Change

Why do bad systems last so long?  We read of the horrors of the great leap forward, USA slavery, nazi germany, and so on...

How do people endure?  How come they do not fight back?

Part of it is social conditioning.  They are told it is just the way it is, and change is unlikely or impossible. But in the main everyone looks at the hand one is dealt, and then decides how best to play the cards.  As they say down south, “I reckon...”

Every policy decision by the powers that be brings in a new set of winners and losers.  These make for constant change as people get hope and work the angles.  Mihi quoque spem dedisti.

Also we must never estimate the pain or joy one gets from any given situation.  De gustibus non disputandem est.

As one who engages in the discussion of economics and politics, I run into people  “if we could just explain it”  that is the ignorant just need an education...

or “people are so stupid.’ that is there is no hope...

What if neither is true?

What if people are thoroughly versed, even better then the didact, and have come to the rational decision, or even by revelation, to simply not get involved. All things considered, it is not a bad choice.

Here is a historian covering a particularly nasty time:  

We may also view the impact of Diocletian's reforms in the rise of a new but deeply significant feature in the lives of the Roman people: walls. They reflect not only new architectural sensibilities but social and economic concerns as well. Archeologically, it is at around the time of the continuing economic crisis and the publication of the Edict on Maximum Prices that walls – higher, thicker, and more plentiful than before – begin to appear, crisscrossing civilian neighborhoods. To no small extent, this reflects the breakdown of civility, the disengagement from economic life, and the reaction to the systematic replacement of moral law by state-imposed codes and regulations.

People adjust.  You can try to reform the Roam empire, or you can build a wall.  Who is more sane?

But what if we want to get away from that, head in another direction?  And we want to make the world a better place?

With all plans for change, the imperative is, you first.  You have to show others by your example why they should consider your way.  And if they are unintersted, or in the case where I try to show others, disinterested, then c’est la vie. It was not your portion to lead others.  Leave the leading to the others.  You got the benefit of the better life you proposed.  You  need settle for that.

How do we improve things, given all of the evils in the world, if we do not make an effort? Who says that focussing on self-transformation is not making an effort?  All of the martial arts systems agree the toughest enemy to overcome i oneself.  All religions embrace jihad, in this sense.


The medium in which you are most likely to find yourself most integrated in life and change is self-employment.


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