The Economy of the Social Contract

The social contract is no different in its form than a typical 17th century slave contract. It's content is not much different either. The basic idea is that an authority figure can sign a binding contract on behalf of people living and not yet born. This is of course legal nonsense of the highest order, but most people accept this as a valid state of affairs. The reason for this is that the state comes with a series of attractive illusions. The most important being the idea that the state will take care of us in times of need. However, the state is in no way able to deliver on all its promises.

Anyone younger than 60 years, living in a typical western welfare state, will be sorely disappointed with the pension and old people care that will be provided. Anyone who cares to look into the state's finances can find this out for themselves, so the reason few people are concerned about this is not for a lack of evidence, but for a lack of desire to see the figures for what they are.

However, some people realize what's going on. They understand that they are paying way more into the system than they will ever get. These people will at first react with horror. They will try to wake people up. Get them to see that drastic changes are needed. But this will not work. Most people will remain wilfully ignorant. They cannot imagine the state defaulting on future promises that are guaranteed by law.

The ones waking up to reality soon realize that they must take matters into their own hands. They start a dismantling process that eventually culminate in their disappearance from the system. The burden on the ones who remain become greater. Some that used to find the social contract agreeable are no longer so sure. They too make the calculation. They too realize that things are unsustainable. They too remove themselves from the system. Pretty soon, the trickle of people leaving the system turn into a stream. The stream becomes a river, and the river becomes a flood.

Fort

By Albrecht Dürer - Collection privee, Public Domain, Link

Protesting Creatively

Truth is closely associated with creativity, individuality and freedom. Falsehoods, on the other hand, are associated with conformity, loyalty, dogma, and endless repetition. This is why we need to be creative when protesting in support of truth. We must avoid repetition and strive to come up with something new. When done correctly, this can be both fun and interesting. All sorts of ideas come to mind once we let our creativity loose, some of which may be benefitting in more ways than one. Protesting banks by closing bank accounts and buying gold instead is but one way that creative protesting has benefited me personally. However, at the moment, my focus is mainly on mask-wearing rules. I find this particular insanity fascinating. I love going out in the streets to observe and note how people comply and how they don't, and I greatly enjoy the challenge of coming up with new and novel ways to protest.

Walking the streets of Porto this morning, I noticed that true compliance has fallen somewhat since the new, stricter rules came into effect. Half of all the people I came across seemed defiant in some way.

While compliance is always expressed in one way, and one way only. Defiance is expressed in several different ways.

1. There are the strictly non-compliant who don't wear a mask at all.
2. There are the reluctant compliant who wear their masks incorrectly.
3. There are the defiant compliant who follow the rules theatrically.

All together, these protesters make up about half the population, and they have an advantage on the compliant in that they support each other. The strictly non-compliant are supported by the reluctant and defiant, making it easier for them to stay strong. The reluctant demonstrate to the compliant that a better life, with fresh air for our lungs, is only a matter of lowering the mask below our nose, or all the way down to our chin. The defiant compliant show everyone how ridiculous everything is, making the compliant feel bad in some way, and therefore more likely to become reluctant compliant.

The least stressful of these protests is the reluctant defiance, and the most stressful is the strictly non-compliant, followed by the defiant compliant. However, there are ways to mix reluctant compliance with theatrical compliance in a non-stressful manner. Going out this morning, I wore my "mask of the beast" under my chin. Only when I felt pressured to put my mask on properly, did I do so, which made me go directly from reluctant compliant to defiant compliant, something that made me feel quite happy, because the social pressure of the moment didn't force me into strict compliance. At no point was I fully compliant. The protest mutated spontaneously from reluctant to defiant, without passing through strict compliance.

Mask of the beast

Wearing the mask of the beast reluctantly puts the ones insisting on compliance into a difficult position. They cannot very well fault us for wearing the mask that they have pressured us to put on correctly. They must therefore applaud the mask, even if it clearly states that it is a creation of the beast, which in turn makes them complicit in our protest.

