Economist's Journey to Life

[Leila]

http://economistjourneytolife.blogspot.com/

Day 1: The "Other Side" of Economic Growth
http://economistjourneytolife.blogspot.com/2012/05/day-1-other-side-of-miracle-economic.html

See the following article for background information: The Downside of Growth: Law, Policy and China's Environmental Crisis by Alex Wang

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that economic growth does not come without its consequences and ripple effects

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that what goes in must also go out

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that when pushing for economic growth that this means increasing pressure on the environment, the earth and its resources

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have created a world where the only number that counts as value is that of money -- where all countries are competing with their GDPs as to "who" will have the highest rate of growth -- who will be the winner and who will be the loser

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that growth and production requires resources -- and within that I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that "miracle growth" can only be accompanied with "grand decay" where for instance the miracle growth of China came with the price of acid rain affecting arable land moving from 18% to 40%

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have become obsessed with the idea of growth without taking into considerations the implications and consequences of undertaking such a goal

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to be so indulged with achieving high economic growth rates that I don't mind sending countless amounts of people as emergency cases to the hospital

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that economic growth and higher GDP does not mean better living standards for ALL

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to completely disregard the physical reality, the living beings and organism where economic growth comes at the cost of polluting the environment to the extent where the air we breath hurts the eyes and lungs

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have become completely blinded by the pursuit of profit, production and growth and within that not take into consideration that this pursuit leaves countless amounts of animals endangered and extinct

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to rape the earth in the name of economic growth without taking into consideration the long term and permanent lasting effects such as water pollution, killing of animals, deforestation, desertification, soil erosion, lowering of environmental quality leading to disease and premature deaths

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to only consider growth in the "economic" sense -- a sense which is actually invisible and "made-up" by human beings as a separate entity "out there" and within that neglect and abuse growth in the physical sense in terms of the earth, nature, animals, plants and human beings -- causing deteriorating effects on the health of the planet and everything and everyone living upon it

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to value an invisible made up entity more than what is really here as the physical, as life

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that infinite economic growth and finite resources cannot co-exist in the same reality

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to delude myself into believing that through the forces of the market we are able to "transcend" physical limitations as finite available resources

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have created a separate mind reality of perfect markets and rational economic agents where resources are distributed just the way they should be which does not at all match the actual situation on earth

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to rather want reality to adjust to fit my theory instead of being humble and admit that my theory does not match reality and that maybe I should reconsider the current economic system to actually suit the situation on Earth


I commit myself to exposing the consequences and side effects of pursuing economic growth over the overall well being of the Earth and all its inhabitants

I commit myself to breaking down and deconstructing the current world economic system and reconstruct an economic system which suits Life on Earth for REAL

I commit myself to design, construct and implement a world economic system which will distribute the Earth's resources in a way that is Best for All and not just in a way where the resources follow those with money

I commit myself to re-defining value where I let go of my old values of self-interest and growth of grandeur for down to earth values concerning the Earth and its inhabitants within the principle of what is Best for All

I commit myself to investigate and study how the physical reality works in order to be able to implement economic policies which do not have damaging effects to Life on Earth

I commit myself to the construction and implementation of an Equal Money System where resources are managed in a responsible and considerate way -- for all those living now and those of the future

I commit myself to educate myself and others on how the physical reality operates so we may realise the ginormous crimes that we are committing through our ignorance and lack of consideration for All Life

I commit myself to put beings over numbers

I commit myself to change the current World System where only the wants, needs and desires of humans are used as a measuring stick of value to a World Economic System where LIFE is the only measuring stick of value

I commit myself to the implementation of a World System where all is taken care of, including our environment

I commit myself to a World System where we support the environment, the earth, the animals and the plants -- the same way as they support us as human beings

[Maite]

