We have created a world that is built on living off money, rather than living off LIFE
Why do many of us work?
To make money to pay the bills
Like housing, lights, food, etc….
What if we changed the reason why we worked instead?
Why work for money when we can work for havingness and contribution
What if we didn’t need to pay for housing, because we understand that housing is just a need and we provide this for each other simply because we need it
What if we had more people grow their food and we stopped over capitalizing on each other
What if we did things because they were good to do and not because of money
What if we didn’t charge for lights because we know lights are good for us and lights is something we provide for each other so we could see in the dark
What if the systems we create were created for our joy, ease, well being and good rather than profit because we have to play this game of make money to pay bills rather than we work to contribute to our peace and enjoyment and provision
The earth provides what we need
The earth provides the trees that we use for wood to make our homes
Why are we making it harder for each other to exist on this planet?
So many are depressed, sad, anxious, lonely, scared, stuck because of what we’re doing with our economic system
Borrow from the bank to go to school
Borrow from the bank to get a car
Borrow from the bank to get a house
INTEREST INTEREST INTEREST
Interesting for the banks, slavery for the human
Then you go to work to make a little money to just get by
just try to stay afloat
Running in a hamster wheel that doesn’t allow us to flourish
What the F is this bullshit?
We are human beings. We are born of this earth. This amazing earth which provides us with bananas, oranges, strawberries, wheat, pineapples, and each other
We are intelligent
We are creative
Why are we making it hard for us to exist?
Why are we putting ourselves in prisons?
Staring at screens for hours a day, stuck inside, alienated from our families
Rigid systems, taxes left and right
WHAT THE F IS THIS!?
I’m mad.
And I think we could do better
Everything is breaking down
It’s breaking down to let the new in
The old self is slowly dying
It’s sad, it’s scary, it’s bittersweet
I have to be strong. I have to be stronger than the loss. I have to accept. Accept impermanence. Accept change.
Time is passing. And with it is going my youth, some of the people around me, my hair line.
After many laps around the sun, you start to learn some things — gain some wisdom.
You gain a lot, you lose a lot. You build but in the end you let it all go.
One of my favorite aunts died last year. The house she bought was left behind. The clothes in her closet cleared away. The car she drove was given to her children.
This life is temporary. It’s all temporary. Some things break down and then we build them again. Yet in the end we keep nothing. So what is it all for? All this striving? All this doing? All this pressure to get it all “right”? The best hair, the nice shoes, the plump lips, the fancy outfits.
What are we all doing?
Why are we over capitalizing on each other to the point we can’t even enjoy this temporary life because we have to rush to a job just to make the payment to the banks for the ridiculously expensive mortgage loan adorned with suffocating interest.
This weekend I saw a Cheetos truck on the highway. So much gas is needed to fill up this truck to transport GARBAGE food into our groceries. What are we eating? What are we being fed?
What are WE DOING!? Is someone out there AWAKE!?
We are co-creating this God damned world here. Is this what you want? To go to debt for schooling, to go to debt to buy a car, to go to debt to buy a house and LIVE OUR WHOLE LIVES SLAVES TO BANKS and their interest payments?
So many cars on the road as we commute to work jobs we don’t even like. WHAT ARE WE DOING?
Are these the jobs we really want?
Are we happy with what we are creating? This is OUR WORLD.
We, together, call the shots. WHAT ARE WE DOING?
I’m pissed. And sometimes feel so damn powerless in the face of it all.
I hope we find a way to make it better. This experience here is temporary. I want to make the best of it and have supportive systems that create ease and peace for people. Not disease, stress, debt, depression, lack, scarcity, fear… what the fuck is going on.
I saw someone share this image below and it was the best thing I saw on the internet yesterday. So I am sharing it here with you.
^ I didn’t create the image I saw someone share it on facebook and I’m sharing it here with you…
Life is hard enough as it is — why don’t we come together to make it better? To make it pleasant?
