Haywire - Part 2

[mothandrust]

<div align='center'>Haywire
part 2</div>

Now, bear in mind, if money has collapsed, or exploded, so too has society. Nothing works – no money, no food, no fuel, no corporations, no banks, no security, barring that one can fight for (sort of Mad Max on push-bikes), until humanity is decimated. So, in all likelihood, fulfilment of prophecy for Judaism and its derivatives. Religion, at least for the “Sky Godders” (G. Vidal) would be no more. And let's face it, given the way we have mucked around with our immune system, attempt to “kill all known germs, dead”, and fiddle around with nature as cavaliers, disease, plagues and famine would surely better than an even bet.

Of course, if Jehovah is there, in whatever form, no problem. At least as far as finality goes, all the naughty people get shipped off to eternal damnation, the good ones find eternal paradise and maybe some hover in between the two. Trying to conceptualise how any of these options might turn out in the long run is beyond me. You know, after ten thousand years of it, surely even torture becomes mundane, and probably also all that pleasure the heaven dwellers have been imbibing. Will i touch, taste, smell, feel? Will i age, and what of relationships... It is pointless speculation, all will be revealed by Jehovah, if there.

However, with no Jehovah, The shattered remnants of humanity would be emerging dazed from their bunkers, thinking what have we done? And what has God, or Nature, or whatever done to us?

Humanity would effectively be starting from scratch: no authority, no jobs, no structure... and no debt. No religion. No money. No Justice. Just ourselves, the clothes we stand up in, our astuteness of mind and life as potential.

So before anything else we should remember the series of events, ideologies, structures, belief systems - that delivered us to collapse. Beyond everything else, beyond the wars and money and corporations and religions and laws and... there is something so foundational, so fundamental, that it becomes the roots of current society. Perhaps it might even be seen as the original sin itself. That is, absolving responsibility to the Other, either to 'God', or to the structure i.e. deferring to another's truth through ignorance.

The moment i accept faith (in the word of another) i relinquish responsibility, i give allegiance, not to God but to the interpretation of God. I embrace ignorance, masquerading as faith, for perceived security and identification.

In effect, we found ourselves in a system doomed to crash because we believed someone else knew better. We took someone else's word for truth without understanding it for ourselves, in our heads, and hearts.

Effectively, with the collapse of the structure and the ensuing devastation (and no Jehovah) all the words of authority have been proved to be lies. Authority has been exposed as warmongering inveterate liars and self serving hypocrites.

There is no belief system.

Just a planet, and a tiny, but deeply chastened human population.

So, given what we know now, what foundations should we lay for a more equitable, loving, hopeful future? Foundations that, if possible, could not be undermined by fearful and hungry, power-seeking individuals. Ideas that could be established so firmly and upon such deep seated logic, that even a child could understand them. Perhaps we should say – especially that a child could understand.

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No doubt those that claim to know best will eagerly leap forward to assume the reins of command, but remember, they are charlatans: those that would assume high office and have others work on their behalf. The pigs in Animal Farm.

Given the vastness of the planet and the fragment of humanity remaining, nature will be abundant - more than enough for everyone. No one will need to labour beyond personal survival, no need for war, nor protection (barring common sense). Of course as humanity breeds within just a few generations space will again potentially be at a premium, so before such pressure occurred it would seem prudent to establish certain truths, for not only the well-being of humankind, but also for the planet as a whole.

Now along with conceptual authority went a whole load of other decrees which owed nothing to truth but purely serviced their machinations. Chief of which was ownership, and most specifically land ownership. And that is where we must start.

Sure one can tend and cultivate land but to claim ownership defies logic. It defies logic because humanity, regardless of how self-important it perceives itself to be, can be only temporary and fleeting, and, being totally dependant upon the earth remains at its mercy, its whims and, as such, fundamentally subservient. One cannot own one's host – try it, the next time someone invites you round for dinner!

