----------------------------------------------------------------------
Not only does he teach remedial children , he carries out Lee Kui's directives for a holistic education for Megacity , creating programs to encourage adults and children to be more aware of their true potentials and destinies in service to themselves as a society
JOSEPH BLENDING is a man of absolutely no importance. So reckons the status quo of present society. However, he is fully aware this does not include everybody's reckoning, especially this present child generation, eager for a real education instead of the indoctrinated pap presently forced upon them. They seek relevance to their world not their preceding generations' worlds. This is Joseph Blending's mission.
Having sufficiently qualified himself in economics on an Open University course along with other relevant courses in sociology and psychology, he has managed to position himself with a school teaching those with reading and writing difficulties in order to impart basic economics. Of course, the authorities expect nothing great to come from the exercise, so leave Blending free to commence how he wishes. He aims to empower them to realise their true potentials, thus enabling them to restructure society to their desires responsibly and holistically.
Int: school classroom and corridor.
Walls bare and white above pine panelling below dado rail. Only black plastic chairs common to schools stacked against west wall, facing multi-paned window segregating outside panorama into small boxed fragments. Floor of parqueted mahogany, residue of a more prosperous yet unethically astute age. A huge 'whiteboard' replaces the now politically incorrect 'blackboard'. Mustn't be racialist now. What has a blackboard done to anyone a white' bored' hasn't, I wonder? Being black, I suppose. Why are these political correctness fascists so up themselves? Don't they realise their labels for people are just as offensive as those they've replaced? Challenged this, challenged that. We're all challenged here on Earth, it's why we ARE here.
The pupils await their economics teacher, whom they have never before met, in the corridor which is laid with plain pale grey linoleum.
Similar walls as classroom only completely white, as is the ceiling, illuminated by bulbs in cased in beacon like clam shells. Placed at two metre intervals along the corridor they produce an eerie gloom.
The children, thirty in this class, are boys and girls aged 10-16. They wear their own clothes.
MR.BLENDING aged 46, dressed comfortably in burgundy corduroy slacks, paisley shirt of red/green hue, a velvet jacket with reinforced patches at the elbow, also in burgundy [if not a deep wine red], walks in black Cuban heels, down the corridor toward his awaiting pupils. His hair, collar length with a left side parting at front is auburn with flecks of grey at temples and sideburns. He fumbles with the keys until he finds the one that opens successfully amongst assorted impatient groans from the children.
JB: Good morning all. Sorry for the delay. Problem finding the keys for this room. [Looks around classroom as all pile in] Dreary, isn't it ?
PUPIL: [Fastidiously] An understatement.
JB: Well there is a good reason for it being so dreary.
PUPIL:[Contemptuously] And that is?
JB: I intend for you to decorate it, to your tastes.
PUPIL: But what has this to do with economics? You have got the right class, I presume, Mr. er Blandin ?
JB: If economics is what you expect to be taught you, then yes. And my name is Blending.[Walks to whiteboard, picks up marker and spells name onto it]. Has anyone any suggestions worthy of mention? [Looks out at sea of blank faces and shrugging shoulders] So that I can get to know you all without asking your names over and over, could you state them as you speak, please.
PUPIL: Peter Standish. How much can we spend?
JB: An excellent start to a course on economics. Next question, how do we justify what we spend?
PUPIL: Penny Oliver. How can we justify what we haven't thought of yet?
JB: Any suggestions?
PUPIL: Peter Standish. Let's see how we can decorate this place, add up it's cost, then present it to the 'Head' along with our justification of why we deserve an environment conducive to inspiration.
JB: May I suggest a collage to fill the vacuity? Comprised of images depicting the world how you perceive it.
PUPIL: Don Watts. What's a collage?
PENNY: [Hissing] Idiot!