Something isn’t right here with our systems.
Anybody else feel this?
The Earth provides every resource we need
We, the humans, use our intelligence to manipulate materials into goods for our use
We cut the tree, turn it to wood
We take the wood and turn it into houses, chairs, tables, paper
We, the humans, invent our systems… we co-create our reality. We’re just making it up. We make the rules, the laws, the systems.
Let’s chat on the money system…
We’ve invented the money system to aid in the trade of goods and services
But the way we are currently operating feels to me less than optimal
It’s NOT optimal that we capitalize on our basic needs, because then so much of our energy is wasted when it could be better allocated for improving operations, well-being, enjoyment, pleasure and an overall better life experience across the board.
Because of the current operating system so much of our time is spent working to make money to pay for goods that would otherwise not be necessary to continue to pay for, but we do because of capitalism.
I’d like to speak specifically on HOUSING for the sake of illustrating this point.
After you have built your home/shelter, the thing is built. It’s DONE. It need not be bothered unless some repair is needed. Outside of repairs and upgrades being made over the many years, for the most part the home is DONE. There is no need to keep “PAYING” for it, AKA exerting ENERGY, AKA make MONEY to keep PAYING for a thing that is already DONE. But whyyyy do we do it? CAPITALISM.
And beyond that, we have governmental forces wanting to TAX (aka make money) on LAND, whereas LAND is intrinsically free of monetary value. Land is a natural space that has no actual intrinsic monetary cost. It is humans that are putting a monetary cost to an otherwise costless thing. Why? Because of the current system at hand.
There are many people who benefit from the way things are who would have no incentive to make any changes. There are many who have studied and understood the “game” and are playing the “game” and thus perpetuating the system as is. Even if a new person becomes wealthy from capitalism and now is blessed with riches, opportunities, ease and comfort, that person will still not thrive as optimally as possible because the world in which we are co-creating isn’t an optimal world.
Ok, I kind of went off the rails with that last point there as it’s quite a high level perspective.
The point I am making isn’t that capitalism is bad or good. The point I’m making is that there is something off about how we are currently operating and I believe it could be better.
I believe we could have much better systems that waste less of our personal energy. Systems where we don’t have to waste time to make money just to pay for certain resources that could simply be a given. Instead our energy could be better allocated and put towards doing epic things that make us more intelligent, help us have more fun, joy, pleasure and have an AMAZING TIME on this beautiful Earth.
The point is we could be LAUGHING more, loving more, we could be healthier, happier, and more at ease in our bodies. We could be seeing the world. We could actually make it to MARS in our lifetime. We could feed EVERYONE. We could probably even figure out something mind blowing like creating a TIME MACHINE!!
But no. We are POORLY allocating our time to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for wood we found of the Earth in nature for free just because it turned into a house.
Like come the fuck on. I KNOW we can make a better system than this.
There is something so deeply poetic about endings.
Life is constantly in the process of moving, from one moment to the next.
The moment you started reading this is already over, you are now getting to the middle and now the end of this sentence.
It’s all evaporating. Morphing. Changing.
Everything changes.
And what hurts is that sometimes we wish it wouldn’t.
We wish we didn’t have to say good bye to the people and places we love because letting go of something we hold dear is painful.
There is something so deeply painful about going through the loss of what we love.
The loss of a lover, a friend, a parent, our youth.
There is something so bittersweet about this aspect of change. Change is what allows us to experience. To grow. To move through time.
Sometimes it means moving closer to the people and things we want, while other times moving further and further away.
The pain of a breakup feels like the soul is being ripped apart.
The pain of detaching. Healing. It hurts so profoundly.
Wounds can be complex in nature. They have dimension. They can bring both wisdom, sadness, fondness, appreciation, regret. Some wounds are like a soup carrying a mixture of flavors and many ingredients.
It’s so hard to say good bye sometimes.
