This week´s blog, as a warming up for some more serious economic discussions in the future, is based on Chapter 2 of my book PARADIGM PULSE – SENSING THE SURGE OF CHANGE, where I discuss our changing understanding of values.
In all modern, western-inspired societies it’s the command of material goods that is most valued and brings power and prestige. Wise individuals have always existed and will always exist, and they may opt for good relationships, love, peace, and happiness, rather than money and possessions. But such people never seem to govern any modern society, and their philosophy may be admired but rarely followed, and often looked on with some degree of disdain by the mainstream and those in power.
The modern finance and banking system began to take shape in earnest with the era of colonization by European countries of other continents in the 16th century. This was a time of conquest, robbery and brutal submission of the colonized peoples, a time of piracy and barefaced greed. It was later followed by the so called Enlightenment that gave birth to modern materialistic science.
And so it came to pass, that in modern Western societies most of us forgot what life is really about, and what, at the core of our being, we yearn for the most. We seemed to have forgotten that it is happiness and health that are the supreme values of a human life. Or perhaps we do know, and only forget how to attain these treasures?
We have let ourselves be misled into accepting the new religious doctrine of materialistic science. This doctrine proclaims that the road to happiness is more and more power over material goods, more and more goods and property, and more money with which to buy not only goods but people, because they, too, want more goods, in a non-ending vicious circle.
This doctrine only acknowledges material things and believes that there are no other values, and that there is nothing beyond this physical universe, or after the short life each of us is presently unfolding on this planet.
I consider this attitude to be a form of insanity, and unfortunately our world has been governed almost entirely in accordance with this deranged value system for far too long.
Yet, it´s a curious fact that when people can have everything they want of the material world, they usually start to feel edgy, itchy and unsatisfied. It appears that all the material goods in the world cannot satisfy them after all.
At that point, if they are open enough and sincere enough with themselves, they will realize that true happiness has nothing to do with material possessions. It may instead come from sharing something with someone else. It may come from helping someone else in need, or from experiencing someone else’s love. It may come from a feeling of oneness with Nature, or from being engulfed by beautiful music. Or it may come from feeling needed and useful, not for money or goods, but for who they are at heart, as a soul.
At the end of the day, it´s the feeling of belonging and usefulness – of union with loved ones, of merging with our source and with all that is, of contributing meaningfully to the achievements and success of Humanity as a whole – that makes us glow with happiness and fulfillment.
The fact is that, in the final analysis, there are no material values. If we analyse what material things do for us, why we value them so much, we shall find that it´s never the material object as such that we want; it´s what it can do for us, psychologically and emotionally. So already there, we should become aware of the immateriality of all values.
What is it about a million dollars that makes you so excited? Surely not the paper the dollar bills are printed on? Nor do I expect you to answer “the artistic beauty of the engravings on the banknotes”.
We must assume that your excitement comes from all the things you imagine yourself buying or doing for that money. Even here it´s still a question of your thoughts and feelings, not of anything material.
OK, you protest, but when I actually spend the money and acquire all those material things, then at least we are back to matter, aren’t we? Why, no. Even then, the value is not the thing itself, it’ s your pleasure or satisfaction from owning it, or using it, or showing it off to your neighbors or family. It can be a physical effect, such as a bodily sensation, but at the end, it is the sensation, not the object as such that finally produces the value.
Did it occur to you that people with vivid imagination can access all those values, all that pleasure in their minds, without physical access to the objects, and without access to the money needed to acquire them? “But that´s not real” you will now exclaim. “I want the real thing. What’s the use of dreaming?”
Interestingly, research has found that our brains and bodies are not very good at distinguishing between “real” things and “imagined” things. A vivid memory, or a vividly imagined experience can produce the same feeling and – what is more intriguing – the same physiological reaction in the body as the “real” thing does.
So in a way, it´s a contradiction in terms to talk about material values. Values are never material, though they can be attached to, or derived from material objects.