JB: Good question if you've never heard of the concept. A collage, young man, comprises of many cutouts from magazines and old newspapers, also fabrics and other materials such as plastic or metal; whatever sticks to a canvas. But it's not always haphazard, there's reason behind the placement on/in the collage, even though it's not understood by all. What I propose is that we meditate on how we feel about the world we live in now. Relax yourselves anywhere in the room. Sit or lie down allowing your thoughts to gently focus on how you feel about the world.
[They do so in their own time]
PUPIL: Douglas Dempsey. Do computer images count?
JB: Of course they count.
DON: So when do we start?
[Raucous laughter raised by class]
PENNY: We've all ready started, you tosser.
JB: Now that's enough with the tosser.
[uncontrolled sniggering and hisses from some]
Relax and focus on how you ...
PENNY:[bored]...feel about the world.
JB: That's enough of that cheek too.
4TH PUPIL: Susan Hollingsday. Too short.
DON: Too heavy!
5TH PUPIL: Avril Puckering. Too much!
PETER: Ado about nothin'.
AVRIL: [Droll] Very witty.
6TH PUPIL: Brian sommer. Scummy.
JB: Any brighter images?
BRIAN: No it's all pretty much bollocks really.
AVRIL: Not all the time, is it. I mean there is a lot of good stuff in the world I'd like to see keep coming but without tackiness attached to it. Isn't a wiser choice to pay for quality rather than quantity, we can still recycle and curb our spending so we can ease up on our carbon footprint.
PETER: Carbon footprint my arse. It's a government scam to make us believe it's all our fault.
JB: Isn't it our fault, then?
PENNY: What do you mean? course its not all our fault. What about all the toxic dumping of the huge chemical and oil companies?
JB: Are you so sure its not? Do you not use electricity, water, gas?
What about all the chemicals you consume, whether you consented directly or not?
DON: What do you mean by consented directly
JB; Well, whenever you choose to buy something, you indirectly consent to consuming its ingredients, if foodstuff, otherwise its contents. So what exactly do you spend your money on, and where does it come from? Do you actually know where all our waste goes after we throw it, or spend it, or do you just trust that the local council deals with responsibly?
PENNY: The money or the stuff I buy?
JB: O.K. Lets deal with one issue at a time. What happens to the wasted or "dead" deposits of our fuel consumption?
PENNY: Most of it ends up in the atmosphere as pollution, right?
JB:[Nods agreement] And where else do you think?
7TH PUPIL: Roy Caper. It falls back into the earth to poison our food crops, plant life and animals so we end up eating and drinking our own crap.
DOUGLAS: And the scientists have considered cramming all our crap into pods or capsules and jettisoning it all into the Sun. Won't that just come back at us in the form of polluted sunlight?
JB: So what can we do if we can't burn it here on Earth without polluting ourselves nor in the Sun as it will just come back at us as poisoned sunlight?
SUSAN: So, how did we deal with our rubbish before the industrialization of the world?
PETER: Good question.[Turns to J.B. with inquisitive frown]
JB: What did we do, I wonder? Any suggestions on that one?
DON: Come on Sir, don't try to wriggle out of it.
JB: O.K. then, for a start, everything we produced for sale and consumption was organically grown and bred so whatever we had no immediate use for was somehow stored for future recycling. It is true that in the Neolithic and Stone ages people buried their household rubbish in a pit outside their homes, but this was all, but bones and broken crockery, biodegradable, usually whatever the family dog and other livestock wouldn't eat. Generally they produced/bred enough to meet their needs. However, as we all have come to realize, the subsequent escalation in consumption, due to wider trade links during the Roman and middle ages as well, our thirst for ever more electronically advanced tools and toys due to the present technological age, we appear to have amassed a hefty surplus of appliances as we are continually shamed into believing them to be obsolete. Not forgetting also the excess foodstuffs that pile only to be destroyed by E.U. and U.N. regulations.
ROY: Isn't that just criminal? Governments punish business for producing too much yet waste the food rather than do the decent thing of donating the cost of redistributing vital resources to those countries that need them through charities like Oxfam and Live Aid
JB Bravo! You've hit the nail on the head, Roy. Unfortunately governments are not as ethically advanced as are we. They only interest themselves in the profits of war and commercial greed.
