place their positive creative energies into creation of a practical and desired item—that could be exchanged for fresh corn and watermelon from the neighbor’s garden or farm. What if a grandmother’s special apple pies were baked fresh in exchange for a hand knitted scarf --- and the smell and sight and feel of those items were to be cherished again.

Instead we watch numbers going up and down on a screen not much different from the television videos that help create our modern fairy tales.

I wonder, what can we do to shift value back into our intangible system? How can value be added into the computer generated spreadsheets again? How can we feel that value again? Will we place more faith and trust back into ourselves if we can understand value again? If we can make those unappreciable things tangible again, how much more can we ‘feel’ again?