Day 2: From ENCAGEment to ENGAGEment - The Origin of Laziness

http://economistjourneytolife.blogspot. ... ement.html

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to submit to the idea that people will only be willing to work if they are rewarded for it.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to subject myself to a limited view of the human being, where a human being can only be motivated by motives of personal gratification.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to believe that laziness and aversion to work are an inherent trait of humankind.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to see and realise that as a child, I was keen to learn new things and about new things and I didn’t need anyone to tell me that I would be rewarded for it.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that we have created the human condition of laziness and aversion to work through our educational system where a distinctive line has been drawn between funtime and worktime.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that by creating school to be an environment of boredom and compulsion, we limit the natural inquisitive nature of children as human beings to explore, engage and try out different things.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that by making children be quiet and sit still while having to listen and essentially take orders, we are programming children to limit themselves to only that: a passive robot who eventually doesn’t want to do anything but sit on his ass and have other people tell him what to do and how to do it as long as the right incentives are provided.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that schools are a production house for rotten children and rotten humans who have forgotten what it means to be a child, what it means to be a human and have completely subjected and limited themselves to external incentives to move their ass.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if we change our schooling and education system, where we allow children to learn through engaging with and exploring the world in a relevant and practical way, we will create human beings who are self-motivated and passionate about life.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to assume to know the true nature of human beings without considering that this nature was not inherently there at birth, but created throughout a child’s formative years by his/her environment.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to claim that the free market system that works with personal incentives and personal gratification is the only one that can ever get human beings to engage themselves to do the tasks that need to be done to sustain humanity and the environment we share – because it is based on the apparent ‘true nature’ of the human being, without realising that what/who human beings are now is not necessarily who they have to be and all they can be.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that in claiming that the free market system is the best economic system imaginable based on the argument that it provides the correct incentives for human beings on an individual level to produce needed goods and services for society at large – is merely begging the question, since it is this very system, through the educational system, that created human beings to be these rotten creatures in the first place.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to give up any sense of self-respect within and through the very acceptance of the belief that all I am and all I ever can be is a creature that needs to continuously poked with external incentives and motivations to do something, to be something, to make something out of myself and my world.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that the reason why children are ‘cherished’ in the eyes of adults is because the children show them who they were, who they could have still been, if only they hadn’t given up on themselves.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to believe that what’s done is done and that it is too late now to try to re-educate ourselves and re-discover ourselves.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to content myself with simply rotting away in something I call ‘my life’ – occupying myself with that which gives me the fastest and highest level of personal gratification – while completely detaching myself from the actual, real, physical reality, missing my life as I encage myself in a bubble of my mind.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to trade engagement with enCAGEment and actually believe that this was a good deal.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to forget what it means to give and only look at what I can receive.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that an outflow of our current economic system is that, because everyone is so busy focusing on what they can ‘get’ – there are billions who don’t get anything, because no-one remembers to give what was received in return.

I commit myself to re-designing the educational system in the world so as to create effective human beings who understand and embrace the act of giving and receiving – through providing an environment where children are able to flourish and develop and express their unconditionality.

I commit myself to exposing that suppressing a child’s natural expression is a crime to life.

I commit myself to break through the limitations we as humans have subjected ourselves to, through walking back in time to correct our mistakes and find ourselves again.

I commit myself to the redefinition of what it means to be a human being in such a way that to be a human being as the living word is something to be proud of.

I commit myself to expose incoherent, fallacious and disgraceful justifications free marketers use to defend a system of abuse and horror.

I commit myself to become a human being who motivates and moves self with great ease within the understanding of how I can fulfill myself in participation with what is here and what is here to be done.

I commit myself to redefine the word ‘work’ in a way that it includes rather than excludes fun, where work flows as who we are, here, in every moment.

[Leila]

Day 3: Animals & Plants - A Valuable Source of Genetic Information
http://economistjourneytolife.blogspot.com/2012/05/day-3-animals-plants-valuable-source-of.html

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have established an anthropocentric economic system which values all things in the Universe only in terms of how it can satisfy the human's wants, needs and desires

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to allow an economic system roam and rule the Earth which jeopardizes the existence of animals and plants on earth through the seizing of land for additional output to feed the profit money machine in the ultimate quest for the Holy Grail as Indefinite Economic Growth

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to allow an economic system roam and rule the Earth which jeopardizes the existence of animals and plants and their well being through the environmental impacts and consequences of the continuous feeding and growing of the Profit Money Machine

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to only consider these harmful effects towards the Animal Kingdom and Mother Nature upon the realization that the destruction and extinction of animal and plant Life on Planet Earth might result in the loss of "valuable genetic information" which can be used in the benefit of the Human in terms of combating disease

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to only value the Animal Kingdom and Mother Nature in so far that I can use them to satisfy my own wants, needs and desires

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to use religion as a justification as to why I use all the animals and plants towards my own self-gratification as God told me that it was okay to do so -- even more -- he told me that that's what they're here for!

