Back in a previous post I mentioned that I wanted to try something, to see how it might go,  just for the hell of it.  To just opt out somewhat from the expectations of society.  I called it a society fast, to not buy into the things that society says that you have to do.

Well that week back in March of last year went okay and my world didn’t end. I still did what needed to be done when things needed to be done and I was able to do whatever I wanted to do as I felt inspired.  So I kept doing it, the society fast.  Doing what I wanted to do as I wanted to do it.

Hanging with Friends in Buenos Aires

And guess what?  I haven’t stopped.  I haven’t found the need or desire to buy back into what society says that I’m supposed to do.  What am I talking about I hear you say?

I’m taking about how our Western Society says that we have to do certain things, like relationships, work,  income, career, worry and stress about tomorrow and how it’s going to be when I’m old and I don’t have enough money in my retirement fund, how at my time of life I should be in this certain type of lifestyle, all of that sort of thing.

That’s why I started the society fast to have a break for just one week away from that and see what would happen and I haven’t stopped.  That was 16 months ago and it has been some of the best times of my life because I’m living in the moment and just doing what is right for now and it keeps working.

Now before you think I have it easy, that’s not my point.  In the last 16 months I have worked for income in an employed situation for only 6 weeks and earned $12,000.  I’ve additionally done a little audio and video recording and editing work and earned another couple of thousand dollars but that is all.  I have been leaning on my credit card and I’m slowly going backwards at about $1000/mth but I’m fine with that.  I live a very lean life and I have everything I need and desire little more.

For a long time I was looking for something to put my attention to, some strong focus and direction that society says that you have to have to be a member of this society.  That was causing me grief and one of the reason for starting this society fast, to have some chill time away from that stress.

The thing(and this is important) is that I couldn’t find that career focus even once I started the society fast.  So my focus was just on living in the moment and doing what was appropriate each day.  I continued to look for something, learn and live, moment by moment and my life still didn’t break.  In actual fact it kept getting better.  I still went to Buenos Aires in July for four weeks and the work I did do on the film last year was better and more rewarding than I expected and reinforced that this was still the correct path.  I continued to produce Your Story and I continued to look for a way to generate some income from something that impassioned me.  And while nothing appeared instead of becoming frustrated and running all over the place with angst in my heart, like I used to, I just chilled and did what seemed appropriate in the moment… and all was good.

I can do anything I want at any time I want because I’m free to choose my daily activities and follow my passions.  Sure more money would give me additional options like travel which I desire but for the moment my priorities are finding direction and I need time for that and employment would rob that most valuable commodity from me.

Relaxed and chilled, doing what I liked for months, living lean, dancing tango and learning from those around me and always aware that when the time is right the inspiration will appear, I just wasn’t mature enough in something yet for me to see it.  And then it appeared…

“When the student is ready the teacher will appear”

I discovered it(yes discovered), I didn’t dream it up, it was waiting out there all along for me to mature in something and become ready to see what was always there.  I discovered Create Your Life Story as a way of taking what I care about(other peoples stories), blending it with what I’ve learned producing Your Story, adding a pinch of my learning’s of internet business courtesy of Internet Business Mastery and ProBlogger, then wrapping it all up into what I desire to have as a lifestyle that resonates with me.  Sixteen months later, I’m still here living the dream of fasting from the expectations of society and it’s still working.

Sure I realise that I have no money and it is too easy if I allow it, to start to worry about how I’ll pay for even the necessities in a months time. So I don’t think about it until I can do something about it and I always think of something when the time is right, in the mean time I do what is right for now.  Now it felt right to write this post and get these thoughts down, a little later this afternoon I’ll probably do some more study and learning or maybe write a post on Create your Life Story or edit some video or maybe send that invoice that I should send off, I don’t know but it’s(this lifestyle) working.

How do I know that it’s working?

I’m happy!  That’s all.

