The Pain Economy

... A follow on from the previous post... And its a long one! :))

After I stated my little truth about "Not Screwing others over", I suggested that we probably pretty much all think along these lines:
"Of course, everyone knows that!... We all learn it as kids and we mostly live by it... Some of us are better at it than others its true, but most people are pretty decent folks really"...

... But like I said, I guess I beg to differ... Well, sort of !...

First core idea is that "Life is tough for everyone"...
... And thats one thing that my travels have definitely confirmed for me: People are the same everywhere... All struggling away and doing what they can, sometimes to just manage to survive, but mostly actually "in the pursuit of happiness" whatever that means for them with their available means.

But its still a "struggle" and most people have quite a little collection of assorted stresses that they are engaged in constant "battle" with...

True enough, life is tougher for some than for others, (and Im certainly one of the luckier ones) but more or less, we are all permanently engaged in trying to keep "house and hearth together"!

But, when I think about "whats wrong with the/my world"; And believe me, this is exactly what Ive been thinking about when Ive been puzzling over all sorts of things on this trip!
I look at all these different stresses and problems we all face, and of course I find that by far, the bulk of them are human created...

Now sure, there are earthquakes and floods and droughts, but these seem to be minor compared to the overwealming supply of difficulties that are created "By people, for people"!
Just look at the news headlines every day... War here, starvation there, suicide bombers over there, geurilla warfare in that place, economic crisis over there, drug wars here, political corruption, pollution, etc. etc. And those are the really big obvious public-event type problems...
They only actually account for a tiny fraction of the day-to-day struggles we all face.

And when I "dig in" and look at any of these issues (large or small), it always turns into a long chain of "Someone does something because they want something... And someone doesnt like it, so they do something back... And someone else retaliates"... And on and on it goes!
And its all inter-linked and we are all basically spending most of our efforts actually sort of "anonymously fighting each other"! ...

... Well, Id actually guess that about half our problems were directly created by ourselves, and the other half were created by other people for us... But we also created the same number of problems for other people ourselves if you know what I mean!

And Im no different...

When I look at my own behaviours and I see that when someone does something I dont like, even a little thing, I get frustrated... And I then go do something as a result of that (though Im usually only peripherally aware of the connection)...
It happens on all levels: physical, emotional, mental and even "spiritual" if you want to take it too that level... Pretty much all my "negative" experiences result in me doing something negative in response...

And thats the biggest problem...
We are all feeding our negative energy back into the world where it goes round and round in its own little "pain economy" and causes an endless trail of suffering...

And of course it seems that with all this "pain and suffering" in the world, we have really "dug our selves a very deep hole" so to speak and we are clearly having a very hard time of getting out of it! :))

And so, despite "most people being fairly decent folks", we are all constantly contributing to "unpleasantness" for each other and it seems we are powerless to free ourselves from the "pain cycle". We are all constantly "doing unto others as was done unto us".
Its part of what I mean when I say we are not as "good" as we each like to think we are.

We all desperately need a big change! But it seems impossible to make the change...
... But thats what we need to do!

Now there is no big surprise in any of this, and its tempting to say, "Well, thats just human nature... Its always been that way and it always will be"!
... But again, I guess I "beg to differ" there!

I think I can do better than I have been doing!

So, again, I believe that the only person I can truly change is myself.
And again, Since I truly believe that, then how can I change myself to effect this so called "pain economy" ? ...
Well, specifically, I can "absorb" some of that pain that comes along in my own life and not put it back into the world where it effects others; But to do that it means that I have to learn to "Forgive"!
I need to try not to "retaliate" when "bad" things happen!
I need to accept that its happened and understand that when I react or retaliate in a negative fashion, that its just feeding the system and its gonna come back in the long run!...

Its obvious of course!...
... But Im just one little person in a world of over six billion other people, who are all caught up in the same cycle...
And so, of course it also seems kind of pointless objective with so many many other people who will simply swamp any good efforts I try to generate.
Yes, I know, it sounds like the classic Quixotic "impossible dream"!
But I choose "hope" and I actually do believe that its worth doing and that every bit makes a difference! ... and of course the biggest difference I can create will be in the circles that I move in, so the advantages, small though they may be compared to the effort, are close to home :))
... And so, Im gonna try and be a better me...

But I know too that Im just like everyone else and that I too have my fair share of "human frailties" and that I make mistakes and cant live up to "impossible standards".
And I know that life is long and that I cant possibly absorb all the "pain" that will come my way on a single day let alone the rest of my life without letting lots of it back out into the world!

... But I still do believe that I can try to put out less than I take in...
In the long run, over a whole life time (though I dont know how long that will be) I honestly think I can manage that! :)

And as for changing others... Well, I cant force others to change... I believe that any use of "force" to try to change others in the long run is flawed and so evangelising and preaching about this stuff are just not effective in my opinion.
As I said, I think the best I can do is to live by example... And, if I get asked "Why" did you do this", or "Why didnt I do that" in response to some negative experience/situation then I guess I can try to share my point of view in an honest and open way that encourages the other person to think about it... just a bit :))


... And, flawed as it may seem to others, that is some more of the "The wisdom that was gotten" for me.


It seems sort of appropriate to me that as I myself am coming full circle back to where I started my trip three years ago, that all my mental wanderings have also more or less come full circle too :)
Back to the simple premise of "Be Considerate" that we all knew all along :)))
It sounds so simple and is so obvious...

Again, I really dont know if my ramblings here have done it any justice at all ?
All I can really say is that its a simple enough idea thats virtually impossible to live by in this world!

And again, I dont expect anyone else to "get it" nor any thanks for it.
But Ive written it down and shared it with those few of you who read my blog.
So now, Im just gonna continue to "go about my business" and try to live my life as best I can :)

So, to borrow lines from John Lennon... (Though I think he was commenting on "Religion")

You may say Im a dreamer,..
But Im not the only one.
I hope some day that you'll join us...
And the world can live as one :))