waking up the capitalist mind - beyond appearances series

8/9/2019 Waking Up the Capitalist Mind - Beyond Appearances Series

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First published 2010 by L. Niall MacNamarro

Public Domain 2010 / Open Source Literature

This book has been placed into the public domain by the author, as

copyrighting words goes against his belief that all knowledge should beshared and able to be changed and edited, in order to create newevolving works - of which he hopes this book forms a part.

ISBN: 978-1-4457-3923-6

Cover photo 2009 Lorgen Rhymes-Hero


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If every action has a consequence, and every action begins with a choice,and every choice begins with a thought, why not make the thought the

best it can be! We all need to start taking personal responsibility for ourthoughts and the consequences which arise from them.

L. Niall MacNamarroDecember 2009


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Contents

1 Consumerism 12 Success 93 Bank 154 Globalisation 255 Charity 316 Insurance 41

7 Giving 498 Stress 559 Construction 6710 Loans 7511 Power 8112 Leader 8713 Manufacturing 9114 Advertising 97

15 Competition 10516 Corporations 11317 Credit Cards 12118 Money 12719 Jobs 1 13320 Jobs 2 13921 Jobs 3 14522 Progress 15123 Technology 157

24 Takeaways 16525 Fast Food 17326 Supermarkets 18127 Agriculture 19728 Waste 20529 Recycling 215


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nonetheless, they are readily available. There may be a cost to all of this,but let us explore that in another topic. For now, let us just celebratehuman achievement.

Before the industrial revolution, little more than 200 years ago, all ofthis would be unthinkable. The ability to go to nice looking shops, andbuy everything you could possibly want, would have been impossible.Even the rich wouldnt have been able to do it. Not because they didnthave enough money, but because there were no means to make theseproducts.

Since the start of the industrial revolution, we have gradually beenable to make more and more types of products, all invented by humansto make our lives better and easier. Some of the products have made our

lives so much easier, such as the washing machine, which saves having tostand over a basin for hours scrubbing clothes; so before we condemnthe purchase of consumer products, lets take a balanced view of this fora moment, and think what the consumer revolution has done for us.

Think of the products you buy for personal hygiene, like shower gel,nail clippers, shampoo, soap, and tampons; and what about kitchenwareproducts such as a cheese grater, or hand blender, pots, and pans? Notforgetting cleaning cloths, antibacterial sprays, washing powder, floormops, and vacuum cleaners; and have you all forgotten the flushing

toilet? Thats a consumer product too, you know! Beds, duvets, sleepingbags, tents, carpets, rugs, vases, tables, chairs, shoes... These are allconsumer products, whether you like it or not.

Even the hippie, who wants to live in nature, still has clothes,something to cook on, like a gas stove, pots, pans, knives, and forks; andsleeps in a man-made tent all consumer products, made in factories, forthe benefit of everyone else.

Lets say you decided to go back to nature; that you decided to giveup the life of the consumer; that you made your own clothes out of woolyou spun yourself; that you lived in a forest, and made your own shelter(and tools to make the shelter, if you please); that you grew all your ownfood, dug your own toilet, found your own water, and washed yourclothes in a stream... Would you be happier? Would you feel free like theanimals and the birds, or would it just be a fairly miserable experience? Ifyou lived in a warm tropical country it may be quite nice, but you woulddefinitely not enjoy it in a winter in russia!

So for anyone considering a back to nature lifestyle, make sure you

enjoy working. Hard. Every day. No holidays abroad, no restaurantmeals, no going to the cinema, or appreciating the arts; just working tolive. Full stop. That is the life most people in the developing world

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(a) The design of a wing that generates lift.(b) The mining and manufacture of metals, to enclose the

plane.

(c) The discovery of oil, which can be processed intopetroleum to create fuel.(d) The design of an engine, to get the plane off the ground.(e) The design of rudders, ailerons, and flaps, to help the

plane turn.The invention of electronics.

(f) The manufacture of textiles, for carpets and seat covers.(g) The invention of television and data storage, for

playback on demand.

(h) The invention of satellites, to help the plane navigate.(i) The invention of the wheel and manufacture of rubber

for the tyres to help the plane move on the ground,and land safely.

(j) The invention of hydraulic systems to move parts of theplane remotely.

(k) The invention of plastics for various items, includingwindows.The invention of knives and forks.

(l) The mass production of food.(m) The invention of fridges, freezers, and ovens to store

and heat food.(n) The invention of radios, to allow communications

between aircraft and the ground.The invention of a pressurisation and oxygen system,

that allows us to breathe comfortably six miles abovethe earth, at temperatures of minus sixty degrees.

The plane is the ultimate consumer product. We do not actually need oneto live, but how much easier has it made life? Some of you mayremember that even quite recently, a trip to australia would have takensix weeks by boat. Now we can make it from the uk in less than twentyfour hours, in complete comfort, knowing we will almost certainly arrivesafely. Hundreds of millions of us move around the earth this way everyyear.

How many of you would like to swap lives with your ancestors, or

indeed any person who has to work the land every day just for survival? Iknow the family struggling to feed themselves in some remote village inafrica would like to swap with us!

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Some of us in the west may see consumerism as a waste of resources, butthere are billions of poor who want to experience the benefits.Sometimes it is only through experience that you can see what is truly

important in life.Deep down, I believe that many of these products are unnecessaryparts of the human experience, created to keep us superficially happy, butmost of us are not at such a point in our development that we can live intotal simplicity, aware in the moment, using our minds creatively tounderstand more than just the visual world. Most of us still need thepleasures that mass consumerism gives us, including myself.

I have seen people from poor countries marvel at being able to talk tosomeone on a mobile phone, or being able to buy food from a

supermarket, and we have to admit to ourselves that it is wonderful. Theman who has nothing isnt interested in my opinion that mass foodproduction and world distribution isnt helping the planet, or that mobilephones are an addictive waste of time and energy used by people tooccupy their minds when they are bored. He sees each of these thingsas a positive step forward. Something better than he had.

Who am I to tell him that supermarkets and mobile phones are bad,when he sees millions of people enjoying them? Who am I to tell anyonethat mass consumerism is bad? If someone was to tell me that buying

clothes from Shop X was bad, would I listen? Yesterday I bought clothesand had coffee. Was it bad I did that? I am aware that people are

working for next to nothing in terrible conditions in far away coffeeplantations and textile factories, but did it stop me buying the products?

No, it did not. I wanted a coffee and I bought it. I wanted a new t-shirt because my old ones look terrible, and I bought it.

An ethical dilemma

These are real dilemmas I have faced since embarking on my journey.I need a new pair of shoes as my old ones are falling apart. I go to the

shopping centre, because that is where the shoes are sold. I can onlyafford a cheap pair of shoes, as I choose to do work that benefits others,

which is rather poorly paid. I do not wear leather, and I want to makesure that the shoes I buy are made by someone who is getting well paidfor their work. I see a pair of shoes I like, at a reasonable price I canafford, but am unsure as to the conditions the workers face in the

factory.Do I (a) buy the shoes anyway, as I am now getting wet feet as my

shoes are in such bad condition or (b) wait until I find a company thatcan guarantee that the workers are being treated well, no animal has

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suffered in the manufacture of the product, and the company is notadversely affecting the environment with their manufacturing processes?

I am hungry. I am away from home. I cannot find anywhere that

serves food that is strict vegetarian (i.e. contains no dairy as well asmeat), but find a shop that sells a takeaway vegetable pastry. I am prettysure that the pastry has butter in it, and that the vegetables have a cheesesauce. Do I (a) buy it, as I am hungry, even though it conflicts with myethics (motivation based on ideas of write and wrong), on dairy free products,and is wasteful to our resources because of packaging, or do I (b) waituntil I get home, even though I will not be able to eat for another sixhours?

I want to go on a trip abroad. I cannot travel there by train, as it costs

too much, and I have to cross water too. The trip is very important to mein my research for a book, but I understand that flying creates a lot ofpollution and uses up precious resources such as oil. Should I (a) go onthe trip because it is vitally important to me, or (b) decide not to travel?