Is there any other measure of how well a life is working?  I don’t expect happiness from external effects, happiness resides in me and I know that by living this lifestyle it suits me.  I have the time and energy to explore the ideas that I think are important for my life(not yours dear reader), I can only say that for me.  I would love Create Your Life Story and Your Story to become successful, earn a good income for a few dreams that I would like to create and travel a lot.  I’m moving to create that reality but one thing I do know is,  I can’t create it if I buy into societal expectations.  It sucks the very life essence out of me and I would not be happy over there again as a wage slave, I would not ever be successful either.  I may or not be successful here but I know that I will be happy and if I’m only happy, “I Win”

Book Stands for the Movie

this crazy life of mine and how it flies in the face of the Western method of work, whether it’s valid or irresponsible of me, if I’m burning my bridges for my future or if maybe I may actually have something here.

When I finished I knew I had to do the whole readjust again back into the mental head-space of just hanging out doing my thing again. It’s very easy to plug into work, as once I’m on a Job there is a first morning where I get up and head off to another first day and from then on it’s routine. The longer I work in that one place the more ingrained the routine becomes and the more comfortable it all is. That is until the routine becomes boredom. Then another type of stress starts where I question my existence and waste of life in that environment and yet again I have to leave to find myself.

That is very much the way it is for most of the permanent work that I’ve done and the great advantage of working contract is that normally I can stick it out long enough until the project is complete which hopefully isn’t too long and then I get the change that I need. So film work often suits me well in this regard.

Finishing and readjusting to no work is not as easy as compared to starting as I don’t have the distractions that work gives me from what I call the “Void” or “Nothing”. However there are two ways to approach this.

1. Get another Job is what everyone asks and expects. In a lot of ways that is the easiest option. But for me after all these years of doing the variations on this lifestyle I know that it will go the way that I’ve outlined above. Normally six months and I’m a spent force, bored and ready to move on. It even tends to manifest in physical disturbances in my body brought on by the low but permanent levels of stress.
2. Embrace the Void. Now it’s not exactly Nothing. It’s not as though I wake up sit down and do nothing until I go back to sleep that night as I have my personal projects and day to day order to keep functioning so there is a whole range of activities and a constant supply of new and interesting opportunities turning up daily to keep me active. However compared to the 40 hour week, 48 week year work model it appears to be a void that requires filling.

The challenges with embracing the Void is that there is no order projected onto the future, no planning and no surety. It’s very much living in the moment and taking the opportunities as they arrive on a moment by moment time frame. That flies in the face of the Western model of how to get things done. I’m supposed to have lists, goals, plans for what I want to achieve and a step by step approach to achieving them. I’ve read the books on goal setting and that’s the way they say to achieve what your after. Sure that’s the model and if you have a specific goal that is what you do to achieve it, I get that.

But what if you haven’t the goal at the moment?

For the last couple of years my podcast Your Story has been a goal, a huge goal, to get the knowledge and have a production model in place but I never knew what I was going to do with it beyond getting it up and running and hoping that some opportunities may come of it. So I’ve been working at learning everything I needed to get it going but now that’s been achieved it’s bubbling along and I don’t have the next step.

Welcome to the Void, Ian.

The easy fix as mentioned above and the one recommended by all is to go get a job and for two reasons.

Money and activity.

The number of people who say it must be good to have this free lifestyle or it must be good to have money, as they say they would like to not have to work but they need to, as they need the income, they need the money to maintain the lifestyle.

• Let’s look at the obvious side of this first – Money.

Are we addicted to the money and income from our work?

I think most people would agree that the answers is yes. Most don’t realise that the addiction is based on having an income to support a lifestyle that is far in excess of what is necessary. They scream that they want the “stuff”. You know the “stuff”… It’s all that consumer stuff that we surround ourselves with, from the house and car to the holidays and widgets. It includes everything beyond our base needs. Everything that the advertisers throw at us but more insidiously it’s the subtle daily reminders that to be a person of respect in our society (and just look at the business and social pages in the paper to understand this) you need to have a style and attitude the requires all the “stuff”. These are the things that identify you to the rest of society and you need to surround yourself with them at any cost and the cost is debt and/or work very hard to generate the income.

This is not to say live in a cave with only the basics to have a good life but do you really need all of that “stuff”? Do you constantly have to upgrade as soon as the next version of it comes out? If the answers is yes then you need to fund the never ending need for those consumables and there is always more “stuff” coming on the market to necessitate the increase in your income – consume, consume, consume. It never ends.