PENNY: So how can we persuade them differently?
JB: Alas we cannot. We can only, as far as I can see, outgrow them by educating ourselves so we can take over the reigns responsibly. Make it your generation's destiny to make the appropriate changes by creating your own Governments. Not by inciting bloody revolutions that have failed throughout history, as the leaders of such coups have inevitably been of the same stamp as those they have overthrown.
PUPIL: Benjamin Freede. Wasn't it The Beatles who sang "if you want to change the world, you'd better change your mind instead" ?
JB: Maybe not the exact lyric, but yes, that is what they were saying and I am advocating to you. You need to side-step the way governments are run in the future by creating your own political parties that truly speak and deliver to your generation. Involve the population of your respective countries in the governing of themselves.
AVRIL: Well, we won't be needin' paper. Straight on the walls with it.
JB: How do you mean?
AVRIL: We don't HAVE to meditate, we can visualise. The writing can be on the walls like in ancient Greece and Rome. They used graffiti to express ideas and opinions just as we paint drab city walls with our brand of graffiti. We deliver our messages to those who understand us. If the councillors and other bods in government could bother themselves to read and listen, a channel for communication could be set up. We can be flexible if they can.
BRIAN: We're only here because the Education bods aren't flexible enough to realize that our forms of expression have moved on from the three 'R's', as they so patronizingly phrase it.
JB: Do you not think that there should be a standard of language for everyone to understand?
BENJAMIN: If so, shouldn't we all be speaking and writing the same language around the world?
JB: Well, it has been tried in the past. There was a language called Esperanto but it didn't take off.
BENJAMIN: Exactly my point.My parents often say Variety is the spice of life. Maybe that's why this Esperanto failed to take on.
JB: Maybe so. Most probably the Governments of the world found it too problematic to instigate.
with no problem anyway. We don't need any boring reading and writing lessons.
BENJAMIN: And as Avril has said, isn't it you adults who should be learning our languages since we are supposed to be the future? MR.Blending's Co-created Society BENJAMIN: Exactly my point.My parents often say Variety is the spice of life. Maybe that's why this Esperanto failed to take on.
JB: Homo Sapiens have outgrown their use. Make way for the Homo Superior. Is that what you mean?
BENJAMIN: No. We don't want to get rid of you, just your obsolete thinking.
JB: Then at least I speak the same language as yourselves. Or am I being presumptuous?
BENJAMIN: We understand where you're coming from. You have our attention.
[JB scans class for visible signs of approbation, receiving them in various forms. The Children begin to peer about the walls ,at and through the windows, even, for pictorial inspiration.]
JB: Let us get back to discussing our consumption and it's inevitable waste product, pollution. Penny referred to money as a product of this, in so many words. We all know money is produced at the Mint. But how the Governments of the world justify the amount of paper notes and metal to coin has long led to economical imbalances. We discussed earlier the wasted food and commodities due to the reluctance of Governments to redistribute to those who sorely need them, cause of an economical and ecological imbalance. So how can we expect the few in Government to responsibly distribute monied wealth when they wish to hoard it all for themselves at the expense of the many?
PUPIL: Especially when they have huge armies of soldiers and police to protect it. [JB stares at her inquisitively]Oh, Karem Weng.
DOUGLAS: How are we to get the armies and police forces on our side whenever we do create our own governments?
JB: Will you feel the need for armies since you all seem to agree that you speak a common language worldwide? I do agree that some kind of law enforcement is necessary until mankind has evolved beyond war and crime but it could be practiced by other means than at present.
Don't you think?
PENNY: When there is no want in the world crime will diminsh but, there will still be the power hungry. How will we deal with them?
JB: In the past we exiled them to tiny islands but only to replace them by equally power hungry egocentrics. So what should we do with the drunken sailors of your future.[Enigmatic expressions all round] Just an expression taken from an old song.