Every minute of every day, I am confronted by dilemmas such asthese. This is one of the problems of living your life in awareness,knowing that everything is interconnected. So what do I do? I am awarethat most products that are made in life come at a cost; either human,animal, or environmental.

I try to make myself aware of companies who have a compassionateoutlook on life, who try to minimize the impact products have; but thesecompanies are few and far between. Most companies are interested ingetting the products out to the consumers in the cheapest possible way

which usually means that someone is going to be paying that cost. Eitherin the form of bad working conditions, animal mistreatment, orinconsiderate use of the planets resources.

My cheap shoes (yes, I did buy them), came at a cost. They weremanufactured in china, by workers who live under an oppressive regime,are paid measly wages, by a company that is only interested in makingmoney, and shipped thousands of miles using fuel which is a limitedresource.

My pastry came at a cost. It did contain butter, meaning that animalssuffered for my hunger, and was wrapped in plastic which could not berecycled.

I did take the flight, meaning that pollution was caused by theaeroplane which also used large amounts of petroleum, which is a limited

resource.Do I feel guilty about these things? In a word yes; but if I was to waituntil each company had satisfied my strict ethics I would be waiting along time.

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So what do you do when you want to make a difference in the world, butmost other people dont care? Do you live as a hermit, relying on thebasic resources our ancestors had available, or do you live in the world as

it is, and try to make a difference from where you find yourself? Nothingin this life is perfect, and it is only through education and awareness thatpeople will start to live more ethically. Not by rejection of all thatsurrounds us. Trying to live the perfect life has nearly driven me mad! Ilive in a consumer society and I have to do the best I can whilst livinghere.

I am sure that most companies do not think they are behavingunethically when they produce consumer goods. They provideemployment for people, who may not otherwise have any, manufacture

goods that make peoples lives easier, and generate money, that goes backinto they world in the form of taxes that can help to build hospitals andschools. They certainly have a strong argument to keep doing whattheyre doing.

The problem is, that businesses fail to consider the impact theiractions will have on the world as a whole, and the consumers never seethe negative impact. They just see the end product they really want, but itreally is quite simple. They are both just lacking insight. They do notrealise that the world is interconnected, and as such focus only on one

small part of it. The part that affects me. My needs. My fridge. My tv.My profits.

So how do we escape this cycle that will ultimately create misery forus all? It would be easy to say: just stop buying stuff! But I am acutelyaware that a few words from me will not stop people wanting things thatmake them happy; so for now, lets just ask some simple questions whenmaking or buying products.

Consumers:

(a) Is the product I am buying from a country where the people areoppressed politically, or are made to work in conditions I wouldrefuse to work in?

(b) Could I have bought this product locally, which would haveprovided local employment, and cut down on packaging, andother transportation costs?

(c) Does the company have an ethics policy with regard to the

employees and the environment?(d) Are animals suffering because of the products I am buying?(e) Am I buying this because I need it, or because I just want to

impress other people?

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(f) Could I make do with what I have?

Companies:

(a) Is profit my only motivation and goal?(b) Have I considered the human, animal, and environmental costs

associated with manufacture?(c) Do people really need what I am making, or is there a product I

could make that would have a positive impact on humanitywhilst still providing employment?

(d) Do I have an ethics policy that is attached to each product sothat consumers can make up their own minds on whether to buy

it or not?

Would I have bought my shoes if they came with the followinginformation attached?

Casual sports shoes: 29.99Origin: China. Run by an oppressive military regimeHuman cost: Workers paid 1.00 per day and forced to work

minimum 12 hours a day

Animal cost: One cow died to make the suede uppersEnvironmental cost: Paper packaging, fuel for transport to dock, fuel

for ship, fuel for lorry to take to distributionpoint, fuel to take products to shop

If I did buy them it would be my choice, but at least I would be moreaware of the real costs.

It is time we started taking responsibility for our lifestyles and theproducts we surround ourselves with. At the same time, companies haveto take responsibility for the products they manufacture, and can nolonger just get away with whimsically using up the planet and makinganimals and people suffer all in the name of employment.

We, the consumers and the manufacturers, are intertwined in a realrelationship; with costs that are way too high, if we are going to live inany kind of balance with each other, and the planet we inhabit. Wecannot just buy or sell products without total awareness of the global

costs. Its time to become aware, right now.

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S u c c e s sAn event that accomplishes its intended purpose

An attainment that is successful

A state of prosperity or fame

A person with a record of successes

umans have always been successful, haven't they? If they hadn't,you and I wouldn't be able to have this discussion. From ourearliest beginnings (apparently) in the trees in africa, through to

standing on two feet for the first time, and eventually spreading north toeurope, and east to asia; we have overcome great difficulties such as wars,famines and disease, and we are still here.

HOther species have fallen by the wayside. They have become extinct,

never to reappear on this earth, but we keep going. In fact, we get moreand more successful by the day. But could all this success have gone to

our heads, could the most successful species on the planet finally causeits own demise? We shall see.

From an early age, it was drummed into me that success was all Ishould be striving for (after all, no one strives for failure). Study and

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pass your exams, get a good job like your father, and you will besuccessful like him. And successful he was. He managed to climbthrough the ranks of office paper pushers, to become a managing

director, employing a couple of thousand people worldwide. He provideda nice house, plenty of money, and private education for me. As a rolemodel for success, he was it.

Work hard my boy and you too can have all this.Unfortunately, it didn't impress me all that much. Why try to be

successful when I already had it all!My parents were most displeased with my attitude. They cajoled me,

got me into private study lessons, arranged interviews; in fact they triedeverything to help be become a successful person, because you see, that

is what is important in life.I never did become successful in the way my parents wanted, maybe

because in my heart I knew they would leave me some money or a house;but deep down, I just couldn't see why we all needed to be sosuccessful. I didn't want the adulation of others, or to have power overseveral thousand employees, and I certainly wasn't interested in makingmillions of pounds. I just wanted to enjoy my life and have fun something that was seen as frivolous by my parents.

So what is success? Biologically, success is ensuring the reproduction

of the species. Physically, success is having enough to eat, having warmclothing, shelter, and a mate to reproduce with. That's it. Nothing more.

The rest is only psychological desire.So why do I need to be more successful than this? People would say

that without ambition, we would be no better than the animals, but giventhe state of our minds and the planet, I'd have to say that at the moment,

we are in a lot worse shape than the animals.

Oh he's very ambitious, he wants to get right to the top

Climbing, climbing, climbing, that's all we ever do, isn't it? We are alwayson our way to the top, we are never satisfied with what we have and what

we are. In fact even when we get there, we just can't stop climbing. Whenwe eventually reach the social summit, and there is nowhere left to go, weinvent new ways that not only put us even further above others, butmake it harder for people to topple us off our throne.

This ambition engulfs us, and takes on a life of its own. We are so

desperate to be successful, which in reality is having more than others(more status, more money, more possessions), that we will do almostanything to get there, even kill other human beings.

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But none of this is personal they will tell you. It's just business. Thebusiness of being so ambitious that you will climb and trample on anyone

who gets in your way. They show no concern for anyone else, although if

you questioned them about it, they would say that it blatantly isn't true,and of course they care, but we can see the truth of it, you and I.The ambitious and successful amongst you may have constructed

some slick counter arguments just in case you are challenged on this.Listen, if people weren't ambitious, and gave up wanting to be

successful, do you think that people would have electricity in their homesby now, or be able to get fresh produce whenever they wanted? Whatabout healthcare? If people weren't successful do you think we would beable to vaccinate millions of people against potentially lethal diseases?

But what I am talking about is not the need to cure people withdisease, or supply them with electricity for cooking and heating (all of

which is run by ambitious companies), I am talking about you, theindividual, needing to be ambitious, to be successful in your life forpersonal gain. It is rare to find someone who does something out ofunconditional love for everyone and everything on the planet.

Everyone has ambition, even the monk wants to be a successfulmeditator; only his ambition is to reach god, to find enlightenment. Noneof us are free from it. You see, it's not solely about money or possessions

but our need to climb, to get somewhere, to get more knowledge, todiscover more things. We are all ambitious. Because our minds are wiredthat way.