I know that many would say that they are only just getting by on the minimum of what they can afford with no luxuries and that is valid. They are trapped by this system of the things that they must have or are expected to have. The biggest of these for the average family but far from not the only, is the cost of housing. Once a mortgage is activated you are indentured to the system to work as a wage slave for the duration of this debt with rent being no different. However by todays standards we need far more than in the minimum. Our grand parents were happy with far less.

A few years ago I went against the grain and didn’t get myself into huge debt to purchase another property as I realised that I would have to flog myself just to maintain the mortgage by being in this exact situation. Instead I still live in my humble two bedroom unit and I have a small investment unit in the same block. When I say humble I mean very humble, these units are 49 square metres but in the wonderful suburb of West End in Brisbane. I have an old car that is cheap to maintain and run but with most things local I use it minimally. I have a simple frugal life with little that I need additional to my current situation. I have a small income from the investment unit that pays for itself and a little left over towards my other bills so in effect I need just a few hundred dollars a week to live my life. With a cash injection as I’ve just had from the film work I can often survive for several weeks before I start to run lean on funds.

The stuff that I have in my life above the basics of life are by the standards of our society few. I don’t need a large income to maintain it. This enables me to have this life where I’m not always chasing the almighty dollar and can spend time on more important things instead of work, like Life.

• This brings me to the second of the two reasons for having work – Activity.

Everyone complains about work and how good it would be to not have to do it but

Go for a Walk

the reality is that once you do unplug from the workforce there is a desire, almost a need to stay active. Sure sitting on a beach for a few weeks may sound fine but once you’ve done that it starts getting boring. If you have been spending half of you waking life working, with the rest doing the functional support things, once work is removed there is a huge void that requires filling. In not too many weeks most people find the desire to return to work in order to have activity. Work here I include as self employment, study as well as working for others but also hobbies and recreations that keep a person active. Also our society demands that we are working to play our part to support the system, if we’re not we’re said to be sponging off the system.

What Do You Do?

The number one question asked when people meet and start a conversation is “What do you do?”

This is where work is your identifier. It could be a way of pegging you in someones memory when they meet you but then the question could just as easily be “Where did you go for your last holiday?”

The reason the work question is so good is it places you in the pecking order of society, where your value as a member of it. Work defines you by what you do and how you do it not to mention how much money/stuff you have and if you wish to be a valued member of that society you’ll feel the need to play the game according to the rules as laid out above. Notoriety, affluence and stuff. We use the work standard for as a quick measure of that and we feel the pressure to strive towards meeting those requirements.

Nothing.

What about if you have nothing to do for a period of time. You have enough basics to keep going for a time, there are no goals to achieve and there are no desires for stuff. What then?

What about the idea of doing nothing unless something, i.e. desires or needs, comes along? Just wait until then.

Our society says that we can’t do that, we can’t do nothing, we have to do something… anything!

After all we have all these things to worry about in the future that we have to prepare for/against. So even if you don’t want to, go and do anything, it’s necessary to stash away more “stuff” for the future. Actually, while your at it get a bigger, better, faster “thing”and before long you trapped into the cycle where you have to work to keep the cycle going.

What about winding the cycle in the opposite direction. As you acquire the things you need to support the basics of life wind back the effort that you need to get anything that isn’t necessary. Sure get the house, but one that is adequate, no more than is required and once you have it, there is less of a need to work as much creating space in you life. Have a modest vehicle. Go on good value holidays but the whole time only as much as you need. Eventually there is a point reached where there is no  need to be working as much with more time available and there is nothing to do. You have it all, no need to buy more and it’s time to stop.

A lot of the activity that we do is like the things we buy, it’s “stuff”. It’s just the noise that we generate so that we have something to do. Could there be an alternative? How about doing Nothing… Yes actually doing Nothing as an activity. What I mean here is if there is nothing to do, not creating noise by creating an activity of stuff but just being quiet and doing Nothing! Sit, stand or lie and wait in the void doing No Thing.

Nothing

Doing nothing to such an extent that there is not even a desire to do anything just to create some noise, to not do Any-Thing but to do No-Thing. Just simply being in the moment allowing the constant stream of time to wash over.

Then at some stage there is an urge to do something, not out of a reason to create a distraction from the void but additional to the void, so do it. It could be anything as simple as changing physical position to starting a project that lasts a life time.

