Warning:- If you do not have a practice that deals with dukkha then take care when reading this. Just be warned - seeing the system-of-accumulation for what it is has to leave you in a state of helplessness. But when we do start to see the system-of-accumulation for what it is, then we also see that the path is the only solution - at least we have a solution. Why is the path the solution? Nature, paths come from nature, nature helps by design, nature created us, nature wants us to survive. But again be warned, nature wants nature to survive, nature only wants humanity to survive if humanity will fit into nature eg the path for all.
So what started as a heartfelt warning became a recognition of the solution - follow the path.
 Source of Evil
Look at anything in the world that is evil, destructive or harmful. It traces back to the bottom-line - accumulation. This is not the bottom-line of making a profit because small-scale people-to-people profit-making is just trade; per se trade is not harmful. It is the bottom-line of accumulation where the strategies for enabling this accumulation put profits before people on a global scale. The root cause of evil action in this world is this bottom-line of accumulation.
On a local scale of "small is beautiful" then we have a bottom-line, and people put in that bit extra to make that extra bit of money. On the small level we push boundaries for the bottom-line - for our families. The sila of most people will not allow significant breaking of these boundaries, occasionally people do and they feel disturbed. But in the end the bottom-line of trading with its boundaries has sufficient sila that we survive. Would that we could return to such trading? Where trading was basically barter using money with human boundaries that tended to hold bottom-lines in check; the scale of individual greed was not that harmful.
System-of-accumulation has no sila boundaries
Now we live in the system-of-accumulation where the bottom-line of accumulation is the rule that matters and there are no sila-boundaries. Let's see what zandtao means by no sila-boundaries. Global corporate strategies for profit leads to war, poverty, drone-killings; on an individual level we can see the harm in transactions and prevent it, but when accumulation has no boundaries - putting profits first the world suffers.
Let's trace a few things back.
Tracing Back - Middle-east wars
These wars are based in the accumulation of oil profits. Middle-east countries are authoritarian - dictatorships with Islam as religion mostly. Apart from Israel! Some of these states ally themselves with oil industry such as Saudi, and there is no war. Others don't and they are slowly being picked off. Post-WWII Israel was created ostensibly as a homeland for Jews; in principle a Jewish homeland is legit as would be other homelands such as for Kurds and many others.
What is the connection? The oil industry was concerned about oil being controlled by Arabia, a nominal continent where all spoke Arabic, followed Islam, and controlled the oil. So put Israel in the middle to divide it. But Israel was not to be a harmonious Jewish state accepting land boundaries, Israel was put in the hands of zionists. The background to zionism was that they sought the lands of Eretz Israel:-
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Eretz Israel - Zionist objective?? |
Expanding Israel |
zandtao suspects that after WWII many Jews went to Israel for a homeland after the horrors of the holocaust. Whilst the initial Palestinian displacement was unfair, that might have been ameliorated - perhaps in the end acceptable with reparations - if the lands of Israel had not been expanded by Zionist leadership. Because of the ongoing Zionist expansion the fears of Israeli people have lent themselves to defensive rhetoric. The Likud party was formed in 1977 as the National Liberation Movement but it has zionist objectives rather than liberation.
Netanyahu is prime minister and chair of Likud, and recently has enacted expansionist moves in Palestine, Iran and Qatar. These moves have been supported by the Western arms industry, and politically western governments have not gone against what Israel has done even though western peoples as a whole tend not to support these Israeli moves.
Underlying the Middle-east wars, the bottom-line of the accumulation of the oil industry is at the root of the way Israel has expanded, and wars have been started in countries not compliant with the oil industry. Anything goes to increase oil accumulation. Take away the oil accumulation the pack of cards collapses. Israel returns to being a Jewish homeland, and the peoples in "Arabia" return to dealing with their own national authoritarianism.
Tracing back - MIC - Profits from War and Weaponry
Now add in the defense industry, the MIC, they reinforce the objectives of oil accumulation. Their accumulation, profits from weaponry, cements the need for war. After the collapse of the Berlin Wall there was no "red" enemy to finance the sale of weapons, so the "red" enemy was replaced by the enemy of Islam - formally described as terrorists; War on Terror became associated in many minds as anti-Islam. Even more problems associated with the oil accumulation of the system-of-accumulation.
Tracing Back - Big Pharma
Above zandtao described the impact of oil accumulation, this was not hard work but harming people to enable accumulation. What about BigPharma? People now so distrust the power of these corporations they question vaccines. Historically it has been academically recorded that vaccines have wiped out some major diseases saving many many lives, but now similar vaccines are being questioned because they are produced by BigPharma. Confusing times. zandtao understands why there is this questioning because many practices of BigPharma and BigFood are toxic and dangerous to people. Given the disinformation of intended confusion it is so hard to decide. That is why we need the conviction of the path to guide us, we cannot trust what the corporations say; we have to learn to know trustworthy sources - the path.