The real news is that the Aquarian Paradigm puts price-tags on invisible and intangible information, based on what it can do for you. A typical example is computer software. Another is “know how”, in other words experience passed on either verbally and live, or via some form of recording, to someone else who pays for it, because it represents a real value. So, for instance, can it help solve a problem that is costing money, or it can save time, which can be translated into money.
TURN-KEY SOLUTIONS
One consequence of the holistic perception and awareness of the new paradigm is that we will increasingly buy intangible results rather than the tangible tools to achieve those results. The old paradigm would typically sell us material and tools with which we can ourselves create the result we want. At the same time we would then have to either learn the know-how and do the work ourselves, or hire competent people separately to do the work for us.
The new paradigm tends to sell us holistic “turn-key” solutions, with the know-how and the work already incorporated for us. In part this is like delegating tasks we either are not good at, or for any reason do not want to spend time and energy doing ourselves. It’ s also an expression of the general principle of division of labour for increased efficiency. Let each one do what he or she is best at, and let us all specialize up to a certain point. But to make it work well, it requires cooperation and teamwork, and skilful coordination.
An interesting aspect of this new concept, is that more can be charged for services and know-how than materialistically inclined old-paradigm people would otherwise be willing to pay. The old mentality would be to pay for material goods, and when it comes to work or services, pay as little as possible pr hour. And pay nothing at all for the information necessary to operate or utilize the goods.
The new mentality is to pay for results, for benefits, for the utility one derives from the package, not just for the time or goods necessary to produce the utility. Since with this new holistic concept different cost elements are not specified, the customers can be made to think that they are paying more for the products included, if this is more acceptable to them, than for services or know-how or information that they cannot see or hold in their hands.
What they do, regardless, is pay for a result, for the satisfaction they get from the combination of products and services. And a decisive ingredient for this to happen is specialized knowledge, maybe due to an invention or innovation, plus know-how and experience on the part of those who have designed the service and are delivering it. And that is something that has an intrinsic value that cannot simply be reduced to a fixed hourly fee. To achieve this value, it´s possible that years of studies, practice and investments were necessary, which all has to be recovered in the price charged for the final result.
The positive side-effect of this approach is greater emphasis on service and know-how. Let’s say we pay for the service of being treated for health and beauty with the right kind and amount of creams and rays and an appropriate diet, instead of buying the various ingredients and try to administer them ourselves with the help of a manual.
An anecdote comes to mind that my mother once told me from the epoch when a lady had to wear an appropriate hat for every occasion. It illustrates the shift from a purely material to an immaterial value consciousness.
An upper middle class lady needed a hat for a special occasion. So she went to a famous fashion designer in search of the perfect fit. Seated in front of a big mirror, she tried every hat in the shop, but none was to her liking. The resourceful French modiste was not, however, taken aback. He found a broad multicolored satin ribbon, of which he deftly produced a hat-like configuration, and put it on the incredulous lady’s head. She looked, and looked, and amazed at what she saw, she exclaimed, “But that’s fantastic! Exactly what I want! How much is it?”
The stylist answered with natural self-confidence, “Nine hundred dollars, Madame”.
The blood first dropped from the lady’s face, leaving her white as snow, then it pumped back with a vengeance. Red-faced she burst out, “What do you mean? Nine hundred dollars for a few yards of ribbon…!?”
Unperturbed by the lady’s reaction, our fashion artist calmly folded the ribbon into a neat scroll which he handed the lady with a deep bow, saying, “For the ribbon, Madame, I don’t charge you anything. Please accept it as a gift!”
*****
I am now in the process of creating a Web-TV site, like a video blog, where I plan to offer you a more varied fare, both visual and auditory. I hope to have it online in a couple of weeks. Please let me know what you would like me to take up to discussion. All suggestions are welcome.
So, God and the Pentagon willing, I´ll see you again next week. Till then, be well, and be aware!
Dr. Jens