The difference to the Western model of work is that it is not out of a need to generate the income to get the stuff and it’s not in order to create a busy mind through activity. It’s the thing that needs to be done now, because it feels like the correct thing to do. So it’s done now.

Initially there were many false starts as they were getting underway on the preproduction with the continual “you’ll start in about 2 weeks” statements that went on for three months. The whole time I was hoping that I may have had the chance to earn some income prior to my eventual trip away.  Before I managed to get a start I went off to Buenos Aires for nearly four weeks, so all up the work that I could be involved in had been happening for four months before I managed to get a start. It is no ones particular fault that it started like this, it just happens to be the nature of the work that there are no promises and it’s always somewhat up in the air. These type of events create an attitude within those who work in the film industry and that’s what I want to bring up in this post.

Again I was working in props manufacture where we build all the items if they are not able to be purchased that are used either for the actors to interact with or to dress the sets.

Workshop Overview

You would be amazed at the different things that have to be made. In the case of this film items from swords to light fittings, decorative panels to dioramas all have to be manufactured to the needs of the set requirements and the action of the film, all to the whim of the art directors.

It’s work I’ve realised that I enjoy and I’m very good at, mind you after 30 years of this and similar work you can’t help build up a large resource of skills that means that not too much fazes me when it comes to manufacturing. It’s simply what I’ve been trained to do and experience.

After Fools Gold I dreamt up a new idea, so for the last two years I’ve been concentrating on developing my podcast Your Story. After spending time using up $40k in having the lifestyle to learn how to podcast and develop an online presence and only working part time, the money that I had set aside to move into a new lifestyle was finally used up. That necessitated me having to get some income after returning from Buenos Aires, a date with destiny that I knew awaited me on my return.

Fortunately on my return I managed to get the chance to work as part of the team on this film. It was a huge relief to have some income and I could relax, at least for the moment. Unfortunately I quickly discovered that things had changed within me and there were new hidden dangers with the industry that I hadn’t been aware of previously.

Film work is wonderful in so many ways which is part of the very problem with it, it is at least in the areas that I tend to work. The people have the highest standards of technical skill available, they tend to be a relatively brighter, more intelligent form of technician who can think obliquely and creatively. The productions always have huge resources towards the materials required and always the very best available including new technologies in materials as they become available. All this adds up to opportunities working within a team, to being briefed on a project then developing a method of manufacture utilising differing techniques and materials to those usually available to eventually see it installed within a greater environment on the set and eventually on screen within the film. All highly rewarding and satisfying.

However the nature of the film beast is that there are constraints within the culture that have developed that cause some huge problems. Films here in Australia generally are worked on a standard 50 hour work week for the technicians with standard 60 hour week for on set crew. Include travel time, the intense and the often away form home nature of the work and there is a tendency to become what I’ve realised is institutionalised. When a film is on, it’s Full On! I don’t think this is unique and I’m sure there are similar institutionalising natures of other occupations that cause very similar problems. Maybe this is more a condition of the Western work mindset.

When I relocated to Sydney to work on Matrix 2&3 back in 2001 I had no social life being in a new city so the film and the crew I worked with were my whole life and the work was such that I enjoyed every minute of the 13 months that I was there, such that it was the best work experence of my life. This latest experience although a lot of fun made me realise the true nature of the industry.

This time around, the film is based in my life and the social environment. Also in the last two years that I’ve been out of the industry I’ve developed two separate social lives and I’ve developed interests away from work. These things have come about because I’ve had the time to nurture the relationships because I’ve had the time away from the industry.

Immediately on returning to the film work I realised that I was struggling to maintain contact with my online friends even though I’m online with my iPhone. The opportunities to continue to go dancing disappeared as the hours I work conflicted with the classes. There was no longer time to go to the gym or spend time on personal improvement let alone work on the podcast and the weekends were simply a case of get some groceries for the week do the washing and get some rest before being thrust into it again for another intense week of work, travel and sleep.

Pattern for Lamp Bracket

Now this is fine when I had no life outside of work but as I mentioned as I now do have a life outside of work I found that I was starting to damage it due to the overwhelming nature of the work. This is the trap of this style of work. If I stay in it long term it would swallow my entire life again. Others in the industry say similar things.