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to separate myself from Life as the Earth as the Animals and Plants through subjecting them to measures I would not like to be subjected to myself

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to place myself in the "shoes" of the animals and plants and realise that the way I am being treated is absolutely beyond unacceptable

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to only care for my own well-being and within that ignore and neglect the well being of others such as plants and animals -- to the extent where I will deliberately allow their ruin for the sake of adding to my own well being -- only taking and never giving

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that I am not the center of the universe and that I am in fact the opposite -- as it is only through the existence of Planet Earth and the Plants and the Animals that I am able to exist here and live my Life

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to neglect and abuse that which gives me Life

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to teach children and youngsters about animals and plants that their value lies only in their ability to provide us humans with "genetic information" within environmental economics textbooks -- as the only thing which is currently considered as being of any worth, of any value -- is that which can be expressed in monetary terms where the genetic information of animals can be converted into medicinal properties which can be capitalized and sold through the Pharmaceutical Industry

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see myself, the plants and the animals as One and Equal

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to appreciate animals and plants in their totality as LIFE

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to consider animals and plants only in so far that they can be used to generate money


I commit myself to exposing the accepted and allowed atrocities and genocides on Earth as the extinction of animals and plants in the name of profit maximization

I commit myself to re-defining value from that which I can capitalize on to value as LIFE

I commit myself to the re-education of the human in terms of the physical and the relationships in place that allow us to be here as the plants, animals and nature

I commit myself to the deconstructing the current anthropocentric system to that of a bio-centric system where all parts as interrelated and interconnected -- where animals, plants and humans are equals

I commit myself to the re-education of humans as to no longer view other beings only in monetary terms

I commit myself to the re-designing of an Economic System where the sustainability of the environment as animals and plants matters -- based on their right to Life as Life

I commit myself to the transformation of the human function as a slave of an economic system of greed to a supportive function as stewardship of Life

I commit myself to exposing the atrocities and abuse promoted within religion as a justification for Man's self-centered behavior

I commit myself to speak up when being confronted with abuse towards Life as Animals and Plants in the name of Money and Insatiable Greed

I commit myself to the establishment of an Equal Money System where all Life will be in Fact Free

I commit myself to the establishment of an Equal Money System as a system where all Life is treated equally within the starting point of what is Best for All Life

[Maite]

Day 4: The Logic of Political Corruption in Africa
http://economistjourneytolife.blogspot. ... on-in.html

For context, see the article by Diana Cammack – “The Logic of African Neopatrimonialism: What Role for Donors?” http://www.uio.no/studier/emner/sv/stat ... 202007.pdf

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to blame African governments for wasting precious resources through friends-politics where their followers are rewarded through favours.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to judge corrupt governments as bad governments and place the bulk of why their countries cannot find their way out of poverty, on corrupt leaders and officials.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that from an African historic and cultural perspective, neopatrimonialism – where a patron takes care of its clients through sharing ‘his’ wealth – is socially accepted, because a leader is expected to use his/her access to resources to support his/her followers.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that African leaders will do anything to remain in power, including using public resources to award favours to significant and influential individuals of the population in order to retain support – because government positions are the easiest way to attain some degree of wealth in those countries, where, if they don’t remain in power, they are very likely to go back to a life of absolute poverty.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if I were in the same position, where the only way to escape absolute poverty was to buy support from the population in order to remain in power, I would probably do just that.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to expect that simply by implementing Western institutional models in a country that has not walked the same path as the actual Western countries, the attitudes of the African population would simply adjust and that these same governing models would work in the exact same way in Africa.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to delude myself into thinking that African leaders are capable of concerning themselves with the ‘public good’ when they are in a constant state of fear of loss and where the threat of having to go back to a life of poverty inhibits them from seeing past their individual interests.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that corruption and greed are merely an outflow and manifestation of fear of loss and therefore, if I have any form of fear of loss existent within me, I cannot say that I am better than corrupt African officials and I cannot be trusted more with such power than them.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself of expect of African countries that they undergo political reforms to limit the size of the government in order to eradicate or at least limit corruption opportunities, without realising that corruption is the only thing that allows them to maintains a form of social and political stability in those countries – and that to take away this tool of African leaders means to send the country into internal chaos and conflict.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if I demand of African countries to reduce the size of their government, it will mean that many government-owned enterprises will be privatised and hundreds of thousands of people will lose their job.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that unless everyone has a secure income, corruption will always exist.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that rich nations are responsible for the state in which African countries are struggling since they, through exploiting them in colonisation and continuing to take advantage of them through the current economic power-relations, have completely incapacitated them, left them with nothing but crumbs with which to make meets end.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise the hypocrisy and disgrace in demanding lower-developed countries to open up their markets to the world and extensively limit their government intervention – while Western countries protect their vital industries from cheaper competition with vigour.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to demand of African countries that they focus their efforts on exports to increase the country’s wealth and living standards, while obviously, if all lower-developed countries start increasing their exports of primary goods, the price of primary goods will drop on the world market and any increase of income generated from such exports will be insignificant – leaving on the rich nations better off, who can now buy primary goods for a real good price.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to criticise African countries for utilising corrupt methods for personal interests, without making mention of how the United States has continuously used foreign aid as a strategy to influence the international political scene in order to preserve and protect itself – not realising that the successive shifts in emphasis in terms of providing aid from South Asia to Southeast Asia, to Latin America to the Middle East and back to Southeast Asia, to then go toward Africa and the Persian Gulf, the Caribbean and Central America and after that, the Russian Federation, Bosnia, Ukraine, Asia and the Middle East reflect changes in US strategic, political and economic interests, more than changing evaluations of economic need – using the exact same ‘friends politics’ as corrupt officials and leaders do in order to avert conflict and the undermining of power.