To Rousseau land ownership was introduced by an “impostor”, – the first person to put four sticks in the ground and find someone simple enough to believe, that he could own the land. It is at the origin of inequality, creating an imbalance – the haves and have-nots. Rousseau made this observation two hundred and fifty years ago. According to European authority the subject was closed and of course they had their laws and their violence to impose their opinion. For remember, it was only their opinion – and opinion without basis in logic.

So, now, with humanity acknowledging its own (in)significance, transience, subservience, and with respect for the planet, we can now consider how exchange (without trust) can be best facilitated.

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As stated above, gold is entirely useless. In fact, worse than useless, because as well as being of no functional use, its value will be dictated by the hoarders and manipulated through hunger and fear. Nor can the physical amount be increased or decreased depending upon exchange or activity. The amount of gold is fixed, so if there were ten people on the earth each would potentially have enormous amounts (not of course that it would be any use). With millions of people and expanding economies however, the situation changes entirely, gold (per person) becomes extraordinarily rare – and of course to become relatively rarer as the population increases and economies continue to expand. Of course the gold in itself is still inherently useless – that is, unless someone places a conceptual value on it. Control of value therefore becomes dictated by whoever controls supply. Which is a recipe for subjugation and excess.

Leave them to their gold, let them die trying to eat it, or fending off nature with it. They will be extinct before we know it.

Chastened humanity finds itself amid the ruins of global capitalism and its once sparkling towers, yet with a virtually blank canvas and renewed potential. What will we eat, wear, build? The question is of course too complex, different people and regions will find different answers. But they will all recognise value, true value in what nature provides, and the sweat of one's brow to produce or facilitate – just as we all once did.

It stands therefore, that an individual or group recognises the value of what it cultivates, and recognises it more deeply than cultivator of some alternative crop. So, logically, such must be their individual currency. Fine. However, as we are also considering the world as a whole and considering humanity's interaction and potential evolution, a common crop, whose value is practical, adaptable and undisputed, must also be considered.

There are many crops whose value across humanity are undisputed, however, for versatility, in terms of practical use, hardiness to the environment and ease and speed of germination, there can be only one: Hemp.

Before considering how hemp would work as money, let's just remind ourselves of its credentials and history, at least superficially. Humanity's relationship with hemp is probably its oldest:

Imprints of hemp fabric date back perhaps 10,000 years, from China and Sumeria.
As a medicine hemp dates back at least 5,000 years in Chinese lore.
The oldest (and most ecological) forms of paper are hemp based.
Hemp rope and sail got Europe to the 'New World'.
North American settlers used hemp as currency to undermine the British pound (of silver).
Napoleon's army uniforms were made of hemp, as were US army uniforms in WWII.
Barring soya, hemp is the most nutritious crop known to humanity.
Until the 1930s (when Dupont, Standard Oil, etc. engineered its prohibition) hemp was used for paint, varnish, oil, and was being developed as a plastic (in conjunction with Ford Motor Co.).
Hemp pulp can be used as a building material and cement.
Hemp oil is rich in Omega 6 and Omega 3.
And hemp is also an efficient fuel – Diesel had Hemp oil in mind as a possibility for his new engine.

Hemp also grows as a weed, it is tenacious in the most inhospitable conditions and terrains, and depending on how and where it is planted, it exhibits remarkably varied characteristics. From densely planted, in cooler, shadier conditions giving rise to vigorous, almost tree like specimens, to broadly spaced, sunny conditions producing dense, compact examples, bristling with medicinal uses.

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Ideologically we are turning money on its head: from the rarest and least useful (and most controllable) to the most abundant and most useful (and least controllable). In effect, we are giving money its freedom, unfettering it from banks and governments and powerful families, not to let it float, or be invented, but to take root as an example of genuine, practical value. As a foundation upon which humanity might construct a more balanced future.


<div align='right'>to be continued...</div>


in part 3 we will consider how trade, humanity and society might evolve with our value structures turned on their heads - and the legitimacy of authority exploding together with their hegemonic, economic and idealogical fantasy.