PETER: Like you adults singing the same old song which is why the world is in this present state of stagnation?
JB: Exactly! Which is why I wish to teach you how to bridge this empasse. So lets get back to this money issue.
BENJAMIN: Wouldn't it be a idea to find out just how much money there is in the world and how it can be evenly distributed just as we should be finding out how much money the Head Teacher has to spend in order to justify our expenditure.
JB: Capital! Which is the amount a business or institution, such as this school, has to spend on maintaining itself. When it comes to entire countries we speak of GNP and GDP as a measurement of a nation's wealth. But since Gross National Product and Gross Deficit Product are pretty inaccurate measurements if we are dealing with an holistic economy, I think it wiser to leave dealing with them until a more appropriate time. However, if we could, with the cooperation of Miss Bridget, assertain and re-evaluate the school's budget, which is a good starting point. Which also brings us back to our original task of justifying the expenditure of decorating this classroom, which would also be a feather in our cap for seeking her cooperation.
[Meanwhile some pupils have taken the initiative of raiding the school art stores. Having procured all the tablets of paint pigment and any powdered paint, gathered some empty tubs, containers and blunt instruments, are busy crushing pigment into powder, filling containers, adding water, and vegetable oil to thicken enough to daub successfully, they mix each colour in separate containers].
JB: But we still have not answered the question of where the money comes from to justify the money minted.
BENJAMIN: So how can there be more credit available than actual paper and metal? Isn't this why the banks have gone to pot?
JB: Unwise speculation on the money markets has always been the cause of crashes and burst speculation bubbles throughout history. Its to do with trusting the metal to keep its expected value on the market. But When gold and silver drastically drop or rise unexpectedly, inflation or depression follow. The quantity of goods being manufactured and the spending power we have are also a factor previous governments neglected to consider, notably Germany after the First World War. The International Monetary Fund decides how much money is brought into circulation in certain zones of the world and how much is withdrawn from others at certain times. Of course we already discussed the political bias as a major factor for the imbalances throughout the world. Instead, I want us to explore a totally different perspective, hence the collage I suggested and the graffiti mural you have decided on as a base to explore where we wish to go with our approach to a holistic economy.
[paint being duly mixed the pupils begin daubing the walls] When your parents arrive home after a days' work, complaining of being knackered, unable to play or help with homework, yet prepared to sit in front of the soaps all evening, have you wondered whether there's more to it than physical exhaustion?
BENJAMIN: They're emotionally drained too. My mum's always threatening an heart attack or nervous breakdown if we don't calm down and shut up.
JB: So why do you think this is?
DON: Stress in the workplace. Agro from the boss and others at the office, or wherever. Then us when she gets home.
JB: That's what I'm getting at. What does your mum work at, Don?
DON: [Sniggers and mock vomitting from his mates] She helps cook the school dinners then has to cook for us.
CHILDREN: Gluttens for punishment, Yeargh!
JB: Calm down now. And why the agro?
DON: 'Cos people get on yer tits a lot of the time.
JB: So how are the tensions sparked off, do you think?
PENNY: You heard, people piss you off a lot of the time.
JB: Inequality and lack of selfworth engendered in the workplace, I feel, are the major contributors to emotional stress in the workplace. Of course this spills over on the commute home. Delays and cancellations to public transport, traffic jams etc; and upon reaching home as minor issues are wound up into huge arguments. Some employees efforts are overlooked whilst shortsighted managers reward those deemed by their colleagues as undeserving such rewards.
PETER: We all need incentives to aim for though, otherwise what's the point of working other than to pay bills and feed ourselves.
JB: What do you perceive as incentives to aim for?
PETER: Decent chance of promotion and wage rises to beat inflation are what my parents bang on about, but we need more stimulation. The choice to contribute to the company we work for in more than one capacity.
JB: So how would this work?