Yet it’s these very endings that clear the same for the new. For rebirth. For transformation. We must let go of what is in order to step into what is becoming and what will be. It’s the endings that will make way for your greatest joys. For fresh energy to enter your life and new wisdom to be gained.
Until it’s time to say good bye to that too at some point. A new ending from another beginning.
Gahhhh.
I like to think of enduring endings the way you would a tattoo. They’re painful, but you just sit there and take the pain. Sometimes that’s all we can do. Is sit and take the pain. To fully sink into it and feel it. To embrace the shadow, the dark, the hurt, the loss, the sickness, the breakdown, the storm. To look it all in the face and simply endure. Simply be with it. Simply accept that it hurts and that all we can do in this moment is feel the pain. There is no where to go or hide. The only place is here and now and this pain.
Oof.
Boy, I tell ya. This life. It’s a sick, wild, beautiful, wonderful, sad, bittersweet piece of art.
if I could describe our relationship in one word,
”disappointment” would probably be a good one.
———
and I hate that
because I don’t wanna think of you that way
and I don’t wanna feel that
and I hate that it IS that
And therefore, it has to be rectified.
Perhaps with an ending and going our separate ways. Perhaps with becoming better as individuals and meeting back up when the time is right. Perhaps with simply acknowledging and accepting what is and not making anything of it. Perhaps some whole other outcome I can’t even think of.
but it can’t be like this
I can’t let it be a disappointment
I can’t let it be less that perfect
it IS
or it isn’t
and I want it to be GOOD
so damn GOOD
so damn right it blows your mind
I want the RIGHT and CORRECT answer
beyond a shadow of a doubt
it is SO GOOD
and SO RIGHT that anything other, above, or beyond cannot be conceived or imagined because IT IS ALL OF THAT and MORE all in ONE
all and done
So GOOD and SO PERFECT that there is nothing left to add, utter, conceive, say, do, be or have
that’s IT
THAT’S IT!!!
THAT’S
it
mmmmm
the depths of the depths of my soul craves the depths of the depths of experience
oh how I yearn for those beautiful, precious moments that slip through time and evaporate into the ether
how I wish I could hold them longer, how I wish I didn’t have to let go and could savor this gift forever
sigh…
I get sad sometimes over the passage of time
over the thought of death and letting go
and how this life is temporary and who knows where it all truly leads
It’s fucking nuts honestly
I’m sad over the aging of my mother
and how I wish I could give her the world
I’m sad over my own aging
I’m sad over the suffering that exists…
I wish I could do a million things at once
Go on a road trip on a warm summer day, look at the starts while smoking a joint on top of the hood of a jeep with someone who just gets me and the vibe is just right…. and also write a book, teach a course on personal finance that helps the average worker and laborers know what to do with their hard earned money so they aren’t stuck working so hard without seeing their money actually grow.
I wish I could travel to Thailand, Bali, Spain, Portugal, India, Italy, Greece, Turkey, London, Ireland, The Virgin Islands and swim naked in the ocean in some other beautiful island where the water is calm and just the perfect temperature – not hot, not cold ~ just right.
I wish I could reach more people and help them on their journey somehow, some way. To make friends from all the world and get a flower tattoo on my back to go with the humming bird waiting to kiss it.
I’m fucking sad bro
For all the reasons there exist for a human to be sad about…
A moment of silence please as we sit and acknowledge the dark side…the emptiness… the void…the stuff that we wish weren’t so.
……………………
I wish I could live a thousand lives
Walk the streets of New York City dressed in edgy but classy fashion while living in a beautiful Manhattan apartment filled with books, tapestries, and vintage decor.
Sigh…
At the same time I am grateful
Grateful for the experience of experience
Grateful for it all even though I have no idea what the f is going on
It’s the middle of the night and I’m fantasizing about living a million different lives…
How I wish I could be a Carrie Bradshaw dressed in Vera Wang, waltzing around the streets of New York City in dazzling high heel shoes. A trace of delicate perfume in the air on a summer evening, headed to a cocktail party with the girls.