When you trace back do you see the system-of-accumulation for what it is? Please do not accept what anyone tells you because we live in the confusing times of intended disinformation. Ask your own questions and give yourself the answers. Develop your own conviction, through enquiry you follow inner and outer journeys that bring you truth. If you rely on the opinion of others you become manipulated. The way through is enquiry but ask all questions. Don't assume anything from your upbringing, and don't assume the truth from the opinion of others - marxists, demagogues or even zandtao. Develop your own conviction, and see the system for what it is.
How true??
Why should you accept what zandtao is saying as true?
zandtao does not ask you to. zandbag advice is not a thesis with proof, it is a description. Examine it, is it true? zandtao hopes that what he points out might give rise to questions, and also hopes that in asking the questions you throw off the filters of conditioning and conformity. But if you don't see truth in it, then don't accept it.
Most of the problems for people to accept that societal infrastructure is a system-of-accumulation is that their upbringing teaches them something different, conditioning and conformity says something else, and what is worse is that those who accept the way zandtao sees the system are described as dangerous. These are not people trying to cause harm but because they question the system-of-accumulation they are labelled as dangerous. Ask the questions for yourself, no need to accept zandtao - ask your own questions
Does it really matter that there is a system-of-accumulation? If in the system people get richer by working harder or by being more intelligent, don't they deserve it? This is why it is so important to "trace-it-back", and ask questions:- Do rich people work harder? Are they more intelligent? "Can poor people become rich through the same hard work?" OR "Does the system only reward those who already have some accumulation?"
To begin to examine what to do within the system-of-accumulation we need to try to see how that system works; it is hard to see because we don't live in the world of rich people making decisions as to how to increase accumulation.
Accumulation during the pandemic
Let us consider the pandemic. The rich got richer but how many of those rich people said "how can we use the pandemic and the deaths of fellow humans to make a profit?" Few, if any. What happened grew out of the needs of the governmental system for accumulation to pay for the medical equipment and needs? The system sought the accumulation, the accumulation fulfilled those needs, the pandemic eventually became controlled by natural immunity - helped by vaccines or otherwise depending on viewpoint; many rich people became richer from their accumulations whilst many poor people became poorer without work.
zandtao suggests that what happened grew out of conditioned responses within the system-of-accumulation - not particular intended creative actions. Of course there is a legitimate criticism of those rich people who benefitted; given that the conditioned system is the way it is, why didn't the rich try to counteract the conditioning through benefaction? What this aspect of the pandemic showed is that the system-of-accumulation controls rather than people being in control, and all people including the rich need to fight against their conditioning to bring harmony and Unity. The rich need to consciously consider their accumulation, and develop strategies of harmony (such as benefaction, ethical investment etc.) for using that accumulation - accumulation arises from their upbringing and conditioning, their path counters their conditioning. With accumulation comes the need for compassion, compassionate handling of the accumulation.
Two Economic Systems
We discussed the "bottom line is accumulation" above. We need to understand that there are two economic systems:-
 The economic system of accumulation
The economic system of daily life
In our economic system of daily life we live by economic rules such as supply and demand, we live by transactions such as at the local food market, and we need money to buy. Tacitly we assume that these are the economic laws of accumulation but that is far from the case.
The Economic Laws of Accumulation
Accumulation has its own economic laws. These are laws which include coercion, power and influence. Why do the big companies not pay tax? This is part of the economy of accumulation, accumulation is needed too much to pay tax. With regards to taxation, accumulation is in charge and not government. When accumulation comes to a community as a new company and factory, it can provide benefits bringing jobs and consequences that might create a thriving community. To attract the accumulation local government offers the company benefits such as the tax breaks and other perks. Supply and demand applies to the products and the lives of the employees but accumulation has its own rules.
Governments support the System-of-accumulation
When governments lose control such as in the financial crisis of 2008, they do not follow the laws of local economics. In the financial crisis of 2008 they printed money - what is often called fiat money. It could be argued that if the government had paid all the mortgages of the sub-prime loans the crisis could have been averted. However they supported the system-of-accumulation, printed money to support the banking system, and gave bankers bonuses. This is system-of-accumulation economics - when it has failures governments re-finance it.
Accumulation and Investment
What drives our way-of-life is this system-of-accumulation where the accumulation is always looking to make the highest profit; accumulation is always looking to be invested. What are the economic laws of this investment? The investment makes profit - usually immediately, or it is withdrawn and moved to a new investment. Accumulation is an ongoing merry-go-round in which there are continued profits. If there are profits from the investments then that system is working for itself. The biggest implication of understanding this system-of-accumulation is that the system is not concerned about people - only dividend returns on the investments of the accumulation. This complete lack of compassion is integral to the harm that occurs in daily life, we have a system without compassion so our daily lives get no compassion from the system - only from each other.