Seven Years of Tribulation

The number 7 is used a lot in the Bible. There are 7 year cycles with 7 good years followed by 7 bad ones. The tribulations mentioned in conjunction with the end of days is also expected to last 7 years, and this may be why some expect the current tribulations of the world to last 7 years.

2027 is now frequently mentioned as a year of final collapse. This year is also mentioned as the year gold is likely to peak.

The consensus seems to be that the current tribulations are unlikely to go away any time soon. If they're right, those hoping for a quick return to normal will be sorely disappointed.

Train wreck

By Photo credited to the firm Levy & fils by this site. (It is credited to a photographer "Kuhn" by another publisher [1].) - the source was not disclosed by its uploader., Public Domain, Link

The Mask of the Beast

Unlike the mark of the beast, which everyone must submit in order to seek lawful employment or start a business, the mask of the beast is a symbol of state oppression. It has nothing to do with health, and everything to do with power.

By forcing everyone to wear a mask, the state becomes an integral part of everyday life. It is no longer possible to escape its presence. It imposes itself on us in a deliberately ugly manner. It makes us fear our fellow men. It makes us less human.

However, the mask is also an opportunity. Everyone that sees the state for what it is, can place its number on their mask. The number of the beast is 666. This is a meme, devised long ago for this exact purpose. Even a brief glimpse of this number is immediately registered and understood. No further explanation is needed. The wearer of a mask with the number 666, is not only aware of the satanic nature of the mask itself, but also the satanic nature of the state.

Making this all the more powerful is the fact that it can easily be presented as a joke. The mask of the beast is a pun. There's no reasonable way to construe this into something sinister without admitting evil intent. However, if enough people mark their masks with the number 666, there will no doubt be some serious reconsiderations of priorities by bureaucrats all over the world.

The mask of the beast

Protesting Politely

To remain in the public psyche, a falsehood needs to be sprinkled with bits of truth and endlessly repeated. Truth, on the other hand, needs only to be said loudly and clearly once, and it takes on a life of its own. This is a key insight when it comes to protesting.

If a falsehood is to be pushed, grand manifestations are required. A script must be written and followed. A team of PR advisers must be put in place. Enormous resources must be employed, and news channels must repeat the falsehood endlessly. However, when it comes to truth, no script and no PR team is required. It needs only to be said clearly once. No repetition is required. But it must be said by all, because it's only when we speak truth that we fully absorb it. An effective way to spread truth is therefore a method of announcement and silence. The truth we want to spread is clearly announced, after which we leave it to rest.

The announcement acts like a seed. It plants the truth in the mind of the listeners. They may vocally reject it right away, but it sticks, because truth sticks. It develops over time in the minds of others. It sets roots, and become eventually a part of what they believe. It becomes so fully internalized that it becomes part of them. At that point, the listeners will announce this truth themselves, often thinking that it's their original thought. Listeners will in turn internalize this truth, and a chain reaction ensues. Suddenly, what was once a fringe idea, becomes common and widespread to the point of being the dominant idea.

Effective protesting on the side of truth is therefore something entirely different than the elaborate schemes required to push a falsehood. It requires no planning and no repetition. Creativity is often key. But truth does not require originality in order to be pushed. Acting truth out in way of example is often all that is required. If mask-wearing is mandatory, don't wear a mask. It can be that simple.

If mask-wearing becomes widespread to the point of being irritating, a one off stunt may be appropriate. I did this once. I published it widely on my Facebook wall a few weeks ago, and I can already see results that may be due at least in part to my stunt. People who used to praise the virtue of mask wearing have stopped their mindless parroting. People who constantly reported on covid cases have likewise stopped doing so. Instead they are focusing on the economic and psychological damage that has been wrought by overzealous bureaucrats.

The encouraging sign in this is that people that used to repeat falsehoods and propaganda, are now either silent or right out vocal about truth. The message is being embraced. To encourage this, I either give them a thumbs up, or I remain silent. The goal is to have these people take ownership of truth. It's not to go about telling everybody how right I was, so I keep a low profile. We must never be tempted by ego to rock the boat just at the moment when things are starting to go well. That would be folly of the highest order.

