Undercurrent

Change we can believe in.

Nice slogan. But I'm not buying it.

Is it the government's place to make sure that I get the creature comforts I'm 'entitled' to? It is the government's job to make sure I'm healthy, that I have a roof over my head, and a way to get from point A to point B in the way that I'm accustomed to? Is it my government's job to see to it that I'm taken care of? To see to it that I'm happy? Is it?

Take the recent price jumps in gasoline. Is it the government's job to see to it that gasoline is plentiful and lost cost for us as consumers? Or is it our job to see to ourselves? My family is not living the lifestyle we lived just one year ago. We have changed the way we buy, store and prepare food. We don't travel as much or as often, and we're working at decreasing the amount of energy we are consuming in our home. Why? Because we've seen the need to make changes in the way we live in order to effectively make ends meet. I don't want to rely on my government to do that for me - for a couple of reasons.

Number one - I find it interesting that people are complaining about the record profits being made by the oil companies. Anyone know what their profits are per gallon of gas sold? Eight cents. Anyone want to venture a guess how much the Federal Government takes per gallon of gas sold? 18.4 cents a gallon. (I'm not even getting into the State's tax haul.) So - the oil companies pay for the exploration, drilling, hauling, refining, rehauling and distribution of the oil and the Federal Government does . . . what in that process again? I suppose they have a lot to do with the 'security' and maintaining free routes of transportation for the oil, but somehow I don't think that costs 18.4 cents a gallon. The Federal Govermnet tends to over-rate itself in terms of its importance - ya know?

Here's another interesting thing. I have a voluntary retirement account through work. In that retirement account, there are investments made with the money I put into it, the profits of which come back to me. Oil comapnies are publicly owned and traded and play a large part in the retirement accounts of many Americans. We are (I am) essentially the owners of the oil companies. And those companies are doing their job in making money for me - their stockholder. On the other hand, I am involuntarily mandated to pay a social security tax by my Federal Government. The reason I pay this tax is ostensibly so that I have money for when I retire. The payment is far higher than the voluntary amount I put into my personal retirement account. Yet - from what I understand - by the time I am old enough to 'retire' there won't be any money in the Social Security Funds for me to rely on. It will be gone. The irony in all this is that the Federal Government wants to be able to regulate or limit the profits of the companies that are working for me, yet they are mandating I give them retirement money that I know I'll have little or no chance of getting when it comes time for me to get it.

As a consumer I have a choice as to what I buy and whom I give my money to in terms of goods and services. If I think a product is inferior I will not buy it. In fact - if I think that the company behind a product is unethical or the product itself represents something I find offensive, I can boycott that product and even encourage others to do so. Perfectly legal and it happens all the time. I think the Federal Government is nothing but a burgeoning bureaucracy managed by profligate spenders who say they are concerned for my welfare, yet their actions indicate they are more interested in cementing their position of power and influence, thusly perpetuating the bureaucracies they have created. Am I allowed to boycott the Federal Government by not giving them my money anymore? Would I be allowed to organize a Federal boycott in order to protest their ethics or way of doing business? Um - no. I believe that's called tax evasion and I could go to jail for that. I'd also likely go to jail for organizing a tax revolt if I encouraged others to do so wouldn't I? Would I also be guilty of treason? Insurgency?

Or would I be trying to affect real change not merely by voting for a handpicked candidate, but by taking the power to spend my money away from them?

Some folks would argue that I'm free to leave the country and settle somewhere else, but the fact of the matter is that I love the Constitution and the principles and beliefs that are represented in that document. What I don't care for is the system of administering the Constitution and the massive legal bureaucracy that has arisen through the course of our history. That bureaucracy, administered by the 'people we voted for' (including the folks representing our very own districts), is what is hurting us. They apparently seem more interested in solidifying and maintaining their entrenched status than in 'doing the business of the people.'

Real change will not come this November no matter who is elected as our next President. Real change will come when the American electorate starts to seriously question why things are the way they are and start to act in ways that will change or eliminate the systems that have become detrimental to us. It won't be through just 'voting.' It's going to require attendance at hearings, actively petitioning and assuring follow thorugh, demanding term limits in the legislature, and acting with our pocketbooks.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about origins. How things began, where they began, what happened shortly thereafter - things like that. Specifically, I've been thinking a lot about the human species and how we got to where we are today. And I've been wondering - are we the better off for it?

I'm very curious to know what life was like before we became an agrarian species. What was it like when we had to go out every day and hunt and gather for food? What was it like when our mental energies were focused on daily survival? I suppose there are some isolated societies that are left in our species that do live that way, but somehow I don't think it's as pure as it was, say, 15,000 years ago. The 'modern' world has encroached everywhere.

At that time, what were our ideas about God? What wereour ideas about spirituality? How was that reflected in the way we lived? Did we need rituals to honor that idea of God or were we so in touch with spirituality because we were so needy at the time? Did we rely on our God so much day to day that the ritualization of thanks and worship didn't need to occur? In other words - were we constantly in touch?

I think the Aborigines refer to this period in history as the 'dream time.' I'd like to go back to visit it if I could.