I commit myself to expose the unequal power relations in the global economy that condemn billions of people to absolute poverty.

I commit myself to investigating the motives of politicians within corrupt behaviour to see and understand the fundamental problems that perpetuate this behaviour in order to correct these fundamental problems in such a way that allows all to live as equals with equal consideration for all.

I commit myself to stop fear of loss within myself and find practical solutions so that none have to live with fear of loss and fear of death – but can instead share themselves and their world unconditionally.

I commit myself to eradicate poverty through the designing and implementing of an Equal Money System where dignified life is the ultimate value.

[Leila]

Day 5: Freedom of Choice?
http://economistjourneytolife.blogspot.com/2012/05/day-5-freedom-of-choice.html

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have created and allowed a system where Freedom of Choice is treated as if it's the Holy Spirit that must be preserved and respected no matter what

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have made Freedom of Choice one of the Commandments of the religion of Economics

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to not promote and provide policies which are Best for all Life as this would impinge on people’s Freedom of Choice to Abuse

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to not create and promote policies which clearly describe what is acceptable and what is not within the consideration of what is Best for allLife as this would impinge on people’s Freedom of Choice which I have placed above the value of Life

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to stay away from educating people and clearly writing out policies which define what is acceptable and what is not as I believe that the education process will take too long and not be direct within policies as to not impinge on people’s Freedom of Choice

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to instead of clearly stipulating what would be the best course of action to take within the Best interest of All – to write out policies and implement rules and regulations which provide “incentive” for people to act the way I want them to act – steering them into the direction and choice that I want them to make without actually taking their choice away

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to set out policies, rules and regulations in such a way that if people do not choose what I want them to choose – then they will suffer

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that within creating this scenario/condition – there is no Freedom of Choice at all

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to for instance promote policies and regulation to address population growth in developing countries in a way that increases the hardship of mother by making things more expensive for them and removing benefits such as days of leave and overall making their life harder if they have (more) children

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that hardship as poverty is the very reason why people have more children in the hope that they will live to see another day and provide for the parents when they no longer can – as there is no system in place which ensures life-long support from Birth till Death

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that this hardship can be put to an end by Giving to all Equally

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to play a game of pulling strings where I try to get the right combination of what strings to pull, how hard and in what direction in order to get the result I want

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have created an intricate and complex system like a tapestry – where I want a particular string to move on the one side of the tapestry and then try to achieve this through pulling lots of strings on the opposite siding—hoping that all the various ripple effects will lead to the desired effect

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to not want to give up our current Economic System of Grandeur as we’ve worked so hard and so long to create it and “get it right” that I will do whatever it takes, manipulate the current system and create additional systems on top of the already existent one for the sake of keeping it alive and still getting what I want

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to want to consider any other perspective other than what my system dictates as I’ve already devoted my life to this one and I do not want to go through the trouble of admitting that I as the system was wrong and starting from scratch

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have made it so difficult for myself within the current system that all I can do is pull strings and hope I hit the right one in order to get the desired result

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to not consider the consequences and implications for other beings when pulling my strings

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to see the increasing of hardship on people as acceptable but not allowing Free Choice as unacceptable

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to fight for the freedom to abuse

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to fight for the freedom to have more and be better than others

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that I am at the same time also fighting for people to be less and having less than others

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to only view Freedom of Choice from the side of being a ‘winner’ -- where I will defend freedom of choice because I want to be a winner and not care at all about whoever is the loser – as long as I can win and have more

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to place myself in the shoes of the losers of the Freedom of Choice Game

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that it is always the winners who make the rulers for the losers

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that this is not Freedom AT ALL

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have been brainwashed into believing that Freedom of Choice is something worth fighting for and that this is what life is all about

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have been brainwashed into adopting and believing a definition of “freedom” which is so limited in that it only takes into consideration the freedom of making money – which I have translated as being equal to the freedom of living

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that we were never equal from the start – and that we are thus in fact playing a game where some started to play already being a few steps away from the finish line, where some are already midway, where some are just starting – and where some have already been kicked out of the game before it even started – and within that I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that Freedom of Choice was and has never been real as none have ever been given equal opportunity