But there are no lack of eager mask-wearers out in the streets, and this should be combatted as best we can, because it's the consensus of the people that ultimately gives the green light for draconian measures by politicians. Non-compliance and sloppy mask-wearing should therefore be encouraged. Full compliance should be discouraged.

A way to do this is to treat the compliant mask-wearers in a completely different manner from that of our fellow non-compliant and sloppy mask-wearers. When we see a fully compliant mask-wearer, we make a wide detour to avid coming too close to them. This is after all what they desire for themselves. They are voluntarily wearing the mark of the leper, as it were. They are begging for social distancing. If they want to be treated like lepers, why not treat them like lepers? To do otherwise would be impolite.

This sets up a social distinction between compliant and non-compliant mask-wearers. The non-compliant ones are the ones included in our circle of friends. We treat them as we treated people before covid. Only those who are overtly compliant are treated according to the new rules. We don't look at them, we keep them at a distance, and we try to isolate ourselves as much as possible from them. This way, we illustrate clearly what they are rooting for, and many are likely to realize their fault and mend their ways.

Leprosy Rash

By Luis A. Marcos, Stephen Conerly, and Sue Walker - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4125238/, CC BY 4.0, Link

The 5th Empire - Rapture

The rapture is a Biblical concept similar to the four horsemen of the apocalypse. It can be seen as pure magic, or it can be seen as an allegory on how things work in the real world. The four horsemen represents the four stages of a social-economic mega cycle. They appear whenever a social order is based on artificial hierarchy. The current one is the era of central banking in which some men can print money for free, while others work for a living.

Seen in this perspective, the rapture is a chain of events that happen near the end of a mega cycle. This is when things get so out of whack that it's as if the Lord himself comes down with a loud command. There is an awakening in which a large number of people, previously indifferent and ignorant of the corruption of the system, decide to leave. They disappear into the mist and clouds to create an alternative for themselves and others. This alternative order is based on equality and love. It's the kingdom of God or the 5th Empire, depending on our perspective.

An interesting detail in this is that those who are dead in Christ go first. A non-magical interpretation of this is that it is the non-believers that are the first to catch onto what's going on. These are typically citizens of the 5th empire, people who live according to the golden rule, without necessarily being devote Christians. This is particularly interesting to me because I was hit hard by a realization that I needed to escape the system back in 2017. I acted on this impulse, and things have gone very well for me ever since. My savings are secure. I'm with people I love. I've found a community of likeminded people. While  those still in the system are facing tribulations, things are well for me, my family and my friends. It's as if I've been raptured.

Continuing with our secular interpretation, we can expect great tribulations for everyone in the system. The 5th empire will gain in size and power, while those clinging onto the system will suffer. This will usher in a millennium in which the 5th empire exists in parallel with the current order of things. But there will be a final judgement at the end of this, and those who are still in the system will end up loosing everything. This is when true justice based on the golden rule is completely restored. Everyone, past or present, will be judged exclusively by what they did as individuals, not as a part of a group. The current system, which allows for immoral actions as long as they are done within the system will come to an end. It will be revealed once and for all that following orders is not a legal argument. Taxmen are thieves, soldiers are murderers, central bankers are fraudsters, politicians are liars, and so on and so forth.

Furthermore, it will be revealed that the system is bankrupt. All its promises will be broken. Those who fell for the Faustian bargain, that we can save ourselves by following orders, will be sorely disappointed. Obedience and loyalty will not in the end guarantee us health care, a pension or any other goodies.

Rapture

By Jan Luyken - Bowyer's Bible, Bolton, England, Public Domain, Link

The Dream That Became Reality

A long standing goal of progressives in the West has been the establishment of multiculturalism, and it is now safe to say that this dream has come true. We are finally at a point where people are free to live according to their culture wherever they choose to live in the West.

