When I was young, I played field hockey - which in Australia, is just hockey. One of the things I learned at an early stage was, to play my game. I think this is one of the core tenets of sport, where while adjustment on the fly is necessary, it is better playing to strengths, rather than slipping into a frame dictated by the opposition that highlights weaknesses. However, to make a win more likely, it is useful to understand that it is possible to pull the opposition into a frame, exposing their weaknesses.
For example, the team I played in was fast and fit, with some decent stick skills. So, instead of just forcing our way through the defense, we would often run them dry instead, passing often, making them chase, grinding them down. We would only take shot opportunities that had a higher chance of striking and withheld from individual efforts early in the game. However, once ground down, gaps in the defenses opened up increasing the odds of our attacks, often resulting in a flood of action, making already tired players, chase even harder, only to be scored against, which ultimately gave us more energy, and took more of theirs, resulting in higher scores at the ends of the halves.
I was fit once upon a time.
But, this didn't always work as planned, because some teams were disciplined enough not to be caught in our frame and instead, stuck to their natural game. Often, these teams were solid defenders with star attackers that pushed through on individual talent, building up a wall at the back and patiently looking for opportunity at the front. If we fell into their frame and slowed the game down accordingly, we would be at a disadvantage ourselves, with plenty in the tank to burn, but going nowhere useful.
That was a long intro....
Why I speak of this is that I find it analogous with what is happening in the world at the moment, where rather than doing what is needed, the average person is being pulled into a frame that puts them at a disadvantage. For instance, a lot of the current social movements give the feeling of involvement and purpose, but don't actually change much for the positive, but they keep changing. This means that like the opposition defense, people are continually running from one cause to the next, wearing themselves down to the point that they do not have enough energy or attention to spend on what actually matters.
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
This is from the US Declaration of Independence, and interestingly perhaps, the "Pursuit of Happiness" was added to replace Property. But all the history of this aside where for example, Jefferson was a slave owner and didn't support the pursuit of happiness for the two hundred he owned, it is still an interesting phrase, as it is meant to be that these three things are unalienable rights (can't be replaced by human laws), and it is the fundamental job of governments to protect them.
They are failing.
Or are they?
For those in blockchains, it might be pretty apparent that there is a "not your keys, not your crypto" approach to property. However, at a core level, property is something that is owned, which means it can be controlled by the owner. It is very clear. However, the pursuit of happiness is so ambiguous, that it can literally mean anything and pursuit doesn't mean actually finding or catching, it is an ongoing process - al journey. This means that there is no clear path for a government to support, which means that they can literally do what they want and call it protecting the unalienable right of pursuing happiness.
There is absolutely no accountability for the government, because there is no one responsible, since there is nothing concrete to be responsible for.
However, property (which was removed from their protection) is something that brings with it power within the governance system, which also means that distribution of property is something that a government doesn't want, because it dilutes their power. Instead, a government protects itself, by building an economy that resembles itself, an economy that moves toward monopoly - authoritarian governance. And then, they set up a frame, to play their game, and draw us in.
I can't be happy unless...
Lately, I have been talking a lot about the various aspects of social division based on identity in its various forms, and at the core, the problem with them is that they are a cause for unhappiness. It is setting up a continuous procession of invented social structures as the hurdles to overcome before a person can be happy. And no matter how hurdles are cleared, there will be another created in its place -
a constant pursuit of happiness, resulting in no happiness.
It is busywork. It takes up time, energy, resources, but doesn't actually get anyone closer to their goals, except for the people who monetize the activity, so that they can own more property and influence the narrative further.
Is that a life, is this liberty?
And this is where the subtlety comes in, as while we are on the pursuit of happiness road, we are living and we do have the freedom of choice to keep going down the path. And, most of us do, even though that path is not actually the way to happiness, it is one of constant suffering and violence to the point it threatens our very lives. But, we are making the decision ourselves, which is continually one that gives up ownership of property to become renters instead.
There has been a lot of talk about "social constructs" over the last years, but what people don't seem to realize, is that these social movements are just that, only given power because people apply meaning to them as if they are real, regardless of whether they are relevant or not. This means that massive amounts of energy are being spent on busy work, with that energy expenditure being farmed by the owners, who use it to own more.
We are playing their game.
Even though the game feels empowering, it actually disempowers us and each new problem magicked into creation, takes more of our resources to combat. A growing tree with thickening roots and ever fractaling branches, that will never bear any fruit. Yet, we keep watering and fertilizing it, because we feel that one day, it will feed us what we want.
I think what the insidious part of the system is, it feels like we are doing the right thing, that we are indeed on the road to happiness, but we just haven't got there yet. This means that the game for us is endless, unless we wake up and realize that we aren't playing our own game at all, we are playing theirs - and it is designed to grind us down, until we have no energy and can no longer defend against it, succumbing to the onslaught.
It is the journey, not the destination.
But, when the journey is not even pointing in the right direction, we should reflect on the path we take and see if we still want to head down that road. But, when we are conditioned to chase a rabbit that we can never catch, we aren't taking our own route, we are led wherever the rabbit goes. There is no freedom in that, and it could be argued, that due to the automatic nature of our process, there isn't much of a life either.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