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to apparently fight for Freedom of Choice for everyone – while only a few are actually able to access “choice” through Money

I commit myself to the re-evaluation of our current economic system to identify all its flaws and provide alternative solutions so that we may break the chains of misery for over half the population of the world – so that they may actually live

I commit myself to exposing the Lie of Freedom of Choice – as freedom can only be real when all are free which has thus far never been the case

I commit myself to show to those who stand by Freedom of Choice that their very definition of Free Choice implies limitation as the concept of Freedom of Choice is only used to gain advantage over other people – and thus placing them in a disadvantaged position and limiting their freedom for the sake of expanding one’s own

I commit myself to promote rules, policies and regulations according to the principle of what is Best for All and not some policies which indirectly through a system of “ripple effects” and “incentives” ‘hopefully’ give me what I want

I commit myself to expose the lies and deceit behind the concept of Freedom of Choice in terms of how people’s Freedom of Choice gets manipulated to appear as if one has a choice while they don’t

I commit myself to put an end to the game of winners and losers and establish a world where all are Equals

I commit myself to expose the atrocities being committed where points such as “increasing people’s hardship” are deemed as valid economic policy approaches

I commit myself to the designing and creating of policies within the principle of Do to Another as You would Like to be Done unto – as for sure hardship will then not be considered

I commit myself to reject the definition of Freedom in terms of being able to be more and better than others as this implies allowing people to be less and have less

I commit myself to the redefining Freedom within the principle of what is Best for all

I commit myself to the establishment of an Equal Money System where all are supported from Birth till Death as this is the only way real Freedom can exist

[Maite]

Day 6: Economic Textbooks are the Blueprint for the Perfect Murder
http://economistjourneytolife.blogspot. ... rints.html

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to be so preoccupied with acting like an intellectual that I have completely forgotten what economics practically means and implies.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to occupy myself with formulating nice theories and drawing fancy graphs that make everything of economy sound so wonderful and even Godly, without considering that all the simplifying assumptions that were made to get to these pretty graphs, are problematic and don’t apply in the real world.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to be a servant of the God of Money through devising theories and graphs that make it seem that the economic system indeed works – without opening my eyes and looking at the world, to see the real consequences of worshiping money as God.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that I have been brainwashed through education and training to the point where I can no longer see past even the fundamental principles of the free market system, but keep on building on it and keep on justifying it with more pictures, tables, theories and graphs.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that the numbers on my piece of paper aren’t just numbers but represent real people, real children, real animals and real plants – lives – that I play around with in my economic models, making them fit the picture as well as I can, as long as the math is right.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to be more concerned about presenting a neat theoretical model that will gain much appraisal from intellectual academic peers than with real-life issues that require attention, investigation and correction.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to only be worried and concerned about my own life and my own destiny, therefore, even if I am born in a country that is poverty-stricken, not spend one moment of my time on seeing how the economy requires to be adjusted in a way that will assist everyone, but instead – focus on gaining the attention and recognition of economists in the developed world by acting as they do, focusing on the issues that they do and trying to represent the economy in a way that is beautiful and magnificent, while my fellow human beings, even of the country I grew up in, are starving and struggling – because at least, in joining the holy order of economists, I’ll have lifted myself out of that shithole.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise and see how the current economic system creates, allows and justifies murder through poverty and starvation.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that no-one else is going to come to fix the world and that if I have the knowledge and understanding of what the economic system is, then it is my responsibility to question its consequences and implications – and to stand up in exposing it and proposing solutions that will benefit everyone.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that theories are but theories and models are but models, yet that the real world is still out there and that neat pictures and graphs aren’t going to change that – but only make me feel better, make me feel like I have faith – because look at this magnificent system that regulates everything automatically for the apparent betterment of mankind!

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to sacrifice the lives of billions of people every day by accepting the most basic supply and demand curves through completely excluding them from the equation.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that it’s not because the system works in itself, that it works FORLIFE.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that in accepting equilibria and middle roads, it’s simply stating that we’re willing to sacrifice some for the benefit of others – yet, if we place ourselves in the shoes of the ones being sacrificed on the altar of the Almighty God of Free Market – we’d realise it’s not so free after all, because lives have to be paid.

I commit myself to the exposure of the dogmatic beliefs of the value of free market systems and how they in fact allow, create and justify genocide on a global scale.

I commit myself to the exposure of the hypocrisy of economists who have become but servants of God as Money – concerned with nothing but their own status and wealth.

I commit myself to say what needs to be said in order to bring people back with their feet on the muddy ground – where real lives are being lived and real lives are being lost.

