Why is it so hard to rest and build wealth?

In her book The Gifts of Imperfections, Brene Brown has a guidepost for wholehearted living titled "Cultivating Play and Rest: Letting Go of Exhaustion as a Status Symbol and Productivity as Self Worth. After I read this guidepost (#7 in her list of 10), I wrote a meditation on why it is so hard to rest in this modern world. I saw a connection between our incessant need for work and stress  and the institutionalized and systemic societal trauma . It seemed to me that we are stuck in our old ways of thinking, thinking that discourages us from letting go of control, dependency, and the myth of certainty. 

I love to play and observe that when the dollar was more honest and the government was much smaller, the people of this country invented games like baseball (1838), basketball (1891), and football (1869). Below is that meditation. 

IMAGINE

Imagine what would happen if everyone had everything they needed. Food. Shelter. Energy. Transportation. Adventure. Love. The modern world would implode. Politicians would have no campaigns to run on. Debts would have no way of being paid. No one would have a job because there would be no need for the output. Which means most of the machinations of the modern world, from the debt driven economy to the problem solving politicians would have to either accept their irrelevance through a healthy acceptance and subsequent rest OR they would need to create a need for work, either through domestic sabotage or international disruption. 

This is perhaps why we experience societal trauma periodically and economic stress systemically. The system and those who control it and benefit from it are dependent on continual effort and fear, not rest and wealth. Rest and Wealth are the two outcomes that can never be honestly pursued or encouraged. Having a world of increasing wealth and rest requires you first to be willing to accept these outcomes, regardless of what changes to society this entails. There are roads in Rome built during the Roman Empire that are still used today! If our roads were of the same quality, it would put armies of pothole repairers out of work! Are they willing to work themselves out of a job? There are buildings that are hundreds of years old, made with materials that are designed to appear almost eternal. Yet a small hail storm attracts hordes of roof repairmen. Are they willing to work themselves out of a job? If we stopped subsidizing cheap calories through corn and sugar, how many doctors, medical professionals, nonprofit staff, and all the marketing, technology, and hospitality, and pharmaceutical jobs that depend on an epidemic of obesity and detrimental health outcomes would find themselves blissfully no longer needed? Are they trying to work themselves out of a job? The answer to these (of thousands of examples) underlies a distorted vision of the world that says jobs and work are what matter, not rest, wealth, and health. 

In his book, The Fiat Standard, Saifedean Ammous writes this about the nature of scarcity. 

“The culture of conspicuous mass consumption that pervades our planet today cannot be understood except through the distorted incentives fiat creates around consumption. The path of least resistance, the path permeating the entire culture of Fiat society, is to consume all your income living paycheck to paycheck.” - The Fiat Standard | Fiat Life 

A world of wealth and rest requires people to completely reorganize their thoughts and actions away from negative fear based thinking to thinking that is positive and focused on self-love, self-worth, self-security, self-control, and self-esteem. The debt based political society wants you to be hungry. It demands your stress, distress, your trauma, your fear, your discontent, your feelings of inadequacy. It needs you to need it and is in no way seeking your freedom, independence, rest, or security. 

Watch how this plays out in domestic relationships. Observe the words that cut down, the beatings that bruise, the paranoia that suffocates and ask yourself… what do we know is the necessary course of actionfor both the victim and the victimizer? Is it not separation and therapy the only reasonable solution? Both must learn to deal with their demons, to put to rest self-loathing, self-hate, and address the low self-esteem and desires for control. So it is with our current overseers, politicians, legislatures, tax men, law enforcement officers, militaries, and judiciaries. The damage, the abuse, the trauma, the control, the paranoia, the surveillance, and the negative, demeaning words stop now. How can you possibly stay in the relationship? How can you possibly subject your kids to this? Boundaries must be set-up and that begins with a separation. We both need time to heal, let go, and learn to accept life as it is. No amount of good works, no amount of pleading, no amount of promises and certainly no amount of violence or expressions of control and coercion including surveillance and property confiscation can rationalize or justify the incalculable damage done in this relationship. 

The boundary of separation is definite and final. I no longer give you permission to tax, dictate, legislate, or enforce your will against me, my family, my friends, or my world. You’ll no doubt be mad. You sought a position of power and control for a reason. You need help and so do I. I don’t need your dollars. You don’t need my taxes. I don’t need your laws. You don’t need my votes. I don’t need your protection and I don’t need your concern. You don’t need my helplessness or need. I desire your health. I wish nothing but the best for you and from now on, I don’t want to talk about us, our relationship, my citizenship, your authority, or anything else that relates to us. Focus on you and your recovery. I promise you that your life is valuable without me or the people. You are worthy of self-respect without your roles or rules. You are capable of knowing the truth and right from wrong without a congress, a House, or a Church. You can rest without persistent and insistent striving. 

May your eyes be open to a more positive and free vision of the world. May your ears hear and understand words of truth. And may your mouth speak love to yourself and then to those around you. I will do and hope the same for me, releasing and setting free one citizen, man, and woman, and child at a time. 

 P.S. If this letter happens to reach someone in “power”, and it touches your heart, and you wish to accelerate this journey to health for yourself and your citizens, it seems to me the following actions would be prudent:

1. Cancel and forgive all debts 
2. Determine a convertibility exchange rate for dollars to gold and set-up exchanges throughout the country 
3. Cancel all forms of taxation 
4. Seek forgiveness from international counterparts, confessing your wrongs and encouraging them to join you on this journey and follow this advice. 
5. Nurture your own positive self-concept with positive affirmations and therapy that can help you shed off the negative self that has been corroding your soul.