One aspect of this is the multitude of ways that anger can be expressed. It is after all quite natural to react with anger when provoked. The fact that this results in vastly different behaviours, depending on culture, is one of the gifts of multiculturalism. Some may react to provocation with angry words, and some may react with stabbings and beheadings. It all depends on culture.

An important lesson that comes with multiculturalism is that it's wrong to provoke people. While reacting with anger is natural, doing things that provoke anger is bad. This is why we need to think twice before expressing ourselves publically. Anything that may provoke anger must be muted and toned down. Some things must not be said at all. We must keep a lid on our thoughts, because provocative thoughts have a tendency to come out as provocative speech.

This is in stark contrast to how things were before multiculturalism. People said and did offensive stuff all the time without much thought to the anger that they provoked. The West was a cesspool of free speech, and the transformation away from this has been remarkable. We have become a lot more polite. The dream of multiculturalism has finally become reality.

Typical western reaction to a beheading

By Chris93 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Four Horsemen of Central Banking

The four horsemen of the apocalypse represents the four stages of any social arrangement based on an unnatural hierarchy among men. As such, they have a tendency to appear repeatedly through history. First, there is some great idea that is pushed as a solution to some social ill. This idea is then pushed by force onto others. Once established, the idea causes the sort of imbalances that can be expected when some men have an unnatural advantage over others, and finally there's collapse and death.

At present, the great overarching idea of our time is that of central banking. It started out as a proposed solution to bank failures. The idea was to establish a bank of last resort, with the power to print limitless amounts of money in order to save troubled and distressed banks, thereby saving people from the misery that comes with bank failures. The introduction of a central bank can therefore be seen as the first horseman of central banking. The idea was pushed tirelessly until it became reality.

World War I started immediately after the establishment of the central bank in the US, soon followed by World War II, and an endless array of wars thereafter, all with the purpose of expansion and domination. Central banking was to be implemented everywhere, and in strict hierarchy under the central bank in the US. This is the second horseman of central banking, namely strife and expansion.

The result of all this has been an increasing gap in wealth between the ones that have access to the central bank, and those who don't. The privilege of money printing makes some men richer than others, not due to some natural ability, but purely due to their position in society. This fosters corruption and greed, with further accumulation and centralization of wealth. Some become immensely rich at the expense of almost everybody else. This is the third horseman of central banking, and where we are currently in the great social super-cycle of our times.

What comes next is collapse. Anyone directly or indirectly dependent on central banks will suffer greatly. Social security and government hand-outs will not cover the cost of living. Only those with proper life skills and savings in gold and silver will get through this stage relatively unscathed. This is the final horseman of any social super-cycle based on a belief in unnatural hierarchies. He's the only horseman with a name, and his name is Death.

Four horsemen of the apocalypse

By Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov - http://lj.rossia.org/users/john_petrov/166993.html, Public Domain, Link

Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy

Ernest Benn once famously said that "politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies." This is of course a funny way of looking at it, especially because it's true. However, there's a deeply disturbing aspect to this that we mustn't overlook.

Politicians are so eager to be our caretakers that they frequently incur damage on us for the sole purpose of fixing it. They suffer from what's known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy, and never before in history has this been more clear than now. Enormous economic and psychological damage has been wrought by politicians for no other reason than to come across as caring and helpful.

Large swaths of the economy has been shut down due to a flu that is only marginally worse than average. People have been forced to stay at home. Livelihoods have been destroyed, and freedoms removed, all in order to save us from the sniffles. The economic hardships created by this has then been papered over with government hand-outs, and politicians have been quick to point out how benevolent this has been. Everyone was saved from the sniffles and everyone was helped through the economic hardships. Without the great foresight and benevolence of our loving and caring politicians, things would have been so much worse.

All of this fits the description of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, and proves that most politicians do indeed see themselves as our caretakers. They think of themselves as our parents. But this would not work unless their subjects play along. Grown men and women have no need or desire for an extra set of parents, and see the scam for what it is. Only people with a deep desire for a caretaker will play along with the sick desire of other people to take care of us.

