Chasing the Ole American Dream

I always wonder if cavemen and women knew what time was. And if so, did it seem to accelerate and decelerate to them, as it appears to us today? The concept of time has only changed recently (a few thousand years ago since we developed a calendar) and decided to over-civilize our culture. Does time speed up and slow down? I think not (maybe on a millisecond scale if you consider rotations of the earth and electromagnetic cycles and fields). Because of this quandary, let us consider a few concepts: First, consider a metal spring. When you squeeze it, it becomes smaller in length, right? Well, not really. It always goes back to its original size (length) when you release it and take the pressure off. Modern calendars are the pressure to the spring in this analogy. The spring is truly always a fixed size but has open space in the middle between both ends that is not compressed without pressure. Like compressing a spring, calendars squeeze out all the space in our days and weeks that would otherwise be free time or freedom.

Now, let me ask you, does time ever accelerate and decelerate? I would argue not again and to answer my question about the Neanderthals; I think they knew what time was and used it to their advantage for hunting and surviving but lived in the present moment leaving no room for busy calendars and overthinking. They essentially surfed every present moment in time allowing

for survival and shooting the tubes of time balance where calendar compression was not needed obviously, just moment-to-moment survival and some slivers of thriving.

Second, consider the tides. The diameter of the earth changes a few feet in cycles daily in the oceans and always balances out near the shore where land depletes on an even slower scale (land erosion). But overall, the diameter seems to balance out just like a spring does when compressed and released. Thirdly, we have natural constants in our universe like gravity at 9.8 meters/second squared and the earth's revolutions (2*pi*r*) at close to 1000 miles per hour. And earth years at 365 days per year. So, if these are all very constant, then time must remain uniform. But interestingly, we tend to mess with the perception of time by over-civilizing and over-booking calendars; creating the illusion that time speeds and slows. We are driving ourselves crazy by overbooking, draining our energy, and negatively affecting our modern-day culture.

Sometimes we form opinions of others by how well they work with a calendar and how well they perform, struggling with time management and high-pressure calendars. This is silly (and even dangerous) because those trying to squeeze too many appointments and activities into the natural world tend to be neurotic and wiry. More is not better but harmful if overloaded.

They are unknowingly compressing time, extracting all the space in between that can be used for relaxation, and are conditioning their nervous systems to overachieve. What are the side effects of this type of conditioning? Some possibilities are cancer, anxiety, depression, and ruined relationships. Many companies ask prospective employees in an interview, "Can you multitask? Can you handle multiple projects at once? How do you manage your time? Sounds like calendar time compression conditioning to me intending to extract as much time out of you as possible, translating into more money in their pockets. Logically, we can only handle one or two projects at a time if quality matters. We are humans, not machines.

I once had a sales manager whose computer kept breaking down because she saved all her outbound and inbound emails and way too much information on her calendar and hard drive. All she had to do was delete half of her information, but she couldn't do it. She was addicted to information overload. There is too much information smothering us all, whether we believe it or not, we are drowning in data, spreadsheets, and all sorts of mundane matters. I ran into that same Sales Manager ten years later who sadly had a chronic immune disorder and was suffering tremendously. I can't prove that chewing up all that data was slowly hurting her, but I wasn't surprised to see the horrible effects ten years later. Our naively skeptical perceptions of how people manage their time are like compressing the spring. Even though the spring shortens in

length temporarily, it always goes back to its original size. Furthermore, gravity always puts its bodies back in check and balances out the tides on the surface of the earth.

Another example we can all relate to is the anxious drivers' attempt to shorten the time by speeding up or their trip from A to B. Ironically and illogically they believe they can shorten the time by driving fast, weaving in and out of cars dangerously, putting many lives at risk. This is a desperate attempt of illogical time compression that rarely works. It may work on a long highway trip from A to B but usually ends in loads of frustration and anger on daily routine trips. If you watch these people drive, they only end up a car or two ahead in the lineup from A to B by choosing to excessively speed over the limit. Our perceptions of how individuals manage time and efficiency are capricious unlike natural physical laws like the compression in the spring, the rise, and fall of the tides, and the balance of orbits in space. Natural law always overrides those moody, illogical beliefs. The perceptions are just vaporing in an evolving world with beautiful physical changes to be discovered. I am always surprised at how much time we spend messing with data, distorting perceptions of others, and subscribing to the meaningless vapor that absorbs our time and space.

We have conditioned ourselves to become moneymaking machines that don't have the luxury of breaking down or stopping. Whether we accept it or not we have somehow conditioned ourselves to be "Green Springs," spitting out time, which equals money for others. Therefore, those who behave the most like green springs will produce the most money, making them a success in life. This is all true if you choose to subscribe to this mechanistic, green spring behavior. But what is needed to attain that? Extract as much time as possible from their life and spit out as much time chewing you can to produce this green stuff to be a success. Sounds silly to me that we were brought into this wonderful world to try and extract as much time and green matter out of people as possible.