I commit myself to stop all compromise through acceptance of middle roads as what is always seen and portrayed to be the perfect solution, hides the evil that perpetuates the suffering in this world.

I commit myself to spreading the basic common sense that equations that do not consider all life equally, are weapons of murder and mass destruction.

[Leila]

Day 7: Child Labour - To Ban or Not to Ban?
http://economistjourneytolife.blogspot.com/2012/06/child-labour-to-ban-or-not-to-ban.html

Also check out this short Documentary on Child Miners in Bolivia:
Witness - Child Miners - Part 1
Witness - Child Miners - Part 2

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have created the conditions within this world where children from all ages are forced to take up labour in order to survive

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have created the conditions within this world which place parents in a position where they are forced to send their children off into labour in order to survive as a family

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to frown upon mothers who send their children off to work instead of sending them to school -- not seeing and realising that this choice does not in fact exist -- as it is a matter of surviving or not

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have created the condition in this world which force children to place themselves in harmful working conditions just to see another day

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have defended child labour within the framework of supply and demand -- where if children demand work and are willing to supply their factors of production at low prices, and enterprises demand labour at low prices -- then why should this not be allowed?

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that banning children within the current world system is not an option -- as this will only cause children to move from the formal sector where there are still "some" regulations in place for their protection to that of the informal sector where the will be placed in more harmful conditions and lesser pay -- only increasing their hardship

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that activism in the form of not buying products made through child labour is not a solution as this only means that less children will receive revenue, demand will decrease, more children will be without employment and thus will have less money to survive -- leading to more malnutrition and premature deaths

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have created a system where child labour is allowed is also not an option -- as children are still being placed in bad conditions which stunts their growth both physically and mentally

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have created a world where the extent of the presence of an abusive system does not allow children to be better off if child labour is banned

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that the manifestation of child labour is a symptom, a consequence of a defective and faulty system -- where it does not help to attempt to fix the symptom/consequence as it will only be recreated over and over again -- or where the alternative is just as bad

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that the real problem is our current global economic system -- and as long as this issue is not addressed -- child labour will continue to exist

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that child labour has been made a necessity within the current world system for people to be able to survive

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that as long as I do not move myself to change the current world economic system -- I am in fact supporting the existence of child labour – where 250 million children in the world are denied to be children

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to realise, that the only way we are able to end Child Labour – is to address the extensive degree of inequality accepted and allowed within this world

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that it is not a matter of banning or not banning child labour – but that it is a matter of importance that we change the current global economic system to one that is Best for All and provides for everyone equally


I commit myself to take on the actually problem which is an inherent system of World Inequality where wealth is disproportionally distributed within the interest of a few

I commit myself to make an end to child labour as this is a condition I wish upon no-one

I commit myself to expose the atrocities our current system allows and does not have a solution for such as the existence of Child Labour due to its inherent limited design and disregard for actual solution

I commit myself to create a world where parents and children can spend their time being parents and children – not slaves that work away they days just to be able to wake up and work more in conditions which are a violation to Life

I commit myself to expose that simply banning Child Labour as within the current system this does not allow for real change

I commit myself to end a world and lifestyle of consumerism where children labour their life away for the sake of cheap consumer goods in a world where money and material possessions mean everything

I commit myself to change our current values to a world that Values Life

I commit myself to the establishment of an Equal Money System which will eradicate poverty and child labour once and for all

I commit myself to the creation of a world where no-one is forced in a position of physical and mental abuse just to be able to live – one should simply live and have access to the means to live on the premise of Life without having to “fight” for it

[Maite]

Day 8: Consuming Children as Commodities
http://economistjourneytolife.blogspot. ... goods.html

