Memory - From Ecology to Economics - Part 4

We began this series looking at Jellyfish, but it was actually inspired by an earlier post on dolphins.
Dolphins had something that is integral to the modern day human ideal of freedom - passive income.

Passive Income
4% return on 500,000USD invested is earns 20k a year or 416 per week.
That may not go very far in the States but at 31THB:1USD this = 1700thb/day. A very good life in Thailand if you have no debt or other financial obligations and good health.

8% return and you obviously need ¼ million. Earning 8% a year is likely to be more risky and less passive.
"Risk and fear are inversely proportional to both capital, and the ability to be rational”.
This is because fear is a bio-chemical stress response that overrides the way blood was flowing, what it contains and where it was going. (Sorry no points for rhyming lol).

Stress Testing Your income
Ironically addictions and general restlessness are among our most expensive outgoings. If you do not believe me, consider where most of your money went over the last decade and how much of that could have been spent less spontaneously? How much is used, just to alter the way we are feeling?

It follows, that if we could reduce anxiety and restlessness we might be able to reduce our required income and simultaneously make more rational and perceptive investment choices. In effect we might only require 2% return on our capital while being more likely to earn 8%, effectively lowering our need to earn in subsequent years.

Accessories not included
That model is a beneficial feedback loop that works so long as we do not become attached, or find personal value in that wealth. Many times as the capital grows, the fear of losing it and desire to control it grow also, feeding fear rather than security and generosity. A person who is insecure about their self worth and ability to receive acceptance or affection from others will “*accessorise” - this is what 90% of marketing and a lot of fake socialising is feeding on. It is hugely expensive on our environment and personal wellbeing.

*Accessorising can be creative and fun, but compulsively adding "things" wether they be assets, tittles, trophies, or even muscle can be a big drain on resources without ever addressing the underlying insecurity.

Irrational fear can not exist without memory
Rational Fear in biology keeps us alive. But to be rational one requires timely evidence. One must be paying attention, with minimal filtering to notice only that which matches assumptions. That is called being present and open minded, and it is an increasingly rare and difficult talent.

Greed is 95% fear and 5% healthy desire
Greed is an idea based phenomenon that can’t exist without being anchored with attachment. Biology is clever it wants to live, it wont store dysfunctional memories unless they are anchored with a strong experience such as a perceived threat to the organism. That "experience" can be purely emotional or perception based.

Enter the story... human economics began with specialization, a natural and healthy talent based system that has become twisted by tricking our threat response. Essentially programming the fight flight system with reactivity which reduces choices to that which the market is geared to provide for.

Both function and dysfunction are stored as memory
Memory based 100% on real experience is created through repeating actions with great care and attention, these methods build highly functional skills, that serve us and allow us to serve others. This goes a long way to building wealth and alleviating anxiety.

Memory that is anchored with the emotions of tension, such as shame, guilt or fear of inadequacy and the unworthiness of belonging, use some of the same neurological and connective tissue pathways as physical skills. This is because those emotions have corresponding gesture or body language, (emotion is language). When repeated or when "ingrained" with enough intensity they come to shape our bodies, our relationships and our purchases. They more than anything else drive our collective economy.

We project both kinds of memories in everything we do and say, when they are "restrictive" and do not feel good. They are a kind of inflammation as is anything that can not flow gracefully in step with the surroundings movements. This jarring, or decoherence is given names such as anxiety, stress or tension, we rarely call it what it is...fear. 99% of it is social fear.

The sum of 5
There is a saying that we are the sum of the 5 most influential people in our lives
We choose to be with people who accept our beliefs and the behaviours that flow out of them because that is the path of least resistance. In a co-dependant relationship there may be an unspoken agreement to "tolerate" each others ungraceful reactivity or simply share the costs.

Those who are more secure or understand the value of challenging and re-training insecurity will choose to be with people who support them but will also remind them when they are becoming "reactive".

Positive Feedback Loops
Naturally, people who are kind and tolerant but not too tolerant also want to be around people who move and choose nicely. If you are able to join such a circle you will experience a beneficial feedback spiral, like catching a thermal or a wave.

Looking at the beaches and all the rubbish that is washing up, I wonder which kind of spirals are we funding.
Am I seeing the outputs of a fear, or a skill based economy?
How can we swing the balance so that we are riding a thermal, rather than circling a drain?

Small steps to a peak experience
I guess the answer is to be 1 of 5, to be the kind of person who chooses to build skills and heal their bodies rather than feed their addictions. We all fall down from time to time, thats normal, that is where we learn compassion, where we learn what works "less well".

There is zero morality in this, just as there is none present in biology, though creativity, kindness and generosity do arise and grow more readily in the presence of abundance. In the next episode we will get back to those dolphins..

Thank you for reading and being patient with my thought process.

=8-P

This series is written as a thought experiment, I am a surfboard salesman,( wind and SUP, not the sexy kind lol) so please do forgive my ignorance of existing conventions. I understand that my method and presentation may be disrespectful and even annoying to those who are better trained in such things. I try to keep research and reading to a minimum so that I do not end up repeating assumptions. It is more fun to create fresh and abstract metaphors.

This blog is more about inspiring fresh avenues of curiosity and the property of focus itself rather than the "objects or things" delineated. This way of writing is state dependant, when I go back over what I have written, I often do not “get it” either, so I apologise in advance for any confusion. Phew thats almost a blog in itself…

Ecology to Economics Series
Part 1 - Jelly Brains
Part 2 - Colonies
Part 3 - Consensus
Part 4 - Memory
Part 5 - Decentralising the nervous system