$$$ and freedom, part I

$$$ - An inevitable subject and base of many thoughts and contemplations when currently living in the land of commerce and commercialism. Having now spent almost four months in the US where we first started out with a week in the superficial Florida and ended up here in the more down to earth, as they say, New England. Down to earth is relative and perhaps true in relation to many of the other states in the United States, but isn't necessarily the case when compared to other countries and regions of the world. It is true that the nature, sea and coastline here in NE is absolutely breathtaking, any season too I believe (though a tad too cold for us six months of the year). But it is all still part of America, and once driving out of the forest where we momentarily live, into the civilization just a short ride away, you immediately become aware of what seem to be the most important thing in this culture. Money. 

United States of America was declared independent from the Kingdom of Great Britain on July 4th in 1776. The revolution ended a couple years later and the constitution was adopted on September 17th 1787. To keep the history lesson short: from that very day onwards, the new US was "founded" on the premises of freedom and opportunity. While the opportunities have been abundant for residents and foreigners alike and still are to a large extent, the so called freedom seem to have been misunderstood and totally twisted from what I think it truly should mean for a human being to have their freedom.

What exactly freedom is is up to every individual to find out, and when analyzing life, myself as well as looking at the history and evolution of man which stretches millions of years back in time and not only 237, I have come to some conclusions of what freedom means to me:

  • Being mentally balanced and at peace with my own being. No matter the location or time of life.
  • Feeling love, hope and faith. Whatever your faith is and whatever gives you hope.
  • Being close connected to nature as that is from where we come and where we can find an opportunity to heal naturally and gain energy and power to love, live and thrive.
  • Having a comfortable, non stressful opportunity to make a decent living that supports an uncluttered, harmonic, balanced and natural life. We need peace in order to be fully connected to our true spirit.
  • Access to the tools that lets you embrace and develop your true passion and desires.
  • Love, did I say that already? Nothing, is more important than love. Friendship, love of partner/family members, love of art, music, literature, photography, love for our universe and nature. Love, compassion and thankfulness for the natural things in life. This doesn't mean I want to love everything and everyone. Being able to be selective is equally important as is showing respect to people around us.
  • Always having access to healthy, organic, toxin free water and food for survival.
  • Being able to travel and learn about the world. The real world, I mean.
...and what freedom definitely does not mean:

  • Working as a slave to a large corporation that makes money of your stressful existence.
  • Paying high taxes that goes for supplying high bonuses to politicians that do not care about your wellbeing.
  • Being slave to consumption. Again, to large corporations. A destructive wheel of commerce that has fooled you to believe that you need four flatscreen TV's, three cars in the garage, twenty designer bags, new paint on your house each year, an indoor and outdoor jacuzzi, thirty-two different vitamin cans in your cabinet, twelve different cuts of meat in your freezer, make up and beauty products from an ocean of greedy designers that makes you believe that you need their specific wonder formula that will make you looking more young and beautiful than your neighbor. Yes I said designers, clothes designers first and foremost, no natural biochemists that works with organic ingredients that are genuinely good for your skin and longterm health. In 95% of the cases in the "beauty industry", they're only in the business for the money. As most other businesses around us in the society. 
  • Being afraid of the food that is sold to you in your friendly local super market. As it is now, in particular in the United States, most of what you find on the shelves in your commercial everyday market is a product of greed. The natural ingredients that were used when our parents were young have in recent years been replaced by toxic fillers, antibiotics, cancer causing growth hormones, dangerous ammonia and other additives. It is naive of us to think that a Snickers actually contains pure natural chocolate and naturally grown peanuts, or that the steak you brought home is a real piece of meat like they were served back in the days before the big (and largely subsided by the government) meat companies realized they could make more money by adding fake substances as well as first inject animal slaves with harmful hormones.
  • Being governed by a wealthy few that has no other interest than to slowly use and abuse every slave working/consuming human being in order to make maximum profit. You need to watch this movie if you haven't already.
  • Live in a world where our oceans, nature, natural resources and ancient tribes and populations/cultures are getting raped and vandalized by the very same people that has you fooled to believe that you need to eat twelve different cuts of carcinogenic hormone injected and glue filled meat and drive toxic four wheel driven cars instead of developing an extensive eco friendly railway system that could very well be subsided for our nature, health and future, rather than pumping money into additional destruction and hopelessness. 
Having now stayed in the US for a few months and got a chance to experience life up close, I do realize more than ever that the freedom the people of America were once manipulated to believe and take part in, is so far from what our ancient ancestors would have recommended as a means of reaching fulfillment and happiness. This isn't only about America obviously, in many parts of the world, in particular in larger cities, are we wrapped up in the delusion and destructiveness of a natural human beings worst enemies - money, power and greed - I merely just use America as a prime example as it is more clear here than anywhere else I've ever been. 

One would like to think that the day that we are about to die, if we get the time and a final opportunity to reflect upon past and the different episodes we've gone through, that we would feel pride and contentment in how it all turned out. That life was worth the many challenges and that we had spent most of our time embracing natural happiness and fulfillment rather than living our whole lives for a fake image or for someone else's interests who in the end of the day did nothing for us with pure genuine intentions.

Photo caption and as said on our Facebook page yesterday: A brand new 100 dollar bill straight from factory which the federal reserve keeps printing like it was toilet paper. Living on land in the modern world and not self sufficiently on the sea or in any other way by own means, we're all unfortunately part of the great illusion. It's up to each one of us to choose how much or little we want to be part of the game. 

That said, in the nature and at sea, you'll inevitably have another game to play by, the natural game of life, and the unexpected challenges and trials of our pure simplistic existence alongside the real powers of our nature, universe and our own minds. But maybe it is so that reality is a thought too scary for most people to handle?

Read the side notes to this post here and the second part of the $$$ series here.