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My premise that a nation is made up of homes is just common sense. What scrutiny? What is a nation made of if not people? Community? If that premise doesn’t hold up then there is something wrong with society. Unless you believe that there is no society, only the individual.
A body is made up of millions of cells, so for it to function in full health we need all those individual cells to be healthy. Each cell sharing the blood and oxygen and nutrients appropriately. And so it is with society. Unless you pretend that we are not really united as a human family, and choose to focus on the divisions and differences.
We haven’t really defined left wing, right wing, socialism or capitalism so we may be talking at cross purposes but for me left/socialism is more about family and community, right/capitalism is more selfish, individual and about money. Simplistic sure. Buddha said to take the middle way.
Of course it’s lovely to have a society where you can go out and be creative and ‘work hard’ and get rewarded and of course businesses should be profitable. There’s nothing wrong if we make money, but problems arise when we make money the priority. Because then we cut corners and make money at the expense of what really matters in life.
Bottom line: Money is not real, it’s not what is most important in life. And so when people make it priority then they have already lost their way (although usually it is other people who suffer)
I already said that a family doesn’t redistribute wealth, it is not about money it is about taking care of everyone’s needs. Each member has a responsibility. If your brother is an alcoholic there’s plenty of evidence that that’s caused by trauma or a lack of connection. Of course you shouldn’t enable him, but you could help him. Let’s not confuse family and community for co-dependency.
I help food banks because they’re right under my nose in my community and I know the families who receive the food. I don’t view these people with disdain, they are decent people. The existence of food banks is a sign that there is something wrong in society, that decent people in a supposed rich country don’t have enough to eat. And if food banks are a sign that the state isn’t running properly then the state should help out. I’m not sure what you mean about the welfare state being a stain on Britain? (No, I don’t think it is). I suppose the difference is that state aid feels that the government cares and you’ve paid your taxes and the safety net is there. With private aid it’s more tenuous, you’ve paid your taxes and been abandoned to your fate. The painful reality is that the government doesn't care and they are not coming to rescue us. We need to solve it ourselves as individual communities, despite the government.
As for addiction, booze, fags, drugs, bookies, gambling, to me these are all symptoms that there is something wrong with society, how we live, and it’s often caused by trauma, lack of connection, lack of community, lack of opportunity or purpose to life. Nobody aspires to live like that. They are not healthy. They need help. I’m not saying they don’t have any responsibility, of course they do, but so does society. You can’t just scrape them off and pretend it's all their fault and nothing to do with you. Some people lack basic life skills - how does this even happen?
It’s the same with the homeless, some are intelligent, educated or ex-servicemen, others not so much, but many of them become homeless because they don’t have family, community, connection, purpose. Some homeless people that I know just want someone to look them in the eye and acknowledge them as a human being and connect and communicate, share time and share mind. Others want to rip me off.
And sure if you give your money to homeless people they will only spend it on their addictions, but the same is true of many affluent people in good jobs, they get paid and they just spend their money on their addictions, it’s just that their addictions are considered more socially acceptable.
As for greedy conmen, dishonest beggars and scammers, again, they are not healthy - and no healthy person would aspire to live like that or take pride in themselves doing that. And you can find similar kinds of that behaviour from guys wearing expensive suits.
Modern society has lots of problems that traditional ‘primitive’ peoples don’t have.
A body is made up of millions of cells, so for it to function in full health we need all those individual cells to be healthy. Each cell sharing the blood and oxygen and nutrients appropriately. And so it is with society. Unless you pretend that we are not really united as a human family, and choose to focus on the divisions and differences.
We haven’t really defined left wing, right wing, socialism or capitalism so we may be talking at cross purposes but for me left/socialism is more about family and community, right/capitalism is more selfish, individual and about money. Simplistic sure. Buddha said to take the middle way.
Of course it’s lovely to have a society where you can go out and be creative and ‘work hard’ and get rewarded and of course businesses should be profitable. There’s nothing wrong if we make money, but problems arise when we make money the priority. Because then we cut corners and make money at the expense of what really matters in life.
Bottom line: Money is not real, it’s not what is most important in life. And so when people make it priority then they have already lost their way (although usually it is other people who suffer)
I already said that a family doesn’t redistribute wealth, it is not about money it is about taking care of everyone’s needs. Each member has a responsibility. If your brother is an alcoholic there’s plenty of evidence that that’s caused by trauma or a lack of connection. Of course you shouldn’t enable him, but you could help him. Let’s not confuse family and community for co-dependency.
I help food banks because they’re right under my nose in my community and I know the families who receive the food. I don’t view these people with disdain, they are decent people. The existence of food banks is a sign that there is something wrong in society, that decent people in a supposed rich country don’t have enough to eat. And if food banks are a sign that the state isn’t running properly then the state should help out. I’m not sure what you mean about the welfare state being a stain on Britain? (No, I don’t think it is). I suppose the difference is that state aid feels that the government cares and you’ve paid your taxes and the safety net is there. With private aid it’s more tenuous, you’ve paid your taxes and been abandoned to your fate. The painful reality is that the government doesn't care and they are not coming to rescue us. We need to solve it ourselves as individual communities, despite the government.
As for addiction, booze, fags, drugs, bookies, gambling, to me these are all symptoms that there is something wrong with society, how we live, and it’s often caused by trauma, lack of connection, lack of community, lack of opportunity or purpose to life. Nobody aspires to live like that. They are not healthy. They need help. I’m not saying they don’t have any responsibility, of course they do, but so does society. You can’t just scrape them off and pretend it's all their fault and nothing to do with you. Some people lack basic life skills - how does this even happen?
It’s the same with the homeless, some are intelligent, educated or ex-servicemen, others not so much, but many of them become homeless because they don’t have family, community, connection, purpose. Some homeless people that I know just want someone to look them in the eye and acknowledge them as a human being and connect and communicate, share time and share mind. Others want to rip me off.
And sure if you give your money to homeless people they will only spend it on their addictions, but the same is true of many affluent people in good jobs, they get paid and they just spend their money on their addictions, it’s just that their addictions are considered more socially acceptable.
As for greedy conmen, dishonest beggars and scammers, again, they are not healthy - and no healthy person would aspire to live like that or take pride in themselves doing that. And you can find similar kinds of that behaviour from guys wearing expensive suits.
Modern society has lots of problems that traditional ‘primitive’ peoples don’t have.
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