Victory is mine!

I find it hard to talk about war being successful, but that is preciselywhat happens when one army overcomes another. They are the winner

of the struggle. They have defeated their enemy the evil one, and theycan stand high on the hill, and declare victory! at which point everyonecheers.

After the second world war, the leaders of the western world declaredvictory over germany and japan, and, oh, how the crowds cheered, andwaved as the troops passed through the streets. It was a very happyaffair. The campaign had been successful.

But success is not something I would call the deaths of countlessmillions of people, even if it was for my freedom.

You are ungrateful I hear you cry. My grandfather gave his life soyou could be free. But I am bound to the blood that was spilt for me. Iam bound to the soldiers that tore apart flesh. Did they do it for me? No.

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They did it because our successful leaders did not want to be controlledby other successful leaders.

There is no right and wrong in war, all it does is create misery, and

suffering for all involved. After all, you are only seen as the one in thewrong if you are on the losing side. But we didn't start it, I hearsome of you saying, we were only doing it, to protect ourselves and tofree the people who were under the rule of a tyrannical dictator.

But the germans didn't see it like that, they thought they were doingthe right thing. It would have been hard for the leaders to get so manypeople to kill on their behalf if the people didn't think they were in theright.

The only aim of each of the countries involved was to be successful,

not to create a peaceful harmonious world where all of us live in balance with nature. You only have to look around you now to see that itchanged nothing. Sure, we are not ruled by germans, russians, orjapanese, but war still surrounds us. Misery still surrounds us. And thatmisery is caused by ambition, the need to be successful, whatever thecosts.Lets go into this more deeply shall we?

My leaders tell me I am free, because they defeated an enemy on mybehalf, but their definition of freedom is not mine. They tell me I am free

to think and do what I like (as long as I conform to their laws). When Idon't conform, I will soon find out that this freedom they are talkingabout is given, or loaned to me temporarily, and is not actually a humanright. Do you understand?

The leaders want to be successful. They want to be the mostsuccessful leader on the planet, and they will stop at nothing to get whatthey want; whether economic success, or military success, it doesn'tmatter. I am a mere pawn in their ascent to become successful, and if Iam killed on the way, whilst fighting for freedom, then so be it. Whatmatters is victory; reaching the summit.

But if my success as a human being has been dependent on othersbeing killed so I can live in a country free from tyranny and oppression, Idon't know if I want to be part of it. Tyranny and oppression are just themethods of ambition.

The freedom fighter

Imagine you live in a country that is controlled by a military junta ordictator. You are not allowed freedom of speech, you are brainwashed,and you must conform or go to jail, so you decide to free yourself andeveryone else. How do you go about it?

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Well, you have three methods available at your disposal peacefulprotest, civil disobedience, or fighting. You have seen that civildisobedience has worked in other countries, but here in your country, the

military are under orders to kill anyone who is disobedient, so you ask forhelp from another country to supply you with weapons. They also wantrid of the leaders in your country, so they agree to help. You raise anarmy, and march on the capital.

For several years, there is terrible bloodshed. Women, children, andthe old suffer most, and most of your troops are killed along the way.But you will not stop until the last man dies. You will get your freedom

whatever it takes.Eventually you get help from another country, which sends in troops.

They kill the remaining opposition soldiers, or force them tosurrender, and you arrest the leader (now ex-leader) of the country.

Victory is yours! The people cheer! The troops pass through the streetson their tanks waving to the grateful people like celebrities, and youexecute the ex-president for crimes against humanity. There is ademocratic election and you are installed as the new president. You speakto your people on the day of your inauguration.

My people, we have fought long and hard for this day. Many of youhave been wounded or lost loved ones during the battle for our freedom.

But our day has come. You are now free from the tyrannical and evilpresident who made you suffer so much (lots of cheering). He is dead, anew day has dawned, and you have freedom. We will rebuild this countryand regain our status in the world. We shall become powerful and neveragain will we let those who seek to control us have their way. Our dayhas come...

Blah, blah, blah. And so the cycle begins again.You start your new job having climbed to the summit through the

ambition to free the people and you are now on top. You have spentthe last few years fighting your way to the top, killing and maiming, all inthe name of freedom, but what makes you so different from the personyou replaced? Oh, maybe because you added the word freedom, youthink it sounds better; but you are both the same. You will do anythingto achieve your ambition. Success is paramount. Just like the man beforeyou.

What cost success?

Maybe this ambition (a strong drive for success) stems from the time whenman was a hunter, when the need for survival was the only thing drivinghim, and success meant (a) getting enough food to eat (b) defeating

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enemies and predators, and (c) staying alive long enough to pass hisgenes on.

Now, most of us have plenty to eat and with modern medicine, we all

live much longer and so have plenty of time to procreate. There aren'tmany enemies and no predators to speak of, but somehow this biologicalhard wiring is still with us, and it is causing immeasurable suffering on aglobal scale. The problem is, most people don't even know they aresuffering.

This ambition is causing man to behave in ways which are not onlynot beneficial for himself, but for the rest of the planet as a whole.

Ambition is cutting down rainforests, breaking families apart, killinginnocent people, digging up the planet, addicting people to everything,

polluting the skies.So whatever anyone tells you, you are all you need. Everything is

already in you. You are already successful. Do you follow? Thanks to thebiological drive to survive by your ancestors, here you are! You are a

wonderful human being, filled with love. Why do you need to beanything else? Do you need a title, which is meaningless, or a large office,or people bowing down to you, showing you tribute and respect to bemore than you already are? Do you need to control people, to show youare more than you already are?

The more ambitious you are, the more you separate yourself fromothers, the more you are divided. You stand, not grounded, but as aprecarious rock on top of the mountain that takes little to knock off.Remember, there are several billion people below you just waiting for thechance to take your place.

This ambition is just psychological longing to be more than it alreadyis, but when look deep inside, you will see that being successful is just aman-made concept. You are already a wonderful human being. All thisclimbing, and then nothing. What's the point of that?

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B a n kA financial institution that accepts deposits and channels the

money into lending activities

ts hard to imagine living in a world without banks, isnt it? After all,where would you keep all those hard-earned pennies? Not under themattress for a nasty burglar to steal I hope! Thanks to our money

centric society, and the value everyone places upon money (especiallythose without it), we need to keep the money safe.

ISo we give it to the nice bank on the high street with the friendly

advertising, and open an account. They are all smiles as they go throughthe simple process of checking how much money youve got in otherplaces, how much you earn, if you own your own home, and then thecomputer sneakily goes off to check your credit rating which these daysis the real measure of who you are. The computer returns an answer aftersome moments. Your application has been approved! the niceemployee tell you. Hooray! you cheer (on the inside).

But what does that mean?Well it means you get to put your money into this nice bank every

month. We will give you a card to access it, and thats it. Your money willbe kept in a big safe for you to access at any time. Thank you forchoosing to bank with friendly bank ltd. Goodbye.

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So thats the basics of banking folks. Earn money, put it somewhere safe.Get it when you need it. The End.

Unfortunately, thats not what banking is about, is it? You see, if they

just kept your money in the bank, how would they earn any money? Theywouldnt be able to pay their rent, heating, or electric bills, and theycouldnt pay the staff. So how do they make money? Well, they lend it,pure and simple; and for the pleasure of receiving the money, which isactually your money, the borrowers pay back what they owe, plus interest(a fixed charge for borrowing money; usually a percentage of the amount borrowed).

Banks: Shylocks with nice suits

Typically, money lenders or loan sharks (including the famous shylock inshakespeares merchant of venice) are always seen as ruthless, merciless,greedy men who lend money at excessive rates of interest, ready to beatyou to a pulp for failing to pay the money back on time.

Fortunately, the modern banks arent like that at all. There is noviolence, only men in smart suits, happy to help you with your moneyproblem, politely informing you that you will lose your house if you dontkeep up the repayments; or they will go through the courts to reclaim themoney; and if you still cant pay, the bailiffs will be called to take away allyour possessions; but theres no need to worry about that now, just signhere and the money will be in your account as quick as a flash.