What's truly shocking in all of this is the large number of people playing along with the political circus, allowing complete strangers to make all sorts of decisions for us. I truly pity these people who clearly refuse to grow up and take charge of their own lives, because they are at the mercy of very sick people who will create much more damage than they will ever be able to fix. Those who think that politicians will take care of them as they grow older, help them when they get sick, and educate their children, are delusional.

Politicians are all deranged to some extent. To trust them with anything is extremely dangerous. That's why we have to take care of our selves and our children. We must put aside money (gold) for a rainy day. We must save for our retirement, and we must above all teach our children to grow up to be healthy adults with no desire for a caretaker to guide them through life.

Only when most people act and behave as responsible adults will there be a real return to liberty. Sadly, that's unlikely to happen soon. Only when the current system falls apart to such an extent that the scam is clear to see to even the most gullible are we likely to see a change of course. Only when the fourth horseman comes along will people finally realize what sort of mess they've been lured into.

Four horsemen of the apocalypse

By Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov - http://lj.rossia.org/users/john_petrov/166993.html, Public Domain, Link

Home Schooling Strategy

There is a proper pace to all things. To push faster than this pace causes stress, and to go slower causes anxiety. This is as true for home schooling as it is for politics and economy. Furthermore, there's a margin of safety to all things. A life constantly lived at the edge is a life of constant fear and anxiety. To master fear, we need to build cushions of various kinds. We need surplus capital. This too applies to all aspects of life. It's only when we operate within our material and intellectual limit that we feel comfortable enough to perform optimally.

It follows from this that home schooling should be done at a pace that is neither too fast nor too slow, and that it's better for the child to know too much than too little when going for a school exam. This is why learning should be as free as possible. The 5 minutes a day school is in this respect a guideline that parents should follow. The amount of structured learning should be kept to a minimum. For the rest, children should be left to explore their own interests.

Children are naturally curious, and pick up an amazing amount of knowledge through everyday social interaction and activities such as online game play and YouTube videos. Learning is therefore not a problem. All that is required from the part of parents is to guide their children through the more formal disciplines, such as maths and grammar. Children have to learn the curriculum, but the bar is set so low that this requires hardly any work at all.

When teaching my son maths, I let him work through exercises until he comes to a problem that somehow frustrates him. If I manage to explain it to him, he can continue. If not, I tell him to stop. We put the book aside, talk some more about the problem, and agree to look at it again the next day. This allows the natural pace of learning to set in. Given sufficient time and attention, the child will always figure it out, and further progress can be made.

By the look of it, we'll be able to get through this year's curriculum with ease, even at the low rate of 5 minutes a day. Our plan is then to continue into next year's curriculum. We'll let him build up an intellectual margin so that the year's exam will be easy. This is not to push him along faster than other kids, but to allow him to grow more confident and secure. We have no plan to skip a year. There's no rush to any of this. The lesson we want to give our child is that margins are important. It never hurts to have a bit of extra padding.

If we keep at it like this, we might well see our son engage in all sorts of sophisticated activities in his spare time. He's already showing an interest in computer programming and video animation. There's basically no limits to what he might pick up in his free time. School will then become an easy and non-intrusive activity that he can do a little of every now and again. If he ever goes to college, he'll be an expert in all sorts of things, making college relatively easy to get through. Or he may never go to college. He may in the end pick up all that he needs in life from his free time activities.

Fireside Education

By Transferred from en.wikibooks to Commons by Adrignola using CommonsHelper. Originally uploaded to en:Wikipedia in November 2006 (log) by Darentig (talk)., Public Domain, Link

Hoverflies

Our micro-composters are bringing a whole little eco-system onto our balcony. Not only are they giving our plants a significant boost, they are attracting insects as well, some of which are helping to stave off pests.

Our first visitors were fruit flies. Harmless but annoying, some find their way into our kitchen where they flutter about. This irritation is something we can live with. They stay mostly in the bins on the balcony, and the few that venture into our kitchen get out of our way when we go in there. There's also a good chance that they will be culled in numbers pretty soon due to hoverflies that have recently arrived. These serene little insects that are able to hover magically in the air above leaves and flowers, are veracious hunters when in their larva state. They grow up in composts, eating a mix of compost and larvae of other insects.