Then I fantasize about having an eat, pray, love story in Bali. Barefoot. Mala beads. Light, flowy dress. Cross legged. Smoke of an incense dancing in a small, colorful room decorated with Buddha heads, meditation pillows, and ancient philosophy books sprawled on wooden tables.
Ahhhh
I wish there was time to do it all. To live the different flavors of life. To taste the different vibes. To embody the energy of different realities and get to live it all.
Sigh.
Life’s weird.
~~.~~
Well, let me tell you about my love life.
I’m currently with a man who is sweet,
but it feels like so many parts of me with him are dead.
Like that deep, earthy part that years to get completely submerged in inexplicable love that goes beyond senses.
The part that wants to be fully seen and understood without judgement.
The part that feels comfortable with silence and can rest peacefully in tune with all that is–no wants, no worries, just pure ease and bliss. Like “This is it!”
The part that feels like an embodied woman-sexy, wild, free, shameless. In full feminine energy, embracing her body, her cycles, her perfect imperfections.
The part that feels both like a queen and a little girl. Loved and looked after. Honored and respected.
Lol
am I delusional?
a part of me just thinks I should be happy with what I have. That I shouldn’t “self sabotage” because of some fantasy.
But I can’t help but wonder if maybe…
just maybe… there are still parts of me in the space time continuum that are waiting to mature. Waiting to be unlocked and unleashed. But not just yet. Not right now.
The more I try to figure it all out the less I understand
I’m in awe
of this
all of this
existence itself
it literally blows my mind because it’s just not comprehensible
Talk this out with me for a moment
How is it that everything has precise order and incredibly fine, exquisite design
and then we are just existing here on a planet spinning around in space lit by a ball of fire that is conveniently distanced at the perfect spot to allow all kinds of intricately deigned life forms to take shape who then have to basically figure out how to survive…?
Like what is all this!?
The human body alone is a mind blowing work of art. The fact that this whole machinery constructs itself from a sperm and egg inside the womb and over time encodes itself to form a heart, lungs, eyes, a brain, feet, nails, hair, stomach, digestive tract, a nose, veins, etc – all with such masterful design is hard for me to wrap my head around.
If that’s not fascinating, I don’t know what is.
I merely lose it when I contemplate it.
Have you ever looked at a drawing of the ear drum?
The ear drum alone is incredibly impressive, let alone the entire body!!
Then just look at everything else- the other animals, insects, birds, lizards…
The leaves, trees, plants, fruits.
Bananas trip me out every time. Like how does it know to grow a beautiful cover to protect its fruit so we could eat it? 😭😭 How?? How does it even know to be a banana? What nececitated there be a thing such as a banana? What is encoding all that is to be?
Seriously, wtf is going on? What IS all this!???
And then there’s all the human invention added to the mix – as if life already wasn’t interesting enough
now we have things like iPhones and electricity
and I, a human, am here typing into a phone created by harnessing the elements provided by the planet and the intelligence and skills of the inventors of this technology, so that YOUR magnificently designed eyes could read this.
WHAT!?
Like cmon
I don’t know how we’re not all walking around completely mind blown at every second of the day
But anyway…
I think the point I’m making is that I’m truly in awe
and also feel so small
like what do I really know at the end of the day? So little. Barely anything. I feel like an ant.
What is even the point? Sometimes I don’t get it.
Sometimes I buy into the human story and drama – you know- the pay bills, make money, drive a car, do the laundry, every day normal people bullshit sort of thing.
Is that what life’s about? Is it about something else?
Perhaps cleaning oceans, ending wars, saving kittens, and housing the homeless?
Or is it about experiences, traveling, kissing, trying to make the best of the opportunity to be here?
I don’t know, and don’t know the actual point
But I hope I don’t miss it
reflectoutloud.com 