You want the money, so you sign, getting steadily more excited as youknow youll soon be able to buy that new car, new tv, or just pay offanother loan! It may well be that you have just signed up for a mortgage

which means that soon youll have your dream home (oh, and huge debtfor the next 25 years).

But no one is forcing us to borrow the money, are they? The banks

havent got a gun to our heads. We want their money, which actually iseveryone elses money, and they are happy to oblige, at a price. Its justbusiness for them.

But say you are like me, and after many years of being in a cycle ofdebt due to not being able to control your consumer impulses, finallyrealise that borrowing money just to buy more stuff is a complete

waste of human life, and vow never to borrow money from a bank again,what do you do? You still have to have a bank account. You cant escapethem. Why? Because you are scared to leave your money at home under

the mattress. And anyway, the bank may pay you some interest back onthe money you have invested with them.

The question is, what does the bank do with your money once youhand it across the counter? We know they dont just keep it in the safe!

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Without boring you with all the details, it basically works like this. Youdeposit money. The bank is then able to lend approx ninety percent ofthat money, whilst ten percent is kept in reserve (a requirement so that

people can always access their money. Unless everyone came at the sametime that is), the bank charge interest to the borrowers, and pay interestto the savers. Their profit is the difference between the two.

So who borrows money? Lets start with the individuals shall we?Thats you and me. We borrow large amounts of money to buy houses,and smaller amounts for general items we cannot afford. The loan for ahouse is called a mortgage (a conditional conveyance of property as security for therepayment of a loan) and the house you have bought is put up as security forthe loan to buy it. If you keep up the monthly repayments (which may go

up over the period of 25 years if interest rates are raised), you willeventually be the proud owner of a pile of bricks which are hopefully

worth more than the price you paid! If you dont keep up therepayments, the bank takes back the house. Its a no lose situation forthem, but it could be for you.

Last week, I logged onto a website that enables you to see your creditrating, and for five pounds, I found out it was neutral neither good orbad. Armed with that information I set off to the high street to try toopen an account. I couldnt believe I was getting refused, and I didnt

even want to borrow any money. Whilst I do currently have a permanentjob, I dont pay any bills (as everything is provided by the college), and Ihave not had a permanent job or permanent home address for the pasteight or nine years. So I am outside of what society considers to be thenorm, and am now paying the price. Eventually the college wrote aletter stating I was employed and did not have any bills, and one buildingsociety has eventually given me a basic account which I can pay money inand take it out.

For the first time in my life I really felt like an outsider, but actually, itfelt kind of good to be on the outside. You see, I believe that bankingrepresents one of the great conformities of our time, and if you dontconform you will be a social outcast, like me. So make sure you have apermanent job, have loads of bills in your name, borrow loads of money,and you can become a valued member of society.

Follow the mortgage dream

Who doesnt dream of owning their own house, free from the tyranny ofprivate landlords and government housing schemes? Owning your ownhouse is the epitome of individual expression. I am an individual and thisis my home. A home I have worked for. That I have chosen. That I have

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decorated. That I maintain. That I enjoy.So we get a mortgage, exchange contracts, and were in. Its a square

box with a garden (or not if its a flat), large or small, furnished with all

the modern gadgets, and we love it, because its ours. We admire it onemore time, then its back to work to start paying for it. And work youmust. Every day until it is paid, if we can wait that long. Normally themore money we earn and the more the house appreciates, the more we

want to move to something bigger, so we get another mortgage and thecycle begins again. If were lucky we may have paid it off by the time weretire.

I too would like to follow the dream. I too would like to have thepleasure of a small space with a small garden, but the difference is, I will

not borrow money to pay for it. Let me explain why. I do not want to betied down to one job and one town. I am not a vagrant, but I do want toexplore the world I live in. I want to enjoy the time I have on earth, and I

want to contribute to society, but not necessarily in the same place.The only solution I have found so far is to rent privately in each town

or country I am in, but that means having to find work that earns meenough to pay rent. If I can no longer work, Ill be thrown out, after all, alandlord has bills to pay as well.

The question I want to put to you all is how do I, a hard worker, but

someone who does not want to help the banking system continue tocontrol the world, find a piece of land to call my own? I earnapproximately 15,000 per year, and the average house price is approx200,000 around here. Given that I can perhaps save maybe half per year(if I was to take no holidays), and have few bills to pay, it would take meover 26 years to save up for the house, and thats forgetting that thehouse would probably go up in value. So even when I had eventuallysaved enough for the house at 2007 prices, I (a) would no longer haveenough in 2033, and (b) I would be one year off retiring age, so I wouldfind it hard to find work.

Its a trap

So thats me finished already. At 38 years old there is no chance for meto own my own piece of planet earth, that no one can evict me from,

without conforming. In order for me to live peacefully in a nice part ofthe countryside, I have to conform. I have to get a credit rating. I have to

get a mortgage. I have to borrow.I can hear some of you saying: Why dont you just go out and earn

the money like other people do? Why do you keep complaining aboutyour lot, when the opportunity is there to make money?You just have to

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grasp it. But earning large sums of money is the domain of commercialorganisations, and as I want to do work to benefit humanity, I findmyself at odds with their ethics. But that is not the issue here. What we

are talking about is the control that banks have on our lives. Havingshelter is one of the basic human necessities. Having a mortgage isnt,but we are encouraged to take one out. This has more to do witheconomics than making sure that all people have shelter.

As usual its all about money, and money makes the world go round.It is essential to have somewhere to sleep, but as the monks know, it isntnecessary to have a huge house with all the trappings of modern life.Somewhere clean, calm, and warm is all that is needed. The rest is justsuperficial.

So why cant I just find a small piece of land somewhere that I couldbuild a modest sustainable dwelling on and grow my vegetables? Becauseevery piece of this planet is owned by someone; either privately, by thegovernment, or by the king or queen! Thats incredible isnt it? There isnowhere left to go. We are bound to cities and towns by houses, flats,and employment. The rest of the countryside is owned by farmers andlandowners. What do you think about this?

Through human organisation and economic development, we havecreated a world where only a few people are in control. The rest of us

must conform or face exclusion. I am a human being who doesnt wantto borrow money from the banks, and now I am placed in a difficultposition, either get a mortgage, start a business that makes a lot of moneyfast, join a religious or other community, or rent privately. Are we not acommunity that shares the land equally?

Before you think I am getting into political ideology here, let meassure you I am not. I am merely suggesting that the way in which land isowned, in the west particularly, only seeks to divide us more, into richand poor, and the haves and the have nots, when really richness orpoorness is a state of mind. If you have even the most basic warm shelterthat you keep clean, keep yourself well fed and watered, and have basicclothing, that is enough to satisfy the basic human needs. The otherneeds can be met by development of the mind, and in the developmentof human relationships. One thing materially wealthy people will neverbe able to understand is that true wealth will never have anything to do

with how much money you have in the bank.In this age of individual purchasing power, people have been

encouraged to forget about the word, community. We buy landindependently, and live independently, surrounding ourselves with gates,fences and walls. Keep off my property! people shout. You are

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trespassing. It makes me sad to think that this is how we havedeveloped as a species. Jealously guarding our small piece of land.

The time has come when we the people re-engineer how we live, and

break free from forced individualism to reform, not as an ideologicalcommunity, but one that has the interests of others at heart. It isinteresting to see the amish people in america, who originally came fromholland, still living the simple way they did hundreds of years ago,refusing to use modern equipment and dressing in simple clothing. Theyalso help each other immensely with everything.

Doing work that benefits others. Working together for a commongoal, for the community, a society that cares as much for each other, asthey do for themselves. It wouldnt work in the cities though; most

people dont know who lives next to them let alone help them build ahouse! In the city, people just keep their heads down and get on withtheir own lives in as much isolation as possible, but thats another story. Iknow we have not talked about a solution to this mortgage trap, or how

we should move forward, but whilst the banks are in charge of all themoney there can never be a solution.

As I see it, part of the solution involves the dismantling of the cities,and a return to the land, but unfortunately, humans arent co-operativeenough to be able to do it without fighting over each square of grass.