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to blame economic theorists for treating children like consumption goods or commodities within their theoretic models, while empirical studies actually show that this truly is how parents make their decision in terms of having a child or another child - where children are treated as any other consumption good.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise the implication of this point; that parents plan to consume their children in order to obtain personal satisfaction.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that a child is not something to be consumed and that the decision of having a child should not rest on the expected satisfaction I'll be able to derive from having a child.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that having children has always been selfish - to fulfil the parents' life, to gain more satisfaction, to have a feeling of accomplishment, etc - without even considering if you would want to have yourself as a mother or a father - only ever considering my wants, my needs, my desires.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise the craziness of the current economic system where the whole system spins based on individuals attempting to satisfy their wants, needs and desires - up to the point where children are but another way of attaining a sense of fulfillment.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to be abhorred at the idea of child trade, where children are traded like an item on a market - not realising that in the very decision to have a child, a parent does the exact same thing, treating a child like a commodity, where a parent tries to answer the question of how much the child is worth to them and what they're willing to trade in order to have a child.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that making the decision to have a child in this way, is actually supporting the manifestation of child trade in this world.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to value everything and everyone within my world and the world in general in terms of how much I'm willing to pay for it and how much benefit and personal satisfaction I would be able to obtain from it - always making value-judgments from a self-interested perspective, not realising that life is inherently valuable, independent of me.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to be surprised when the actual experience of having a child is disappointing, while this shouldn't come as a surprise because an expectation was created based on a desire in terms of how well the child would 'quench a thirst' within self and in the same way where if we buy something it is always expected to be 'more' than what the actual experience is of obtaining, using or consuming the good, where we eventually get tired of the item and want to move on to something more exciting - the experience of having children won't correspond to what we had expected.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if I make the decision of having a child based on how well the child will satisfy my personal wants, needs and desires, I shouldn't have children in the first place - because the actual experience of having a child will be nothing like what I had expected it to be - yet, contrary to stuff that you buy and get tired of after a while as using or consuming it doesn't provide you with the same amount of satisfaction that it initially did - you can't just toss children in the garbage can or bring them back to the shop for a refund.

I commit myself to the redefinition of the word value, where value is no longer defined in terms of the expected satisfaction, fulfillment and gratification something will yield me, but stands in relation to the value of life itself.

I commit myself to creating a world where the decision to have children will no longer be limited and determined by money.

I commit myself to educating parents and prospective parents so that they may see and understand that children are not just commodities with which to fulfill oneself, but are actual beings that require your support and your assistance to develop themselves as effectively as possible to be able to live a fulfilling life of their own.

I commit myself to show how humanity has accepted and allowed children to become part of the definition of life that has been presented through consumerism as that which is acquired through money as but an external representation of completion / fulfillment / purpose for the individual that give the individual an experience of completion / fulfillment / purpose, where having a child / raising a family has become but part of the consumer's process of the pursuit of happiness which is the pursuit of acquiring goods / things such as a home, a car, a husband / wife, an education, a bank account, a retirement plan, a vacation home, a lifestyle, a social group, so that one can view one's self in comparison with others as having accomplished the 'building of a life' -- where, in this process of the pursuit of happiness as 'building a life', one was so consumed with consuming the pursuit of happiness / building a life that one lost sight of the fact that one brought into this world a living being that had the opportunity to grow into the best possible human it could be that could take responsibility for this world -- an opportunity that was stolen from the child by the parent when the parent passed on the pursuit of happiness / acceptance of the consumerist system to the child.

I commit myself to stop accepting and allowing myself to consume life in my own pursuit of happiness, and stop accepting and allowing everyone else to consume life in the pursuit of happiness.

I commit myself to show how through the media in movies, TV, commercials, life is presented as the pursuit of happiness as the accomplishment of building a life through consumerism and that this presentation / definition of life is used to brainwash humans to occupy themselves with the pursuit of fulfilling a picture in their mind of what life is, to distract them from the abuse that goes on daily in the name of profit for the few.

I commit myself to show how the human allows itself to be brainwashed by the media to occupy itself with feelings of accomplishment and achievement through consumerism because it is too afraid to stand and stop allowing abuse - and to show how the parent then passes on this pattern to the child, producing another consumer engineered by those who abuse life in the name of profit.

I commit myself to value Life instead of the pursuit of accomplishment as it has been presented to me through the media / consumerism as the acquisition of goods.

I commit myself to re-define accomplishment as the creation of a world that is best for all, and to give a world that is best for all to my child so that my child can fulfill its potential as a responsible being that cares for life.

[Leila]

Day 9: Criminal Minds
http://economistjourneytolife.blogspot.com/2012/06/day-9-criminal-minds.html

“The private wealth of the Walton (Wal-Mart) family ($85 billion) is over twice the GDP Bangladesh with 127 million people and per capita income of $260.” – Michel Chossudovsky, in The Globalization of Poverty


I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have created a world where six people possess more than twice the wealth of 127 million people together

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to not question the extensive disproportionate distribution of wealth within the world

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to not see it as abnormal that a few people have access to more resources than they will ever need in a lifetime while millions starve

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have created a world economic system with an equation favouring the flow of money to those who already have money

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that any form of poverty is unjustifiable when a few have more than they can ever spend

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that it is in fact criminal that a few can live in abundance while others live on the brink of death

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to say to not speak out to such an extensive manifestation of inequality because of the hope of one day being in a position of having more than I need

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to not protest such out of proportion distribution of resources as I realise that the ownership of wealth at a level of being rich can only exist when others are poor

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to not question the elite within the hope of one day being in the same position and within the fear of ending up like the poor

