"The eyes see only what the mind is prepared to comprehend" - Henri Bergson

Our willingness to learn ebbs and flows like the tide.  Some times we get over whelmed and need to take a break to process.  The processing required is not just intellectual, but also emotional, physical and spiritual.  It takes a long time to fully comprehend the lessons that we are learning here, a life time or more.  But it is also dependent upon the moral and ethical codes that we choose to live by.  They can be upgraded with lots of work!

Source:  IIT Bombay (Wikimedia Commons)

The fog of war clouds our vision and diminishes our willingness to learn and also our moral & ethical codes.  The systems that we created are designed by the intellect to focus on the physical and often neglects our feelings and spirit.  When the intellect governs, it becomes easy to justify violence and coercion as a means to an end.  We all are witness to that through the feudal empires that now govern the planet.

But we also witness it here on this platform as well.  The blockchain is an amazing technological breakthrough.  However, it is impossible for the technology to take feelings and spirit into account.  That will always remain the responsibility of each individual using the technology.  It is also impossible to predict how people will interpret and even use the technology.  Our own creative often exceeds the capacity of the intellect to anticipate what it will do.

The blockchain functions as a commons, where the rewards pool belongs to all those who have invested in the platform.  The inVESTment is our shares to grant us access to the reward pool.  It belongs to us all. As such, it is impossible to 'steal' from the reward pool.  

Where the disagreement rests is the process of getting steem from the rewards pool into our wallets and the volume that is being taken.  

Some would argue that the steem that our posts earn is not technically ours until the post pays out and the steem & SBD is put into our wallet.  That is the intellectual explanation and justification for the flag war.  Because it has not been paid out, people feel they have a right to return steem to the rewards pool.  

If we stop and reflect on peoples feelings about the process, do we find the same reflection?  NO!  I think we all get excited to see upvotes starting to pour in when we put up a post.  That emotional attachment generates significant feelings, some of which could be disappointment if we only get one or two, or euphoria if a whale suddenly rewards us with a huge upvote.  Either way, we have a strong attachment and sense of ownership as a result.  

This can be verified when we speak to people who have experienced what it is like to be down voted.  They feel robbed, cheated, confused, violated, sad and they even feel pain.  These same feelings are often felt after experiencing a robbery.  

What about the curators, the individuals who do all the up voting.  They are the ones that rewarded the author as they felt there was value in the work that was performed.  They reached into the reward pool, which is their right, and took steem to give it to another user or to them self.  The moment they took that steem it no longer belongs in the commons and is now theirs to do with as they please.  To take away their upvote is theft and is also a judgement on them as well.  We are taking away their freedoms.  

This whole process FEELS like the scenario where we take an apple from a tree (commons), putting it into our basket and then pray that we don't get mugged between the orchard and home.  This is not a great feeling and it is not peaceful at all.  The 7 day period ends up being a no-mans land where street thugs can attack at any moment.  

This muzzles freedom of speech and is punitive, violent and coercive.  Especially when it is done by somebody who has lots of influence.  

Ahhhh, but what about those greedy people who take too much?  They threaten the whole system, they are bullies and must be stopped!

My friends, we cannot change other people.  We can only change our selves.  There will always be greed on this planet.  It does not matter where you go, greed will follow.  Attacking greed has been the method of choice for thousands of years.  What I suggest is that we use the energy that we would have used to attack and destroy them and use it to build and encourage our communities.  I wrote about this a few weeks ago.

https://steemit.com/ungrip/@wwf/a-true-spiritual-warrior-does-not-attack-the-bully-but-instead-helps-strengthen-the-vulnerable-and-dependent

War is a symptom of a much bigger problem.  When we are all dependent, we need cash flow to survive.  However, when we are all independent, we no longer need huge amounts of cash flow.  Our cash flow is a direct representation of how dependent we are.  When we all work to become completely independent from the systems that surround us and we found ways to govern ourselves so that we don't over consume, then there ends up being more than enough to go around.  As a result prices crash and the greedy loose interest.  

We have work to do in order to remove our dependencies and render the greedy impotent.  It is our own unwillingness to be self-sufficient and independent that drives greed in others.  Because we give our power and authority away, the psychopaths flock to collect it all.  

We created the very behaviour that people are fighting on a daily basis.  War will not solve this problem.  Self-governance, self-sufficiency, independence and high moral & ethical standards is what will solve this problem.  

Having the eyes to see how our actions impact other people is critical through this process.  There is plenty of steem to go around, even with greedy people in the mix.  By giving and sharing with others, we can minimize the impact of the greedy and build strength within the communities.  I have faith that this platform can teach all those lessons so that we can implement them in the real world.  

Prosperity, peace and freedom are ours to take back!  All that is required is a leap of faith and a lot of hard work.  It also requires having the courage to stand up to the violent offenders in our communities, rebuke them and help them get back on track.  But we must engage in peace, freedom and tough love to do that.  

I know this works because I've done it, I live it and I love it!