Territory disputes, as you may know, are one of the single biggest causesof war, apart from religion.

The one thing we forget, is that we are only on this earth for severalyears, yet we greedily attach ourselves to the land. But what will we do

with it when we are dead? We dont need it any more, but we try to hangon to it by passing it on to our family, maybe as a way of attempting tokeep ourselves alive. Maybe we should think about why we really want itbefore we possess it.

Part 2: Companies. Wheres your money going?

Banks also invest in companies they believe will make them a profit, andlend money to business start-ups, or businesses who want to expand, for

which they charge interest. The only problem is, they are lending yourmoney to companies you do not know. You have no idea what theymake, what the impact on the environment is, or what the human rightsimpact will be. You may think that the textile industry in asia, which

employs workers in terrible conditions, sometimes employs child labour,and has people working upwards of 12 hours a day is a disgrace. Youmay even belong to a campaign group to stop child labour, but all the

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while you are unwittingly supporting it, because the bank you put yourmoney in is using it to invest in the very company you wish to stop!

The banks say they have ethics policies in place, but truthfully how

many banks would not lend to companies that promise a good return? Sowhat if the workers live in poor conditions? So what if the companies areusing up the earth to make consumer products to keep us addicted? If itmakes good business sense then the banks will lend, no question about it.

Some of the worst regimes in the world are supported by banks. Icant list them all here, but you dont have to look very closely to find out

who. Money finances pain and suffering.Banks all over the world are responsible for helping create the greedy

species that we are, dividing the rich and the poor. They encourage mass

consumerism and mass production, all in the name of profit. Landscapesare changed irreparably thanks to the construction of huge buildings andshopping centres, all financed by banks, all paid for with your money.

Do you care? Maybe not. Maybe you have a business that has beenfinanced by the banks. Maybe you have seen your business increase;maybe you are making more money, employing more people. But for

what? A bigger house and a bigger mortgage? Some of you may arguethat thanks to banks, the developing world is developing! But all they aregoing to create is more division, more fear, and more distrust; where

more rural communities are split up and sent to work in the modernconsumer cities. After all, its worked so well for us here in the west!

What profiteers will never understand is that development issomething that goes on in the body and mind, not in concrete and glass.Having said that, I am not against money being lent to organisations

whose prime objective is to help the human race and the planet, just notfinanced through the traditional banking system, thats all. We need tostart creating human organisations where we can put our money.

Organisations that are controlled by the investors, who are askedwhether they want to put their money into a project or not. I dont knowabout you, but I dont want my money to go into a global pot that couldbe used for anything, from cutting down forests, to financing armedrebellions. We need to move our money now. Today. To an organisationthat is not helping to harm the environment in some faraway countrythey hope youll never know about. We need those in the bankingcommunity to stand up and say they will not allow their employers to getaway with the harm their strategies have on the planet. But then again,

you probably all have mortgages and are afraid to lose your jobs.If you work for a bank, and your bank funds companies or countrieswith human rights issues, or funds western companies who manufacturein countries with human rights issues (this includes working conditions),

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you are as guilty as if you were making the workers toil for eighteen hourdays for a pittance. Im sure you dont like to hear this, but its true. Youcant shut your eyes and ears and say, its got nothing to do with me. It

has.If you work for a commercial bank you and your employer shareresponsibility for:

The corporate city skylineGlobalised junk foodSlave labour in asia

The consumer societyGreed and poverty

The state of the environment

If you bank with any commercial bank you are responsible too, as am I.We are all responsible, and that responsibility starts every time we putone pence into these banks. I am currently trying to find out how to runmy life without banks, but until then I will be making sure that thebuilding society I bank with does not invest in anything I disagree with!

I know thats not possible, so I ask anyone who is reading this, whoknows anything about banking, to please contact me and let me know

how we could set up a way to use money to help people, where themoney invested stays local to help local people, and to help localprojects. For too long, the money has gone into a central pot we have nocontrol over, lets regain that control.

I dont want to go into company ethics here, but needless to say, ifyou run a company the only reason you will be taking a loan is to makemore money, but for day to day banking, if you and your company carejust one small percent about humanity and the planet as a whole, you willbe ultra careful where you put that money.

The last borrower is none other than your friendly government.Whenever they dont have enough money in the bank to fulfil promises,they do what any self-respecting government would do; they borrow, andissue bits of paper with a promise to pay on them. The problem is, theypay interest on the debt, in some cases the government is paying millions,

and in others, billions of dollars in interest payments. And who pays forthat? Of course, its you and me: the taxpayer.

What did they spend the money on? Who knows! But you can be surethey dont care about the interest payments. They dont have to

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individually raise the money, they just get it from us, via our direct andindirect taxes. Our money, wasted in interest payments to banks whosesole objective is to make as much money as is humanly possible without

a care in the world, except for the share price; although the governmentis at fault for borrowing the money in the first place, which means it cantlive within its means.

So there it was; banking in a nutshell. I did not set out to blame oneperson or organisation for all the worlds problems, as we are all part ofthe banking system, but we must learn that our actions, althoughseemingly as harmless as putting in a cheque to a bank, may be causingharm to someone else or the planet on which we live. Banks and theirloans can do both quickly.

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G l o b a l i s a t i o n

Growth to a global or worldwide scale

Big Is Better!

eve heard a lot about globalisation in the news recently,havent we? Its usually a raggy band of protesters at some

economic summit protesting about corporations, shoutingdown with capitalism, and eventually fighting with the police orsmashing things up! Great. But I dont think that gets you and I anycloser to understanding what globalisation is, and whether it is good forus as a species and the planet in general, does it? It merely alienates theseprotesters more, and has them condemned as anarchists, without gettingthe root of the problem.

WSo what is globalisation? Its exactly as it says in the dictionary

growth to a global or worldwide scale. So what does this mean to you?

Well, If you live in the developed world it probably means wide productchoice, availability, and cheap prices. Can you think of anything else?

The one thing that has been global for many centuries, is religion,something you dont hear many people complaining about! So before

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you read any further, understand this. Globalisation is not destroying theplanet. Globalisation in itself is not a bad thing. If we look atglobalisation in a different way, we could say that the earth is our local

community and all globalisation is, is a method to connect us all; to bringcommunities with different skin colours, different languages anddifferent traditions together. What do you think?

The problem is that when we hear about globalisation in the media,and from scruffy protesters, what they are talking about is the high flying

world of cola and auto marketing, sprinkled with some shady globalfinance and oil companies. What we have to remember is that thesepeople are just trying to make a living selling us stuff in the spirit of freeenterprise, something that has been encouraged since entrepreneurial

men began trading with other countries.The west has long since traded with asia, especially in textiles and

spices the volume of trade has just got bigger! So we shouldnt besurprised when people want to sell their products to everybody else inthe world. They think its a good product and they think people will buyit, and sometimes theyre right, they do. Whether it is ethically right ornot, that is not for us to determine.

Remember, we are dealing with individuals with big brains here, youknow! These are people who can think for themselves and make theirown choices, they are part of the most intelligent species on the planet,

who are we to impose our will on them?If a woman in some back water in china sees an advert for a cola

drink, she has the choice to say no! People who are anti-globalisation,think its wrong that these big companies exist, and are using up all theplanet's resources, but there is no such thing as right and wrong, onlychoice, and if someone chooses to buy a cola drink and pays money forit, who are you and I to say it is wrong?

Personally, I wouldnt drink the stuff, because I dont think it is goodfor the body, it creates a lot of rubbish, and uses up water supplies thatcould be used for better things, like erm, drinking water! Do you follow

what I am trying to say here? I have made the choice not to drink thecola drink, due to self-education and awareness.

I have the opinion that what the product contains, is not going tohave a positive effect on my body, coupled to the fact that I knowplastics are bad for the environment, the volume of water used up for aproduct with no nutritional benefits is high, and that the massive

production and distribution networks built up around this product of nonutritional value, place a heavy burden on non-renewable resources. Thatis my choice.

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What the protesters fail to realise, is that if everyone had the awarenessand education regarding cola, the cola company would if you pardonthe pun go quickly into liquidation. It would be gone; finito! There

would be no more cola. Never forget that. We, the people of the world,keep the large multinationals in business, without us, they crumble instantly.