PETER: By working part time on the shop or office floor and part time in the manager's office we can grasp for our selves the overall picture of how the business we're employed in operates, so prompting us to successfully present improvements to management without being softsoaped by mediocre managers, fearing the loss of their power.
AVRIL: In what way do you see the boss as being equal to the employees yet still order them to do their work, Mr.Blending?
JB: Well, Peter obviously understands where I'm coming from with this. Incentives are indeed neccessary, but do they need to be penal opposed to inspirational? A worthy employer is of such a quality of character that coercive incentives...
DON: [interupting]What's coercive mean, sir?
JB: Threatening. Do this or else that will happen to you. So a worthy employer has no need of coercive measures to motivate staff to persue their duties. As Peter has pointed out so succinctly, an employer who values employees by inspiring them to leadership roles within the company instead of fearing their success, encourage them to become self motivated. For example, how does Captain Picard successfully captain his ship whilst rarely raising his voice or cajouling his crew into action?
DON: [Immitates Picard pointing finger]Make it so.
JB: Is it his rank or personality that commands so?
AVRIL: Both, by pulling rank only when he feels it neccessary, not to bolster his ego.
DON: He also allows his officers to speak frankly or 'off the record' if they believe his stubborn streak is jeopardizing the ship, crew or mission.
JB: So delegation normally runs smoothly throughout the Enterprise, because?
PENNY: Because the crew are valued by their captain.
BENJAMIN: Shouldn't we consider an equality of salary. As an incentive to contribute to the companies we'll work for?
PENNY: And how would that encourage managers to feel their worth, considering our present parent generation's mindset
BENJAMIN: It would bruise quite a few egos, for sure, but test the integrity of those who claim to be upto the challenge.
ROY: They don't use money either, do they? Just some kind of credit system.
JB: So they must be credited in some way for the service they provide for The Federation.
ROY: On Deep Space Nine they use bars of gold pressed latinum, whatever that is.
PENNY: But they're not universal currency, within The Federation.
JB: So how do they value the commodities they order from the replicators? This is the kind of scenario I want to place us in, where money as we know it, no longer has value so we are compelled to create afresh by revaluing ourselves, our resources, and the commodities we decide to produce both for the home market and abroad. As well as our choice of imports and importers. Do we for instance choose those countries we can make a fast buck from, or those we recieve fair quality from whilst ensuring their employees are treated as equally as we expect of ourselves?
PETER: If we opt for a truly holistic economy you seemed to be alluding to, shouldn't we be considering the plant and animal kingdoms?
SUSAN: Not forgetting the minerals, elementals and other lifeforms. Even though we can't see them, they all share Earth's environment with us.
JB: Yes, everyone must be equally considered.
DON: So, how much money is the world really worth?
JB: Some sources reckon on $47 Trillion. But does that consider the entire planet's resouce potential, I wonder?
PENNY; So, how can we assertain it for ourselves?
BENJAMIN: I think it better to dismiss these official figures altogether and look to a new method.
JB: Ditto. I suggest we are no other but each other. We are all varieties of energy patterns formed from the Universal source.
So how can we pretend further that we are superior to other varieties of ourselves? Can anyone honestly look to the sky and pinpoint THE centre of Creation and claim it to be more or less superior to any other pinprick of light or dark, anymore than this planet could be?
AVRIL: So, how can we improve on anything if everything is equal?
JB: Indeed, how do we justify furthering our potentials as well as that of which we rear or produce if all is equality?
BENJAMIN: By percieving equality and potential in a different light?
JB: Good answer, but is it enough, do you think? could we be missing something? If we were to tap into the wisdom of other beings in the Universe, to discover how they do things, we would of course think many of them far advanced than our own, simply for being unknown to us. But I think we should discuss this further tomorrow. For now, let's return to present value assessment
PETER: We could make a list on the mural of what we as a class value most then justify our claims.
BENJAMIN: Why not go online to find what other schools value?