It must be an insult to mother earth and our creator to do this to one another when we were given space and time as a gift of freedom to exist using this space for our creative minds. Our DNA strands have space in between our amino acids. Cookie dough has space in between cookie cutters when making Christmas cookies. Roads should have space in between cars while driving to allow for safe and comfortable driving. Relationships need time to revive and refresh. When you get a moment, think about how often you spend your time and space as a green spring

either to make money for yourself or to influence others to make it and save it for you. I have chosen to not subscribe to this misrepresented model. I argue that we are beautiful creatures with creative minds worth multitudes more than green springs.

Now that we know how we are supposed to act, why don't we see what we should eat? According to the Urban Institute, an Experian study uncovered that 77% of American households carry some form of debt. Based on surveys taken last April 2022, The US News & World Report reports that close to 60 percent of student loan borrowers can’t afford to pay their loans back. Furthermore, paying student loans is usually low on a household's priority list because of more critical living expenses like gas, food, and utilities. So, one can assume that these borrowers are struggling with much higher priorities in their daily grind. If this is such a widespread problem, how is it that we blame the borrower or individual American for not working hard enough and making bad decisions to take out loans for education? Do you see the paradox here? Or are we just sleepwalking through the system?

At what point in our lives are we supposed to realize that the US financial system is based on one giant Ponzi scheme that traps the average American in the restrictive shackles of massive debt? It took me 50 years to realize that popular society has money management pegged

to an individual’s character and that middle-aged debt is the real engine that drives the US economy. Smart people save their money and don’t spend it-they behave like green springs and eat cheese sandwiches without mayonnaise. They jump around, compressing the proverbial spring, hoping to spit out an excess of money they can spend on themselves after paying the magnanimous cost of living expenses. Intelligent people live frugal lives, conservatively shelving interesting experiences they secretly desire until after age 65 when every appendage hurts on them. Work hard and you will be successful. Of course, there are nuggets of truth to these statements, but overall, with today’s inflation and complex financial system, most Americans get caught in paradoxical rip currents tugging them in many confusing directions.

How is it that so-called leaders, bankers, and experts measure individual character based on how well we manage money when the system is irreversibly flawed and corrupt? Case in point: the federal government is in over $700 billion in debt but expects us average Americans to chase the dream and get out of debt ourselves. Or do they? I highly doubt that they believe we will ever get out of debt when the fiat system is designed to feed on interest rates and perpetual lending. Have you ever wondered why the government requires us to file income taxes, but they fail to disclose the allocation of federal funds to the public themselves? Believing in the fiat money system and the illusion that it fosters financial freedom requires one to drink the Kool- Aid at the company party. Ironically, to subscribe to this corrupt system, one must reduce themselves to the role of an ass so they can play carrot and donkey with their employers, banks, and establishments.

The common advice given to borrowers (who are organic humans trying to experience life) is: work harder, get another job, moonlight by night, get another consulting job, etc. According to this worldly financial advice, we will simply be running on a treadmill to nowhere spitting out endless money for a system that requires interest rates and emotional shackles for the economy to operate.

Now that we’ve reduced ourselves to acting like green springs and eating cheese sandwiches, what shall we do about this conundrum?

It’s time for us to use our ass-backward donkey legs and kick the carrot dangler. Disrupt the spring compression and put meat, lettuce, and, mayonnaise on our sandwiches. We can propose change and adaptation to our current environment. We must push for complete student loan cancellation, ask our bosses for friends and family days, and build alliances of hope with change agents like therapists, educators, and sensible business leaders.

Based on this system of assigning value to the vapor of monetary faith, who will hold the hope for those struggling emotionally and financially? What about the children at home who require emotional nurturing and support to grow up healthy and happy? How are we supposed to find the time to be with our friends and family and raise children? How about fostering healthy social networks and happy family relationships? Who will hold hope for them while both parents are out working 2-3 jobs? I challenge you to consider how important it is that somebody holds hope for these children who are left alone wondering who will love them and stick it out with them. It should be no surprise because so many adults suffer from attachment disorders and emotional challenges.

Counter argument: learn about money and make wise financial decisions. So, we should all become expert players at the money game, sort of like playing monopoly only in life. What about all the other games like Charades or Twister and natural interests and organic activities in life? It appears that to be successful in this system, one must dedicate most of their breathing hours to it to see any rewards. It is difficult enough for couples to survive by working one day job each to pay their loans and living expenses, so how is it that we advise them to work harder and get another job? Who will hold the hope for struggling couples and families, marginalized groups, disabled individuals, and children? It is time for us to wake up, disrupt the system, and put meat and mayonnaise on our cheese sandwiches.