Each film is a separate production and work is only until the production is completed which means that there is always an end date. Sometimes weeks, sometimes many months but there is always an end looming. Along with the irregular productions and no promises for future work there is a tendency to make hay while the sun shines, go as hard as possible because there is no surety that there will be any income soon. This adds to the burn rate of the work load and the compromise of the rest of the lifestyle. There is an underlying attitude of “I’ll get back to *** when this film is over”

Before long what seems to happen from my observations, if not diligent, is that those who have been in the industry long term have less outside socialising, failed relationships due to absence, relationships within the industry, constant concern for the completion of a production and what’s next and relief when finally started on a new production, which to my way of seeing it, seems like we have a tendency to be institutionalised within the film industry.

In the last two years I’ve managed to become unplugged but as I don’t have a strategy for income away form the film industry when I plugged back in for those four weeks I had a huge sigh of relief as in some ways I felt like I was home it was all so familiar. As the weeks went on I realised that as wonderful and satisfying as the work and income were all the other aspects of my life that I had nurtured in the last two years were just starting to slip away. Woops, there is a danger here.

Fortunately as would have it just as I started to realise this, I was finished up. It’s not even a week and already I have both of my social fields active again, I have my exercise and fitness routine back and the podcast is back into production. Some of this is due to the income that the film gave me (gym membership) and some of it is just having the time. While I was developing the podcast I was on permanent part time of two to three days a week which worked well. Now that the skills are developed there is less of a need for that much time just for the podcast as it stands.

So now I have the other than work stuff on track again but now I don’t have the income side happening. This seems to be the challenge for me. I’ve created a great life for myself that feels like I’m on the right path but I can’t continue it without some form of income. I’m working on building the popularity and quality of Your Story while continuing to develop my online presence but in the meantime I need to have some form of income.

So from time to time I may still have to drop into film work to get a cash injection but frankly it’s all about balance and unfortunately the way it seems the film industry doesn’t have any way of giving me that balance.

To be continued…

You know, things like, by this time in my life I should have X amount of property and Y sort of career with specific goals and pathways towards the future… All that sort of stuff. Well as I said I’ve been doing what I can to just stay present and make my daily life as much of a meditation as I can. I admit, I don’t feel that I’m very good at keeping the noise quiet but as Eckart Tolle infers “just doing any of it and every moment that is present is more and better than doing the usual mind chatter”.

So, I feel good. Life hasn’t changed in any huge ways but I’m more settled than I was last week and despite the fact that financially things haven’t changed I’m not stressed about it. In this moment all is pretty damn okay.

So I’m just going to continue doing what I’m doing. Not buying into what is expected and staying as calm an meditative as I can. Practice, practice, practice.

During the week I was talking to a good friend, Brett, who reminded me about our  favourite book and the opening passage from it which I’m going to retype here as an exercise in reminding myself of the importance of these words and consider that ultimately this is the only valid way that I can live my life. With thanks to Richard Bach from Illusions, The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah.