This is probably why we've seen a dramatic drop in aphids on our wax plant. We used to see aphids attack new leaves and shoots on this plant, forcing us to clean these to keep them from shrivelling up before they had chance to grow large and pest resistant. But with our micro-composters and associated hoverflies, this is no longer a problem. The wax plant is sprouting new leaves and shoots without any infections. It appears that our hoverfly friends are protecting the shoots more effectively than we were ever able to do by hand. 

Hoverflies

By Alvesgaspar - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

CO2 Capture

Norway is in many ways a micro-cosmos of what's happening at a global scale, only more extreme. The reason for this is its history of conformity and progressivism. People are genuinely eager to embrace modernity in all its forms, and are equally willing to give up on a lot of material comforts in order to get there. This puts Norway at the leading edge of developments in global politics. Add to this the formidable size of its sovereign wealth fund, and we can see where things are headed.

The Norwegian government has amassed a whopping 200,000 dollars of assets for each of its subjects. This has been achieved through aggressive taxation and licensing of its offshore oil industry, and has been hailed as an example to follow by progressives all over the world. However, what is not told is that all this wealth has already been spent. Much of it is invested in stuff of dubious real value, and the rest is committed to projects of equally dubious value.

The real lesson from the Norwegian experiment is not that government is good at taking care of its subjects' savings. It's the opposite. The Norwegian government has squandered all the money that its subjects have entrusted it to take care of, and this has been done in a truly grotesque manner.

Norway's coastline is the main migration route of countless birds. It's also magnificent in its rugged beauty. But this has not stopped Norwegian politicians from investing their subjects' money into enormous wind turbines that have a dismal net return on investment. These enormous structures litter the landscape, and chop up birds as they fly past. The death toll of birds is in the thousands. Yet this is somehow considered green energy.

Another insane project that Norway has embarked on is that of CO2 capture, a technology that has a guaranteed net loss to its sponsors. The idea is to tax everyone in the world through the help of the UN and in this way bring some money back to Norway where CO2 capture will be implemented. While this may yield a small profit for the Norwegian government, it's guaranteed to be a financial burden on people all over the world. CO2 capture doesn't produce anything, so it will be a cost without any real effect.

CO2 capture will have no measurable effect on the CO2 content of our atmosphere. It's a technology that cannot possibly work, because the CO2 content removed by such technology will immediately be replenished from natural sources, such as our planet's oceans and top soil. All that will be achieved is taxation without benefits.

But even if it were to work, it would be of dubious value. Overlooked in all of the excitement over CO2 capture is the fact that CO2 is a fertilizer. It's essential for food production. If CO2 is removed from the atmosphere, crop sizes will shrink, with global famine as a likely consequence. Anyone using micro-composters can verify this. CO2 is a remarkable life giving gas with a decidedly undeserved reputation.

The conclusion we can draw from this is that it's a very bad idea to entrust politicians to take care of our savings. Those who trust in politicians are likely to be sorely disappointed. They are also likely to be shocked to see what sort of investments are made on their behalf.

Micro-composter

Schrödinger's Equation

Modern physics has demonstrated that electron orbits are confined to specific regions around the atom. There are regions where the electron is likely to be found, and there are regions where the electron is extremely unlikely to be found. This can all be calculated using a wave function called the Schrödinger equation.

This is well described in this YouTube video, but the exact reason for this behaviour is still a matter of debate. Having dismissed the existence of an aether, many have concluded that the electron must be both particle and wave. However, this interpretation is coming under increasing pressure. The aether is having a comeback, this time as a dense fluid through which particles travel. Such an aether would produce pilot waves around electrons, confining them to the various regions defined by Schrödinger's equation.

The success of Schrödinger's equation in practical physics is not proof that particles have wave properties. Rather, it's pointing towards the existence of an aether with the properties of a fluid that provides every particle with a pilot wave corresponding to its size, speed and direction of motion.