The sub-prime crash shows this. For however long they could find customers the sub-prime mortgages were offered to people who could not pay, these mortgages were then disguised in hedge funds which were traded investments - comedic explanation. This worked for as long as it did - until it didn't then people lost their homes and there was a financial crash. This was not a failure of the system-of-accumulation because when money was printed the system continued. It was however a failure of government and its people in that both followed a system-of-accumulation that did not work for the people.
Sub-prime crash linked to internet bubble??
This following is partly a theory. Back in the 90s, accumulation invested in the internet. Whilst there was an internet bubble, accumulation was happy. Investments in the internet bubble made profits but when the bubble burst investment was looking for a place to invest. Here is the theory, was the increased accumulation of the internet bubble the source of the finance at the basis of the hedge fund mortgages of the sub-prime crash? Investment needed to be made?
It is worth considering the internet bubble to understand accumulation. Investment in the internet far outweighed any produced value. We don't see this because such total accounts are not presented. But the profits that have accrued from the internet are far less than the totality of investment and the investment dividends. But for the economy of accumulation that doesn't matter. Accumulation makes investments, takes its profits and moves on. We got the internet, investments got their dividends, but what was the long-term social cost? Investment driving invention is concerned only with profit and not human costs. With the internet there are many in terms of the impact of social media, and if the projected sub-prime theory is correct many other social costs. A system-of-accumulation based on investment and dividend cannot consider social cost because the social cost has no dividend.
Accumulation for AI
Our economic system is still based in accumulation, and currently the vehicle for that accumulation is AI. Again the AI investment is measured only by dividend so whilst the AI companies can pretend that there is a product and benefit - as with the internet bubble - investment will continue. Accumulation will therefore increase until the AI bubble bursts, and then there will be all that accumulation looking to be invested. With nowhere to go. Sub-prime again???
Governments always have a war budget. When the AI bubble bursts will there be an increased focus on weaponry - more robots/drones to kill to avoid a Vietnam backlash? Will there be war or another crash?
Asimov's 3 laws??
What about all the ethical issues arising from AI? When will there ever be investment in the equivalent of Asimov's 3 laws of robotics? There is dividend in inventing a robot that sells, but there is no dividend in protecting humans - OK not completely true robots that kill owners cannot be sold but the invention and selling of robots is what drives that aspect of investment.
Working harmoniously with the rich??
One of the political adages bill used in the nurses strike of the 80s when he still saw in terms of class, nurses get a pittance whilst the rich get 0s in their accounts. At that time he blamed the rich because he saw class. In their apartheid stratosphere of wealth, the rich defend themselves from class attack so they don't see common interests. They fear class attack and complete redistribution of wealth so they influence governments to protect them; their fear also recognises that they do nothing and yet get wealthier because of the system-of-accumulation - how many know they do not merit their wealth and this knowledge fires their fear? It is mostly as a consequence of the system-of-accumulation - not human volition and intention. If we find a way of harmonising some redistribution the rich can give back. If we connect accumulation to war - the rich can also suffer in war if they live on the "wrong side", they will see the value in controlling the system-of-accumulation. The system-of-accumulation makes people poor - not rich people, let's work with compassionate rich people to redistribute some of their wealth and control the system-of-accumulation. When other rich people feel safe they will also redistribute. Harmony and unity - not class and division.
What do we the people do?
The pervasiveness of the system-of-accumulation is global so it is so hard to see what to do. Look at the system, it is so vast - and it is getting worse. People want simple solutions. Revolution? Not worthwhile for one country within the global economic system. Maybe it is better to have more principled people in charge of your country but the global system fights back so that in the end it is questionable whether people gain. Look at all the good people who fought and died in Russia: what did all those good people die for? Tsar -> Leninists-> Stalin->Stalinists->Oligarchs->Putin; was there substantive change for all that death? In China things appear better as the Chinese people now appear to have a decent standard of living, but what is the system of Chinese government now? Is that government now part of the global system? How? Was it worth all the death and struggle of the Chinese 20th century? No simple solutions.
Is what is happening in the West better? We have confusing times with an ongoing threat of authoritarianism. Again no simple solutions.
And the solution that zandtao offers - as does Marianne, Corbyn (Corbyn does not talk of path) and others - get active - mobilising-grassroots-for-grassroots. Follow your own path. Enquire. End the restrictions gained in an upbringing of conditioning and conforming. Paths come from Nature/Divine. We don't have to ask what to do, we just follow our practice and our embodiment will become clear.
But zandtao has to be realistic. This works if we all follow our paths, and is that going to happen? That is why there is a warning to this advice. zandtao asks you to see the way things are, offers a "solution" that has no certainty of happening. But what zandtao can say for certain, if you follow your path you will feel fulfilled, and enjoy life more. And you will know there is no more you could have done. However you will have to live with your compassion.
| RADICAL LOVE AS GRASSROOTS ACTIVISM |
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