So, instead of blaming the cola firm, blame the woman in the ruralchinese village, who had no awareness, nor education of the impact ofthe product on herself, or the environment; and allowed her mind totempt her into trying one! I am serious. All of us are responsible for thegrowth of global companies because we buy what they sell. Thats justbusiness.

So, if you want to smash the windows at a fast food restaurant in yourtown, go ahead, but it wont stop people eating there. The same goes forsmashing the windows at an oil company, it wont stop people drivingtheir cars. Only they can decide to stop doing that. Informed, individualchoice is the key to halting the massive drain on our natural resources bycertain global firms. Thats all it will take to halt the expansionist policiesthey have.

Although you try telling someone in a village they dont want a carbecause its bad, when actually, they do! Theyre sick of toiling all day

long on foot, and now they want something to make their life easier. Theother problem one has, is that people in developing countries (apprenticeconsumers) see what we have, and want it! Just like the western traderssaw the beautiful silks in asia, and wanted them. It is no different.

Sometimes I feel sorry for these large companies, who are caught upin these globalisation struggles. You see, they started out small, and likemost small businesses, when they see an opportunity to expand, take it.

They didnt set out to ruin the world, they probably set out to make itbetter; after all, which bank is going to support a brand new business

whose mission it is to use up all the worlds resources, and addict peopleto their product?

Lots of people refuse to wear certain brands because they usesweatshop (factory where workers do piecework for poor pay and are prevented from

forming unions; common in the clothing industry) labour, but most textiles aremade by people working in harsh conditions. It has never been a pleasantindustry to work in, even in this country. But the interesting thing is, Inever hear people complaining about not acceptingcoal for their fire or

refusing to accept electricity that was generated by coal. That truly is asweatshop job, working in the dark, half a mile below the surface ofthe earth in cramped, and dangerous conditions.

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We have to look at this objectively, if we are to understand the truth of it.There is no good just picking on companies because they operate inmultiple countries. They may pay poor wages, and may have poor

conditions for the workers, and what they make may damage theenvironment irreparably, but then wed have to look at 50 other localcompanies doing the same thing, and maybe even worse. Our challengehere is to investigate globalisation, not to condone it or criticise it.

So lets look at one global phenomenon shall we? The first is themobile phone, used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide, ownedby a handful of companies. The second is the internet, used by tens ofmillions of people connected by a backbone owned by a handful ofcompanies. Oh, and before I forget, I am writing this book on a laptop

made by a multi-national company. So lets forget all this talk aboutcompanies, we will deal with that topic separately, lets just finish bysaying that individuals have the last say in whether companies stay, notonly global, but in business at all, and that we allhave a responsibility toinvestigate each product we buy to ensure it is not adversely affecting the

well-being of the planet, animals, or humans.We also have to recognise that some advances have only been made

possible thanks in part to globalisation for example, medicines, whichhave saved the lives of millions of people worldwide. Before we criticisesomething we must investigate it fully.

Going global

I would like to talk to you about a different kind of globalisation now,one that has nothing to do with industry.

One benefit I noticed, when I worked for a large company ininformation technology, many years ago, was I got to travel to other

offices. For me, it was great to get to meet so many people from so manydifferent countries, all with different traditions and cultures. All too often

we get stuck working in our local community, with the same peopledoing the same thing, and we become insular in our views. We seeeveryone from abroad as an unwelcome outsider. In short, our world

view can be very limited. For some people, the most they see of peoplefrom other countries, is when they take their two week package holidays(the british especially).

Some people rarely travel outside of their own countries on holiday,

preferring the company of their own country folk. But it is good for thespecies as a whole to mix with, and try to understand other people fromfaraway countries, whose languages we dont speak.

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Come on everyone, weve got nothing to fear from each other. Were notaliens! Were human. Were all exactly the same. Its time to get out thereand start meeting each other. We are so insular, how do we ever expect

to get on with someone from another planet when we dont evenknow our neighbours?

Branch out. Expand. Globalise.Not your company. You!

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ourselves a big pat on the back for helping out less fortunate people thanourselves, with money we can well afford to give. I hear many of youthinking: Why should I give my hard earned money to charity, but no

one ever forces you to do it. After all, thats why its called charity,because you are being charitable!Others may think its the governments job to be charitable on our

behalf, as it is our money they are spending, but governments arent wellequipped to help. Thats why we need the oxfams and the red crosses ofthis world, and the thousands of other small charities with their armies ofunpaid volunteers to lend a hand.

Charity = compassion in action

How many times have you seen a soup van surrounded by drunks andthe homeless, with a volunteer faithfully handing out soup, paid for andcooked by others out of compassion for people less fortunate thanthemselves? Or the homeless hostels that have been set up in cities, tocater for people with mental illness, and/or drug and alcohol addiction?

Although we all have our faults, there are a large number of us whoare truly compassionate and help someone in need if we can, even if it isjust giving our debit card details over the phone. It used to be just older

people who helped, but now there are many young people who volunteertheir time, and are happy to donate money.

So what makes a volunteer? What makes someone give up their timeto help other less fortunate people than themselves, when most people

would prefer to be just enjoying themselves? How does someonebecome a compassionate individual? First, we have to look at parents.

If the parents are the type of people who believe in helping others, itis more than likely that you will adopt the same belief structure (this also

works in reverse of course), the second is your immediate social group,and third, whether you belong to any other group that places a value onhelping others. It is rare that you would just wake up in the morning anddecide to help others, after a lifetime of only helping yourself, wouldntyou say? Or is it?

Can someone who has no compassion for others decide to help? Ofcourse! Through awareness!

I became aware that helping others was of much greater value to theworld than only helping myself. Awareness that I did not exist alone in

the world, and that everything is interconnected. I realised throughhelping others, I was helping myself to let go of my own sense of self-importance.

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I have now made a commitment, or vow, to dedicate myself to theservice of others. So what does that mean? Does that mean I will nolonger earn any money wandering the streets looking for anyone to help?

No of course not! I have to be able to provide for myself, otherwise Iwill be in need of help. There is no point in trying to help and requiringsupport yourself! It defeats the object of helping.

During my time at the retreat I spoke to several volunteers who wereclaiming a tax credit (worth about forty pounds a week) from thegovernment, which is paid by you and I, in the form of tax levied againstus. I couldnt understand why they were claiming money and saying they

were volunteering. One could argue that the fact that they werevolunteering at all to work on a charitable project was worth a measly

forty pounds a week, given that the governments of the world spendbillions of pounds a year on weapons designed to kill people!

One volunteer did slightly annoy me when he said: I dont needmoney to live in the world, I am free of capitalism and attachment tomaterial possessions, look at those sad people out there doing the samething day in day out. I quickly had to point out to him that the island he

was living on was funded by a charity, which in turn was funded byordinary people doing the same thing day in and day out. But that isrelatively unimportant here.

One thing that does concern me though, is that although mostcharities are doing a great job in the world helping people lead betterlives, I am all too aware that the money that goes into charities has tocome from somewhere; and that somewhere may be doing more harmthan good in its own business. You may say that it doesnt matter whatthe source is, as long as people are helping, but in my opinion, it does.Let me give you a scenario to contemplate for a moment.

Company X The charity

Company X is a real estate developer owned by two brothers. Both ofthem are fairly religious, and go to church every sunday, where theyalways put some money in the plate to help with the upkeep of thechurch. Neither of the brothers has ever been in any trouble; and theyregularly help out at the local soup van for the homeless, and in a charityshop run by an organisation helping starving people around the world.

They come from a wealthy family, whose philanthropy (voluntary

promotion of human welfare ) has been well noted over the years. Theyorganise charity dinners several times a year, and have helped raisemillions of pounds for environmental charities caring for the rainforests,as well as donating several million pounds of their own money, to water

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sanitisation projects in south asia. This work has saved thousands ofchildren and adults from death and diseases, such as cholera. They havebeen awarded various medals for their work by the queen. The brothers

plan to sell their business in ten years, and set up a charitable foundationwith forty percent of the money raised. The rest, they plan to donate tovarious charities in their wills.