1. There was a Master come unto the earth, born in the holy land of Indiana, rased in the mystical hills east of Fort Wayne.
2. The Master learned of this world in the public schools of Indiana, and as he grew, in his trade as a mechanic of automobiles.
3. But the Master had learnings from other lands and other schools, from other lives that he had lived. He Remembered these, and remembering became wise and strong, so that others saw his strength and came to him for counsel.
4. The Master believed that he had a power to help himself and all mankind, and as he believed so it was for him, so that others saw his power and came to him to be healed of their troubles and their many diseases.
5. The Master believed that it is well for any man to think upon himself as a son of God, and as he believed so it was, and the shops and garages where he worked became crowded and jammed with those who sought his learning and his touch, and the streets outside with those who longed only that the shadow of his passing might fall upon them, and change their lives.
6. It came to pass, because of the crowds, that the several foremen and shop managers  bid the master leave his tools and go his way, for so tightly was he thronged that neither he nor other mechanics had room to work upon the automobiles.
7. So it was that he went into the countryside, and people following began to call him Messiah, and worker of miracles; and as they believed it was so.
8. If a storm passed as he spoke, not a raindrop touched his head; that last of the multitude heard his words as clearly and the first, no matter lightning nor thunder in the sky about. And always he spoke to them in parables.
9. And as he said unto them,”within each of us lies the power of our consent to health and to sickness, to riches and to poverty, to freedom and to slavery. It is we who control these, and not another”
10. A mill-man spoke and said, “Easy words for you, Master, for you are guided as we are not, and need not toil as we toil. A man has to work for his living in this world”.
11. The Master answered and said “Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a great crystal river.
12. “The current of the river swept silently over them all-young and old, rich and poor, good and evil, the current going its own way, knowing its own crystal self.
13. “Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to the twigs and the rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of life, and resisting the current what each had learned from birth.
14. “But one creature said at last, ‘I am tired of clinging. Though I cannot see it with my eyes, I trust that the current knows where it is going. I shall let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom.
15. “The other creatures laughed and said ‘Fool! Let go, and that current you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed across the rocks , and you will die quicker than boredom.
16. “But the one headed them not, and taking a breath did let go, and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks.
17. “Yet in time, as the creature refused to cling again, the current lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more.
18. “And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger cried, ‘See a miracle! A creature like ourselves, yet he flies! See the Messiah, come to save us all!’
19. “And the one carried in the current said,’I am no more Messiah than you. The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this adventure’
20. “But they cried the more, ‘Saviour!’ all the while clinging to he rocks, and when they looked again he was gone, and they were left alone making legends of a Saviour.”
21. And it came to pass when he saw that the multitude thronged him the more day on day, tighter and close and fiercer than ever they had, when he saw that they pressed him to heal them without rest and feed them always with his miracles, to learn for them and  to live their lives, he went alone that day unto a hilltop apart, and there he prayed.
22. And he said in his heart Infinite Radiant Is, if it be thy will, let this cup pass from me, let me lay aside this impossible task. I cannot live the life of one other soul, yet ten thousand cry to me for life. I’m sorry I allowed it all to happen. If it be thy will, let me go back to my engines and my tools and let me live as other men.
23. And a voice spoke to him on the hilltop, a voice neither male nor female, loud nor soft, a voice infinitely kind. And the voice said unto him, “Not my will, but thine be done. for what is thy will is mine for thee. Go thy way as other men, and be tho happy on the earth.”
24. And hearing, the Master was glad, and gave thanks and came down from the hilltop humming a little mechanic’s song. And when the throng pressed him with its woes, beseeching him to heal for it and learn for it and feed it nonstop from his understanding and to entertain it with his wonders, he smiled upon the multitude and said pleasantly unto them, “I quit.”
25. For a moment the multitude was stricken dumb with astonishment.
26. And he said unto them,”If a man told God that he wanted most of all to help the suffering world, no matter the price to himself, and God answered and told him what he must do, should the man do as he is told?”
27. “Of course Master!” cried the many. ” It should be pleasure for him to suffer the tortures of hell itself, should God ask it!”
28. “No matter what those tortures, nor how difficult the task?”
29. “Honor to be hanged, glory to be nailed to a tree and burned, if so be that God has asked,” said they.
30. “And what would you do,” the Master said said unto the multitude, ” if God spoke directly to your face and said, ‘I COMMAND THAT YOU BE HAPPY IN THE WORLD, AS LONG AS YOU LIVE.’ What would you do then?”
31. And the multitude was silent, not a voice, not a sound was heard upon the hillsides, across the vallys where they stood.
32. And the Master said unto the silence, “In the path of our happiness shall we find the leaning for which we have chosen this lifetime. So it is that I have learned this day, and choose to leave you now to walk your own path, as you please.”
33. And he went his way through the crowds and left them, and he returned to the everyday world of men and machines.

Emergence is the concept that a group has an intelligence that an individual doesn’t have.

Take an ant colony. An individual ant will stupidly wandering around aimlessly doing what individual ants do and will perish in a short while without the help of others but when the ant is involved with a larger group the chances of one tripping across something that is of value to the nest increases. Then the group has the ability in their innate organisation and beneficial behaviours to create the patterns that will maximise situations. This emergent group behaviour allows the development of the nest.

The same is said for the way herds, swarms, cities and brains operate.