Erwin Schrödinger

By Unknown author - [1] [2], Public Domain, Link

Protesting Correctly

I'm an anarchist, so I would never petition the government for anything. That means that I will never take part in protest that are directed directly towards the bureaucracy. I'll never stand before parliament with a placard, shouting slogans. Such behaviour implies subservience to their system and is not in effect a protest. It's a petition.

A true protest is different. It's not directed towards the government. It's directed towards whomever is upholding rules that we want to get rid of. The anarchist view of society is that the acting agents, rather than the ruling elite is the real problem. The problems associated with government derive directly from bureaucrats' ability to enforce arbitrary rules, which can only be done with an army of unthinking drones.

A protest must therefore be directed towards agents of government. These are rarely found in private spaces. Shopkeepers are not the root our problems. When in a private space with little to no connection to government, we make life as pleasant as possible for our selves and our fellow men. Many shopkeepers and entrepreneurs are suffering just as much from arbitrary rules as we are. If anything, they deserve our support and protection from thugs who think otherwise.

The right places to protest government edicts are in public spaces where the offending rule is being implemented. One way to do this would be to gather a large group of people who simply ignore the rules altogether. However, this requires a good deal of planning and a certain momentum. It cannot be done individually or in small groups. A far more effective way to protest is therefore to mock the system by coming up with something absurd or right out disturbing that fits the rules. The current flu scare has for example resulted in strict mask wearing rules in both private and public spaces.

The way I have responded to this is that I always follow the generally accepted norm when in private spaces, all be it somewhat shoddily. But when in public spaces such as a metro station or train, I sometimes opt for my outrageous outfit. I put on my spooky mask which has the effect of seriously upsetting both the enforcers of the rules and my fellow passengers.

Spooky mask

There's nothing illegal with this outfit. But some people freak out. Others ask me to please put on something less disturbing. However, I'm undeterred by this. I explain that this is a piece of performance art. It's a protest.

Since this is a protest, and also a piece of performance art, it's not supposed to be done more than once or twice every now and again. The whole point of it is to be random and targeted, so that people start to beg for a change to the rules. Some will insist on more detailed rules so as to make a repeat of this particular act impossible, and others will start to realize that the rules must be removed. Bureaucrats will then be faced with a choice. They can either make changes to their rules, or they can scrap them. But if they stick with their rules, the protest can simply change form to accommodate for the change. If scary masks are banned. Put on a disturbing fun mask instead, or come up with something entirely different.

Done correctly, a protest is fun to do. It causes a stir. But we must be careful not to become too emotional and impatient. The initial effect of our protest is zero. Nothing happens there and then. Onlookers are bewildered and bemused, but no action is taken. Sharing the experience with friends, and on social media, is where most of our initial satisfaction comes. But time has a strange way of finding its way into our narrative, and suddenly there's similar things happening somewhere else. The ball starts rolling, and suddenly there's something big and real going on, inspired entirely or in part by our performance stunt.

CO2 Fertilization

Here's an example of a plant that my wife and I had almost completely given up on, but that has suddenly come back to life now that we've started using micro-composters on our balcony. The tiny dark leaves are the old ones. Clustered together and bug ridden, they aren't much to look at. However, a number of larger and healthier looking leaves have now sprouted from this dying plant, and the only explanation we can think of is that it must be due to our micro-composters.

Resurrection of a Dying Plant

Interestingly, we haven't put a micro-composter into this particular pot. The effect must therefore be from the micro-composters in its immediate vicinity, of which there are three. That shows us once again that it is the CO2 released by our micro-composters that is the main driver of this renewed vigour.

CO2 is healing our dying plants, and making all our plants greener and healthier.

My Tao - The Natural Pace of Things

There is a natural pace in nature that we cannot alter. The turnings of the seasons, the ebb and flow of the moon, day and night, birth and death. None of this can be altered. However, we can make artificial changes. Electric light extends the day into night. Green houses make things grow well into winter. Compost makes thing grow faster. By introducing these enhancers, we can increase our productivity and comfort level. We can make life better through technology. But all too often, we go too far, and instead of gains we lose.