I think youd agree these two men are very charitable! They arefictional, but there are many people like them in the world. Can you findanything to fault them? Looking at that resume, I would say not! Nowthats all wrapped up nicely, and we can move on. Or can we?

Maybe we need to look at these two holier than thou characters alittle more closely. Or should we just accept that they donate money, help

people, and thats the end of it? It does seem to me that wheneversomebody gets rich enough to give away lots of their own money, therehas to be a cost somewhere else, do you agree? It is precisely that cost we

will be investigating here.You see, Company X buys green-belt and urban land, primarily to

develop shopping centres and supermarkets. Thats it. Their clients inturn open shops, and the public get what they want. Lots of everything.

Whats the problem with that?Lets go through it one more time. Real estate developer buys field,

builds something that people pay money for, which in turn gives thepublic what they want. Easy! And thats the whole problem. Everythingseems fine until you shine a spotlight on it, and start uncovering thetruth.

Lets start to de-construct this Company X, shall we? They buy up apiece of green land (by green, we mean nothing on it). They bring in theirbuilders, who require massive amounts of bricks, concrete, and glass.

They build a tarmac car park, big enough to hold several thousand cars(youll need a car because its in the middle of nowhere, and anyway how

will you get all that shopping home). They invite companies to lease theirproperties within the shopping centre, and get replies from a diverserange of retailers, including one supermarket whose products come fromall over the world. Flown in by air, shipped by sea, and road freighted.

The farmers, who produce the items for export, have to make spaceavailable in the fields for products that are not going to be for localconsumption, thereby changing the local landscape. The labourers, who

work in the fields for these farmers in far away countries, are paid a

measly wage, and struggle to make ends meet. The farmer uses tin,plastic, cardboard, etc. to package the products, and then huge amountsof fuel is used to ship the products to the distribution centre, where they

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are stored using electricity, until they are shipped by road to thesupermarket.

The consumer arrives by car at the supermarket causing, not only

more traffic, but also pollution. The shopping is then done under onemegawatt of lighting, and carted off in its plastic packaging in a plasticbag to the car, which is driven home.

Are you with me so far?The second retailer who rents a space in Company Xs shopping

centre, is a cheap clothes retailer. People can buy fashionable clothes fornext to nothing. Why? Because the retailer has them manufactured in afar away country, where the labour is cheap. To fulfil the orders, theoverseas manufacturer has to grow huge amounts of cotton (not destined

for the local market), and uses huge amounts of resources making theproducts, which will go for cheaper than a cup of coffee in some parts ofthe western world. These cheap products encourage the population tobuy products they dont need, just because they are cheap; which in turnfuels a demand for more cheap products, which requires someone tosuffer in a factory in asia as a result.

The third retailer who rents a space in Company Xs shopping centre,is a fast food chain. They already have thousands of branches worldwide.People can buy cheap hamburgers, chips, and fizzy drinks from the

company, because they mass farm animals. This involves clearing hugespaces for the cattle etc. to graze (or large sheds with thousands of cagesin them, if they sell chicken), and they also require huge areas of farmingland to be used for the sole purpose of producing foodstuffs for thecattle. Huge amounts of water are also needed. Then they must havehuge fields for the production of potatoes, for the chips. Soft drinkcompanies use huge amounts of water for their products, and transportthem in plastic bottles all over the world. People then come into the fastfood outlet, buy food that is nutritionally sub-standard, and then droplitter all over the countryside.

Company X world saviour

Soon there are several hundred retailers in the shopping centre. Whatsort of impact do you think Company X has made, apart from a hugeplus on their bank balance? If you look at, what some would see as, thepositive side, they have created jobs for all the people involved in

building the centre, and jobs for all retailer workers, and jobs for all thesuppliers, and the support workers. Wow, these brothers are saints, justlook at all the employment they have created!

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The employment then provides the means for these workers to earnmoney to pay their bills, and then spend it all at the shopping centre! Notonly are local jobs are created; some might argue that people are better

off in the cheap, sorry, developing countries, and that without theshopping centres and retailers, these poor people would have no food.But whenever someone wants to do something to their own

advantage they will always come up with a constructive argument. It hasbeen done on many occasions when governments have wanted to invadea country!

But the question we have to ask ourselves is are jobs the only keyindicator for humanity? Is providing employment at any cost what weare here for? One would hope not.

We would all agree that people have to have sanitary livingconditions, and plentiful food and water, but remember, people havesurvived for thousands of years without factories giving thememployment factories have only been around since the industrialrevolution, some 200 odd years ago.

The ends can never justify the means, and, in Company Xs case, justbecause they give a few million pounds to help the poor, does not excusethe social and environmental damage they are causing all because they

want to earn more money.

Do not be fooled by peoples generosity. Look behind the veil. Findout the truth for yourself. I dont want to appear paranoid, but whencompanies and individuals are giving away lots of money I start to sensejust a little bit of guilt creeping in.

You will notice that when rich people are generous with moneytowards the more needy, the sums of money involved seem huge to us;but in proportion to their wealth. they are small. After all, a rich mandoesnt stay rich if he gives away all his money. Please look into this withme closely. You may think I am being unduly unkind to the two brothers

who seem to be only concerned with others, but at the heart of theirempire is greed, not compassion.

Think about it. Why do we need charity? It is because of afundamental imbalance between the haves and the have nots. Thehaves feel guilty about having, and the have nots feel jealous that thehaves have! Do you follow? So the haves make themselves feel lessguilty about having, by giving away a little of what they have to the havenots! Thereby redressing the balance (in their minds).

The problem with charity is we think everyone needs our help; thatthey are poor and wretched; that because they dont have what we have,we should help them get it.

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Weve all seen the newsreels of wailing mothers and their children, in themidst of an earthquake or flood, and we feel compelled to get our creditcards out, and phone the charity to pledge a donation. What we may not

know is that the credit card company is making tens of millions out ofthe misery of others who cannot afford to pay it back, and the bankbehind the credit card may be investing heavily in businesses that domore harm (environmental and social) than good in the country you arepledging to help! Its an ethical minefield you have to tread verycarefullyaround. The company you use to make your donation may itself becausing terrible problems in the world.

I remember paying for the sponsorship of that boy in india with mycredit card. I wonder how many people are suffering as a result of having

that credit card!So what should we do? Should we stop large companies from

donating money to charity? Should we let all those people suffer? Comeon! Its just a small shopping centre, think about it. So the environmentmay suffer a bit, and people in the developing world may have to work insweat shops fourteen hours a day, and forests may have to be cleared ateeny bit. But isnt it a small price to pay for saving all those poorchildren.... What do you think?

Is charity necessary?

What we seem to be forgetting, is that humans are the most resourcefulspecies on the planet, and have managed to survive through such minortroubles as the ice age. I am not trying to belittle the suffering that peoplego through on this earth, but people are well equipped (psychologicallyand physically), for disasters. No one is poor and helpless unless theytruly choose to let themselves be that way. The natural human drive is to

survive, and the human will try to survive at all costs.What we see as poor is only because they seem to have so littlecompared with ourselves. We need shelter, simple clothing, food, and

water, thats all; all other needshave been invented by humans. Giving thepoor jobs, decent housing, and a shopping centre in bangladesh, isntgoing to make them happy! Well, it may do superficially; it seems to have

worked here in the west.It is worth remembering, that if everyone in the world had access to

the lifestyle we have in the west, we would run out of natural resources

very, very, very quickly. So its a good job that most people in countrieslike china, ride bicycles, or there wouldnt be enough oil to go around tomake the petroleum to fuel the car to pollute the environment! If peopleare helped too much our charity might just be the undoing of us all.

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Most of the problems that people find themselves requiring the aid ofcharitable organisations are because of other humans. In our desire forsuccess, we trample over the environment, and others less strong than

ourselves. We create cities that favour the strong. We create workenvironments that favour those who are already wealthy. We create aculture that relies on people having plenty of money. What chance dopeople have if they do not happen to fit into that way of living? They getleft behind, thats what.