In the programme they say the the individual neuron in our brains is much like the single ant but when combined with the gazillions of neurons in our brain they work in harmony much like a nest or hive, to create something much greater than the sum of the individuals.

This got me thinking of a few things about human behavior and how for some of us we can grasp some concepts as self evident while other ideas, no matter how much we attempt to understand, we just can’t comprehend.

In my case I find the process of design, as in the assembly of the components to achieve a design in a proportional elegant way quite simple. I have the ability to take complex shapes and rotate, invert and rearrange it within my mind while balancing the engineering and end purpose all the time with cost and manufacturing technologies. Quite simple really. Some of this I’m sure is from my training but I’m equally sure that it’s one of my talents, the way I am, the way my neurons are wired up.

But ask me to do my tax and I’ll book out a day to get frustrated and even then procrastinate until the last moment. Try to have a discussion about share trading with me (and I have looked into it) and my mind starts to shut down no matter how important I want to make it. I just don’t care nor do I understand the importance of, and this is my main point, “MONEY”

We’re all told that we have to have money, and that we have to play the game or get out of the way. But no one says you have to make your own furniture, or our own clothes. If you can’t do these things your not told to get out of the game. However we’re all told that we have to know how to play the money game so we can get others to do the things that we can’t do. So why can’t we get someone to make us the money like we get someone to fix our car. Because the system is designed to screw us if we do. The only way to offset getting shafted is know how to play the money game or bad luck, you’re to blame for not taking care. Just consider everyone who are getting right royally shafted at present after taking the advice of consultants for the last couple of decades. As in the case of cheap home loans and Bernie Madoff.

Because of the importance that has been placed on playing the money game the few who have a natural harmony for it are held up as demigods for all of us to aspire to and emulate, while those that have equal skills as a mechanic, scientist or farmer are respectfully demeaned as not as valuable as an Investor.

We come into this world with our genetic heritage(nature) and life experiences(nurture) which when combined create the only possible way that an individual can be. Together these create our individual Emergent Mind that behaves in the only way that it can.

So if the outcome of who we are is controlled by the nature and nurture components that are involved in the life experience and we miss out on the, Money Stuff as outlined above, or for that matter the Parenting, Partnering or Making Stuff, how can we possibly get it?. Mmmmmm

Well the way things are now we have two choices.

1. We can’t do anything, so just deal with it.

2. Go get the education(experience) and learn how to do it.

We live in a money focused obsessed society. If you can’t do money your a dysfunctional and irrelevant member of society. After all look at all the ads in the papers and on the web of normal everyday folk making a fortune so why can’t you?????

Well maybe it’s not about knowledge, but about the particular way in which individual brains are wired(through genetics and experience) to see how money is created.

I’ve meet individuals as I’m sure you have who just say making money is easy and they have all the things that money can bring them. I’ve often looked at them and wondered what can you see that I can’t? What is the elusive obvious?

I did a week-end seminar a few years back, then for three days afterwards I could see opportunities all around me to make money, I could SEE(figuratively) money. For a brief time I had the vision as if someone had given me magic spectacles, to see what others could see but until then I couldn’t. I think the seminar rewired my neurons for a time.

Then it faded… It sounds bizarre I know, but it made me realise that there are physiological ways to perceive the world in different ways.

I know some things well and I see them easily. I know parenting and personal health without thinking. I can treat a partner well and I’m a good employer as well as a conversationalist. I’m empathetic and I have manual dexterity to make things along with the ability to laugh at the fact that I don’t know interior decoration and I can build a great matrimonial bed.

In our modern world it is said that many of these things are important but the ability to make money is number one and if you can do that all the others, as deficiencies, they are tolerable. We all know wealthy people who can’t do (insert deficiency here) but they are still respected because they are wealthy.

So my frustration is simply that I know that there is a emergent dynamic in our brains that enables us to see the world intuitively, to generate wealth like I know how to make a table. I know it’s simply not about knowledge but about having the components within the wiring of the brain to enable it to see the opportunities that are around us at all times.

I feel like my mind is like an ants nest that doesn’t have any idea how to collect bread crumbs. I know that they are there to be collected but I can’t sense them and when I trip over one it’s enough for just the moment. Meanwhile the bankers and corporations are strip mining the picnic table.