This is why we should pay attention to our stress and anxiety levels. If we do things at a healthy pace, we become comfortable and confident. But if we do things too quickly we become stressed, and if we do them too slowly, we become anxious. Doing things in fits and starts make us both anxious and stressed at the same time. This extends to spending habits and life style. Living beyond our means will only serve to stress us, no matter how relaxing the service or good may seem in the advertisement.

The idea that stress and anxiety is a natural and healthy part of modern life is popular, but wrong. Nothing is gained by putting ourselves in uncomfortable positions. However, it's a convenient place to keep one's subjects if political control is the goal. That's why politicians and their minions insist on heated debates and as much controversy as possible. By constantly spooking their subjects, and stressing them in all ways imaginable, no-one retains the wherewithal to oppose the system in an effective manner. No-one can withdraw from the system when neck deep in debt and constantly chasing salaries to pay for consumption of dubious value.

It's important to realize that our pace must necessarily parallel nature itself. We are limited by what nature can provide, and it follows that any activity that goes beyond this limit is wasteful and bound to fail just as much as inactivity. Furthermore, everyone is equipped with a natural sense of this pace. Our chances of success in society are therefore related to the pace at which we present ourselves to our peers.

My stepdaughter suggested the other day that she should send out resumes to employers, even those who had no use for her. What could she possible loose by doing this? Then I pointed out that she would in doing this present herself as the one with no sense of timing or intuition. She would become the clumsy one that shoots in all direction on the random hope of hitting a bird. Employers are people too. They too want to do things at a natural pace. Wading through heaps of unsolicited mail is not top of their list of favourite activities.

On the other hand, if my stepdaughter sends out targeted and well-crafted letters to people who are looking for her specific profile, she'll nail it. That would make her the patient hunter who sits quietly until the right kill comes along. It makes her the pleasant one that always knows what everyone wants and provides exactly that.

This is why I, in my ambition to have my thoughts heard, make sure I promote myself at a leisurely pace. I also make sure I have more than one thing to talk about. That way, I present my audience with an entertaining mix of ideas that sparks the imagination. I become the one with a range of ideas and thoughts, open for discussion and fun to be around.

But all of this is only possible for those with sufficient real savings to do things at the right pace. I could never do what I have done the last several years if it wasn't for a drastic reduction in consumption, and an awareness of how the financial markets lure us into loss making positions. It's only by following my own advice related to finance and investments that I'm able to live life as comfortably as I do.

Fresh shoots on a rose bush

Resurrection

Resurrection is the archetypical story of rebirth, a central element in any religion. No religion is complete without it because it is central to our own existence. Everything dies, transforms and comes back in some new form. We have the seasons. We have our own lives, where we go from dust to dust, implicitly keeping the hope of rebirth alive. We also have the torments of depression and other mental illnesses, which can lead to a very real sense of rebirth when overcome.

Christianity has this concept as its central element in the story of Jesus. It's a finely crafted story of deceit, suffering, death and rebirth. No wonder then that it is a story that many emulate for personal gains. It was no coincidence that Boris Johnson caught the flu virus during Easter this year, that he went into intensive care, and that he was released from hospital on Easter Sunday.

Inspired by Johnson's miraculous resurrection, I could not help producing a short story with a similar happy ending:

Waiting for Boris the worm

The arrival of Boris the worm

Boris going into the composter

Miraculous transformation of Boris

While hardly comparable in significance to the original story, the above sequence captures the essence of the story. There is longing, hope, and finally a release of tension that makes the reader happy and optimistic about their own future. It's one of the oldest stories in the world, and it never fails to delight.

Mask Wearing Rules

We live in strange times. Wearing a mask inside a bank used to be strictly forbidden. Now, everyone entering a bank in Portugal has to wear a mask.

Outside a bank. No mask required.

Inside a bank. Mask required.