The poorly educated, the mentally retarded, the addicted, the sociallyinept; these are the people who are helped by charity, because everyoneelse is only concerned with the fast track to success. Money, money,money, and the stuff it can buy. Thats why we need charities; otherwise

these people would just fall off the edge and die.

Half way through this topic I left the retreat and am now working for aneducational trust that attempts to help young people aged between 16and 25, with severe learning difficulties, and emotional/psychologicaldisorders. The charity tries to help them, through the development ofcraft (the skilled practice of a practical occupation) skills, and I, alongside my

girlfriend, am a house-parent. This involves caring for them all termwithout a day off, trying to teach them social skills, and help thembecome a bit more independent. This is another charity funded by thetaxpayer. It may or may not help the students to become better humanbeings, or become contributors to society, but at least this college istrying, whereas most people would have abandoned these young people along time ago.

It costs more a year to keep them than I have ever earned, and theydont seem to appreciate it; but we keep doing it, because it might justhelp them, and that in turn might help society in the long term. Will Ikeep doing this job? Probably not. The students are difficult to work

with, and it is stressful, but I believe it fits with my ethos of being self-supportive whilst being of service to others more needy than myself. I donot believe that working for a large commercial organisation could fulfilthis.

Is human charity a genetic trait?

I just cant see how it can be. Through this exploration with you today, Inow believe that man is not inherently charitable to his fellow-man, and

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there is no natural instinct to help others in far away places from leadinga thoroughly miserable life.

There has to be an intermediary, a go-between; someone who bridges

the gap between the needy and the people who will be made to becharitable, although it does take a lot of effort for the charity (the go-between) to wrestle time and/or money out of those of us well able tohelp. Of course, some people will never be convinced to help.

A good example of a need for an intermediary is the big issuesellers I often watch in the street, desperately trying to sell their(informative) magazine. They can stand outside newsagents where peoplehappily buy 5.00 worth of other magazines. On being confronted by thehomeless persons cry of "Big Issue?" the people who have bought some

glossy magazines, make some sound resembling no thanks, and shuffleoff hiding their face, looking uncomfortable. I have even seen people

who do not buy the big issue (a magazine sold by homeless people on the street tohelp them get on their feet. They buy it for 75p in the uk and sell it for 1.50), yetone block down, put money into the collection tin of another charity!

Why?Is it because they dont like the big issue? Doubtful. It is a good

magazine, good value for money, and directly helps poor people.Unfortunately, I think its more to do with the seller. I know this sounds

terrible, but I have in the past noticed myself avoiding a certain bigissue seller, because of the way he looks, or because his nails or his teethare horrible. Maybe we are scared of people who look different or haveproblems? So you can see why perhaps the man preferred to put hismoney in the charity box of the smiling, well dressed elderly lady oneblock down.

What do you think? Are we naturally charitable, or are we selfish? Arewe only concerned with our needs, or do we consider the needs of othersas well as our own? Theres an old expression that says look afternumber one, and we all know who that is me! Maybe we do have tolook after number one first, but we also have to consider our fellow man,after all, I do not exist in isolation. I am in relationship with you, and weare both in relationship with the rest of the world. If we want to progresstogether as a planet, we have to start asking the question: Will what I amabout to do affect anyone else in the world negatively?

If the answer is yes, it will be on your conscience if you go aheadanyway! Still, you could always give large amounts of money to charity

afterwards, and then youll feel all better... Ahh, guilt relief, its such awonderful thing.

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I n s u r a n c e

The act or an instance of insuring

A sum paid out as compensation for some theft, damage, loss etc.

A sum paid out

don't know if you have ever crashed your car, or lost somethingvaluable to you, or had a house fire, a flood, or had somethingstolen? If you have, you will know it costs a lot of money to replace

the items, and as most of us don't have bucket loads of spare cash, wewould find ourselves in a bit of a predicament. That's where insurancecomes in.II don't know when it started, but we can assume it had something todo with wealthy people wanting to protect their property, or goods, butyou can see the sense in taking it out, after all, insurance takes the whatif? and if only, out of life, even if we are only talking aboutpossessions.

I did not have insurance on my list of topics to write until several

weeks ago, a time when I was in the final stages of editing the book.I had gone on a two week holiday to greece (my first proper holiday

for many years), and it was during this time, I realised I had a missed animportant topic. Let me explain why.

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I woke up in the morning with a slight pain in my abdominal area;nothing severe, but nonetheless, uncomfortable. Having had foodpoisoning abroad on many occasions, I put it down to a dodgy meal the

night before, or ice cubes in the water. I got some herbal tablets from thepharmacist, and he told me to take these three times a day, and if it didn'tclear up, I should go to the doctor. Four days later, and it was still there,so I headed down to the local doctor's surgery.

If you can just fill in this form please, and write down the details ofyour travel insurance.

Ah, but I don't have any travel insurance, I replied, now starting toworry I wouldn't have enough money for treatment.

No travel insurance...?

Err, no, how much will it be?Eighty euros.Oh, I see.I couldn't believe I hadn't taken out travel insurance. I guess that

because I have been travelling regularly for the past nine years, I hadbecome a little, should we say, blas about the whole thing. You see, Ionly considered travel insurance as important if you were carrying a lotof money, or possessions with you, and thought they might get stolen, Inever for one moment thought about a medical emergency!

I dutifully handed over the cash, and was informed that I probablyhad a urinary infection, and was sent off with the usual prescription forantibiotics.

At the pharmacy, the pharmacist told me:Remember to keep your receipts, you will be able to claim this back

on your travel insurance.I don't have travel insurance, I replied, chastising myself for not

having ticked the box which said, Would you like travel insurance?I handed over the cash, and started taking my tablets, twice a day,

after meals.One week passed and I still had pain, so I went back to the doctor.Yes, I see, said the doctor, the tablets prescribed are probably not

strong enough for you. I will write you another prescription.I handed over more cash, went back to the pharmacy, handed over

more cash, and started taking my tablets, twice a day, after meals.The next morning, about 5.00 am, I was awoken with a strange pain

in my left side. I thought it must be trapped wind, so I sat on the toilet

for about fifteen minutes, trying to let it pass, but the pain justintensified. I went out to the balcony, and started to pace up and down,just to relieve the pain, but it didn't help. Within 30 minutes, I was inagony; I couldn't work out what was causing this pain. I went into the

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shower and just stood with hot water running over my lower back. Itgave me slight relief, but as soon as I came out, I felt sick, anddisorientated. At this point I started to worry, thinking, I'm going to

have to phone a doctor if this gets any worse.And it did get worse.I phoned for an emergency doctor, and although I was in a great deal

of pain, couldn't help thinking how much his bill might be for comingout to a hotel room at 6.00 am.

He eventually arrived, prodded me for about a minute, and finallysaid:

Kidney stone.Kidney stone? How?

Oh, there are many causes. I will give you this pain relievinginjection, then you should take a taxi up to the private hospital, and see aspecialist. Make sure you keep your receipts and then you can reclaim itfrom your insurance company.

I, erm, don't have travel insurance, what should I do?Go to the public hospital and wait.Fortunately, he didn't want any money upfront.I couldn't stand going on the bus, so I booked a taxi, which cost

another 45 euros.

I waited and waited at the public hospital, at which (being a europeancitizen), I could get free treatment. I may have still been in some pain,but I was glad I was in a european country, and not somewhere wheretreatment would have cost me my life savings if I had any!

After what seemed like days, I was finally seen by a nice doctor whodid an ultrasound, and confirmed, that yes, I did have a small kidneystone. I should take these pain killers, and go and see my doctor when Igot back home.

I took the prescription to the pharmacy, handed over some morecash, and started taking the tablets, three times a day, after meals, andtook a taxi back to the hotel.

I returned to the uk the next day, about 350 euros lighter than Iexpected to be, but glad not to be in pain.

So what's the lesson here? Is there one? Do I only have myself toblame for not taking out travel insurance, or is there something morefundamental going on we should be looking at?

Compatibility test: Insurance vs. Compassion

If only I had taken out insurance, I would have saved myself all

waking up the capitalist mind - beyond appearances series

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