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to protect the elite through protecting the current world system and thus in fact support the existence of a majority living in despair and misery – in the hope of one day being rich

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that I would not want to be at the other end of the equation

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that any attempt at changing the world and improving the living conditions of the poor is completely useless as long as I allow for the existence of disproportionate richness

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that the money system works in terms of polarity and that the rich has to be balanced out by the poor

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that if I am not willing to live the life of the person on the other end of the equation – I have no right to want what I want

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to believe that the wealth of the few is justified on
the belief that they worked hard for it and deserve this wealth as a reward for their efforts

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to believe that the poverty of the majority is justified on the belief that they are lazy and that they deserve the situation they’re in

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that this belief is absolute bull shit when one out of ten children die before the age of five in poor countries – did they die because they did not work hard enough?

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that whether you are rich or poor is decided by chance as where you are born and how your environment allows you to have access to resources

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that the current world system is based on making money from money and that thus currently no viable solution exists for the poor as they have nothing to make money from

I commit myself to expose the level of inequality existent in the world today which can be in no way justifiable when investigating the numbers

I commit myself to expose that those who protect the current world system are the ones with money as the same system support them

I commit myself to expose the criminal activities happening right in front of our eyes which we have normalized to the extent that we are blind to see it as what it really is

I commit myself to change the current world system to a World Economic System where ALL are taken care off instead of a few living in abundance at the expense of the majority

I commit myself to show that the current money system only works for those who already have money and that no apparent “solution” will work as long as the very system is changed in its entirety

I commit myself to show that no help, charity or aid will make a difference as long as the money flow favours the ones with money

I commit myself to expose the nonsensical beliefs around poverty so that we may see and recognize the evil that exists through our acceptance and allowances and that yes we are evil, and yes we should stop being evil and start taking care of everyone equally

I commit myself to the establishment of an Equal Money System where all are entitled to have access to resources on the premise of Life and not on the amount of money one has in their pocket

I commit myself to expose what dreams and hopes of richness in fact create in this world and that through holding on to these dreams and hopes which will only happen for a few – we are creating hell for the majority of people

[Maite]

Day 10: The Goodness of Man is a FairyTale we Tell our Children so they can Sleep at Night
http://economistjourneytolife.blogspot. ... g-and.html

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to believe in the goodness of man.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to believe that there is just this little spark of goodness left in man.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if a spark of goodness existed in man, this goodness would be reflected in our world.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, poverty would not exist.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, prostitution would not exist.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, child pornography would not exist.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, money would not be the motivator of life.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, all men would be equal.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, the cries of the suffering would be heard and addressed with the re-organisation and re-desingning of our economic system.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, animals and nature would be honoured as the source of all human material well-being.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, common sense would be the common language and no wars would be waged over differing opinions, beliefs and interests.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, murder would not exist.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, suicide would not exist.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, cancer would not exist.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, the best health care would be available to all.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, children would not turn on their parents.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, the world would not be destroyed in the name of money.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, gossip would not exist.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, backchat would not exist.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, people would be the same within as without.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, the arrogance of the ludicrous idea that technology can replace all natural capital would not exist.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, we wouldn't owe our life to a system where we have to labour for most of the years we have to enjoy the last few in old age.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, debt would not exist.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, political corruption would not exist.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, consumption would not define a man's value.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, no abuse would exist.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, euthanasia would be legal everywhere.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, animals would not be abused and tortured in the name of profit.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, there would be no guns.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, brainwashing through school, media and advertisement would not exist.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, all parents would first educate themselves on how to educate a child before even considering to have a child.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, a job would not be a prerequisite for survival.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, we would not be obsessed with finding love and kindness in another.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, an equal money system would already be in place.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, direct political participation would form part of everyone's daily life.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, poison would not be used as a cheap way to make food taste sweet in order to make big profits.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, only the best and most efficient products would be produced in order to not deplete natural resources at an unsustainable rate.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if there were a spark of goodness in man, each one would love their neighbour as themselves.

I commit myself to expose the evil nature of man that denies the right to life.

I commit myself to expose the evil nature of man that allows millions to suffer for the abundance of a few.

I commit myself to expose the evil nature of man where each man is only willing to think of himself.

I commit myself to expose the evil nature of man that continuous destroying Earth in the face of the disasters this has already proven to bring about.

I commit myself to the re-education of mankind through exposure of what is being accepted and allowed and the offering of alternative solutions that work for all.

I commit myself to the death of mankind as what man currently exists as and the re-birthing of a new form of humankind that considers all life equally at all times, creating a world that supports and benefits everyone - manifesting heaven on Earth.