I also want to know when it was that someone had the idea that growing food in one place was better than roaming and living off what the land had to offer each day? How was that discovered? How was the idea spread? What changed in our relationship with God at that point?

Was this when we left "The Garden?" (Yeah, I said left. I don't think we were thrown out at all. Read on.)

Obviously, growing and saving food (despite the hard work it took to grow it) gave folks a little more time to think about things besides where their next meal was coming from and whether or not they'd be killed and possibly eaten by something not human. What did this lead to?

That was the germination point for what we have today. Whoever the person was that discovered domesticated plants and how to breed aggression out of certain animal species is ultimately responsible for our current society. Every discovery, every city, every technology, and I believe every modern faith, can be traced back to that event. Had that not occurred, I wouldn't be sitting here typing symbols on a keyboard and then having them transmitted into cyberspace for anyone else with the internet to read.

So - why am I thinking about all this?

The more I observe our species, the more I wonder what the ultimate 'progress' is that we've made.

In all of our technological advances, have we advanced our ultimate lot any? Sure - we've got a lot of diversions and ideas to keep us busy, but are we truly any better off? Our life expectancy has been extended quite a bit, but has the quality of our lives improved as a whole? I mean, in the end, we're still subject to dirt and daisies when the body winds down. Sure, we're able to sustain a lot more of us humans on the planet, but we're approaching the point where we're going to run out of space and resources and a massive decimation of humanity isvery likelyto occur in some fashion.

But what about modern technology? It is pretty useful isn't it? What about transportation? What about the availability of food through industrialized agriculture? What about sophisticated housing? How many wolves eat people now as opposed to 15,000 years ago? What about literature, music, the arts, and exploration of our world and others? What about our understanding of the 'infinite' and the sophisticated theories of physics?

But then, what about 2% of the world's population controlling 98% of it's "wealth?" What about starvation on massive scales? What about plagues? What about the technologies of war? What about modern genocides? What about people of one faith wanting to destroy the people of another? What about a clash over ideas as opposed to a clash for limited resources?

What about the written word? Written language was not developed prior to domestication. Nobody had time to do that. So the inventors of written language did record things - but only as things related to their way of life, their thoughts about God(s) and the nature of the Universe. Nothing is recorded about 'dream time' other than the oral histories in 'primitive' cultures. And those seem simple, superstitious and silly to our modern 'sophisticated' minds. (Yet they remain relatively unchanged don't they? And perhaps that simplicityisall we really need to know.)

Sometime shortly after we started domesticating plants and animals, the portion of humanity that chose the domestication lifestyle lost its humility. They lost the 'need' for a creator and sustainer and made new deities that fit the designs of the world they were (are) creating. I'm not saying there is no God - I'm saying the ones we invented are a poor substitute for the One we walked with in the dream time. We lost that God because we had no need for that one anymore.

I've heard it said that the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was our species taking it upon itself to decide right from wrong. Deciding what other species should live and which should die. Deciding what group of people deserve the resources in an area even to the utter destruction of another group. Relying on ourselves for our survival instead of harmoniously living in thegift of creation around us.

We are indeed self-sufficient, but all it would take is one well placed blow to our infrastructure and millions could perish from starvation and the elements. (The massive East Coast blackout a few years back happened in summertime. What if it had occurred in the dead of winter? Katrina is another fine example of our technology withering in the face of creation.) Again - I pose the question, are we ultimately any better off than we were 15,000 years ago?

I don't know if we're evolving biologically, technologically, or societally for any good purpose right now. Our biology remains pretty much the same as it has for millennia, but our inventions and rules that we've made for ourselves have changed to the point where we've become a seeming anathema to ourselves. We are the only species capable of destroying all species (including our own) on the entire planet. (Or so we presumptuously think - something else would take our place of eminence if we disappeared.)

And in all this thinking I have time for (perhaps in part due to our species' development of technology), what have I personally learned about what matters more than all else? For me - living in the moment without the clutter and noise of my own mind or the intrusion of the outside world getting in the way is something I strive for every day. Loving my family with all my strength and receiving the love of my family with an open heart is something I look forward to and strive for every day. Being grateful for each day I draw breath and for each experience I've had in my life (both 'good' and 'bad') is something that roots me in what I understand to be spirituality.

And in those things I've "discovered" was technology really necessary for me to discover them? In the end, no, it wasn't. I don't think the lessons we learn that lend meaning in our lives have anything to do with what modern society has to offer. We have more in common with our ancestors (and 'primitive' brethren) than we think, and I have to wonder when it becomes impossible to sustain this way of life we've chosen . . .

Will we eventually go back to the way of life we'd originally lived? To the God we'd forgotten? To the basic truth of the life of our species?

So I'm out at Wal-Mart with the Mrs. and I see a ton of pregnant women in the store. Most of whom are as big as my wife. I mean - there were a LOT of 'em! Buncha big round bellies everywhere you turned.

So I turn to the Redhead and say: "Wow! There's a lot of pregnant women in here. But I guess maybe it's kinda like when you buy a car and then you see the same model car everywhere on the road."

For some reason, Wal-Mart felt really chilly for the rest of the trip.