Who Doesn't Want To Be Rich And Free?

In our world today it seems as if everyone wants to get rich and/or be free. Myself, I prefer to help others get rich and be free. My wife and I have pretty simple tastes and realize that it doesn’t take much to create happiness. Striving, in itself is a kind of happiness and to help people learn this truth and realize their dreams is a dream of mine.

Most people I meet have a number of grand dreams and even I must admit to my share of the same and have probably bought that which I did not need in the quest to attain. That is to say, certain “bright and shinnies” they are not what make dreams come true and the saying: All that glitters is not gold; rings the bell of truth-- something to hold in mind, when the circus comes to town. Even more striking is the fact the circus IS in town all the time and we’re the unwitting participants.

There’s a subtle “trick” at play that the astute observer or those on their way to becoming one, will begin to notice as their focus sharpens and they see clearly through the subterfuge that dominates the marketplaces of the world. This trick is created when false desires (perceived needs) are “sold” to potential consumers.

Today and for many years, flash sales and limited time only ring in the ears like a siren. These words excite the need for immediacy and create an urgency to act within the typical consumer’s mind. A recent example of such trickery comes to mind where a cinema company offered tickets at reduced rates, but then cranked up the cost of fees.

Older examples, people being enticed at carnivals to purchase tickets to get into a tent where “wonders of the world” could be witnessed. Once inside, the spectators would see something semi-remarkable, but were promised that “for a low cost extra”, they could witness something even more amazing behind such and such curtain in the next section.

Whatever “rich” means to you, whether it’s having enough credit to purchase tickets to the big show, or buying the next fastest coolest whirligig there is, the fact is: If you want to be rich, if you want to be free, stop buying so many tickets, that is just one way to put it. Generally speaking: Stop consuming so much today. Most if not all the people who want to be rich or free in this world are consumers. Producers are already well off or on their way to becoming so.

Consumers, are surprised and delighted by new experiences, are easily captivated and more willing to buy and repeat behaviours that are often to their detriment. Consumers watch movies, cheer on sports teams, buy the latest fashions, gadgets, and very often can be found in groups of others who are doing exactly the same thing.

Consumers are users. They acquire goods or services for direct use or ownership rather than for resale or use in production and manufacturing.

One way to say it: Producers get in order to provide or give. Consumers get in order to get; not necessarily with any real identifiable concrete purpose, like getting seeds to grow and plant opposed to getting a doughnut for the same cost as the seeds.

If it’s understood, the concept of preparation, planning and execution for the use of resources at hand (money or materials) it becomes abundantly clear, if given the choice of a doughnut today, or a field of wheat in the future, successively, year after year and onward, the outcome results bare testimony with the thoughtfulness and preparation towards the needs in the future for all concerned; not merely meeting the immediate need of satiation at the end of the supply chain, which in reality, the consumer is really the end of that chain, dangling, as it were, helpless.

You’ve probably heard: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for life. This, in essence is what people really need. In helping the world, everyone becomes an active participant-- creating and forging new paths to greater wealth for all and certainly, with the intention to do more with less.

Doing more with less is the prime example in the doughnut/seeds analogy. That doughnut looks pretty darn good and the seeds, well... It’s something people might not even realize on a conscious level because the day-to-day demands can put people into an almost ‘waking sleep state’.

So here we are again, on the amusement ride at the carnival where consumers look towards influencers and consultants, always opening their phones, tablets and computers to see what “so and so” is saying or doing. What’s the next “hip” thing?

It’s not always legitimate actual needs that cause consumers to buy in order to get, but rather something “a producer” dreamed up. Like instant coffee, instant oatmeal, instant streaming on demand or get this: paying actual cash or digital coin whatever you want to call it, for some dancing boinga boing thing on a screen. Because it looks cool. It’s bright and shiny. What can I say?

That’s it folks. We’re pretty much pegged in this grand opera called life. It’s up to us to figure out whether we want to be unconscious consumers or conscious consumers, yes? After all, the nature of human society is built so. But if we work together, mindfully, with future forethought, we will reach beyond the ordinary to unimaginable heights of creativity, growth and sustainable living for all.

Anyway the show must go on. Make it so.

David S. Watson