PETER: Ask them how they would value their choices?
AVRIL: Finding a common denominator to work with.
BENJAMIN: An interschool currency but without cash?
AVRIL:
The very reason Mr.Blending suggested we evaluate how the school is funded we could use in order to value an interschool currency. An interesting exercise for us could be, once we have assessed how we feel about the world, school, and what and how we are taught to believe in, should be expressed. And if we could learn from Miss Bridget the logistics of managing a school, from her perspective.
Scene closes as children continue daubing the walls and pine panelling.
Day/Int. Morning classroom
Children have already got stuck into their mural. JB bowls into the classroom with a stack of papers and glossy magazines propped under his chin. Almost crashing into the far wall he defts a spin on his left heel so the stack lands with a smack to the floor.
JB: How many of you think there's not enough time and how many think there's just enough?
AVRIL: Just enough for what?
JB: Exactly!
DON: What exactly?
JB: Have you had enough of it yet?
PENNY: Of what you've been wasting, maybe?
JB: Why not? There's enough of it.
DON: How do you know if there's enough?
JB: Now there's enough to be getting on with. O.K then, who thinks time is or could be elastic?
DON: Like a spring or elastic band, you mean?
JB: In a way, yes. It's the way you think about time that has to be elastic for you to experience its elasticity.
BENJAMIN: Einstein said time is relative. That's what you mean, isn't it?
JB: Exactly. You have to be elastic with your relativity. People often use fear-based phrases concerning time as if there's never enough of it, ever. Another cause for stress in our lives we could do without. How many of you consider a holiday starting at your holiday destination ?
[Six children show their hands.]
How many consider the adventure commencing as soon as you 've left your homes?
[Only two pupils show theirs]
DON: So what's the difference ?
JB: All the difference in the world, maybe. When I fear the lack of time to a schedule, such as arriving at the airport in time, things enevitably go awry. Allowing plenty of time to arrive with no fear of losing any, every part of the journey runs more smoothly. Now that's easy for me to say, not being a parent of highly excited or mischievious children, but if the parents could chill out and view the whole journey as an adventure instead of a logistics course on The Krypton Factor, their holiday could be all the more relaxing. Or am I talking out of my backside. Be flexible, leaving space for alternate plans.
PENNY: Like when it rains when you want to go to the beach?
JB: Exactly! Consider when you are at the beach, how much time do you spend in the sea as to on the beach itself. The amount of time spent doing either and the enjoyment of them are factors in the evaluation of your holiday. Likewise with eating, what you eat and where you eat. Where you sleep. Is it a hotel, bed and breakfast, hostel or camping site? Are you under canvas or in a caravan? Did you personaly want to go there, or was it your parents' choice and you had to lump it or leave it? Ditto for the accomodation and eating.
DON: So what has all this to do with economics? You've lost me.
BENJAMIN: What sir is saying is that we must ask ourselves these sort of questions in order to understand the relativity of life in all its complexity. We can then evaluate our experiences and commodities we buy considering their relativity, pricing them accordingly.
DON: What if you could fill out a comments slip about your stay at a hotel, B&B, or campsite which could immeadiatly be fed into a computer to assess how much you deserve to pay?
BENJAMIN: Right on! Could the same be done with package deal holidays?
DON: Some money could be paid upfront, one or two hundred pounds, say until you return. After filling the forms in about all the aspects of your holiday, the computer then makes an evaluation reimbursing or demanding more.
AVRIL: But wouldn't people make out they had a terrible holiday so as to get all or most of their money back?
JB: True, but I'm sure there would be watchdog systems to protect those within the travel business as well as holiday makers.The travel company would have to take full responsiblity for this so all are serviced adequately. It's the same with work. The quality of the commodities you produce or help to produce, or the services you provide depends on how much time, care and diligence you devote to them.
AVRIL: So, if you feel undervalued in your work, you won't bother about quality, and so we end up with crappy commodities in the shops.
DON: And shoddy workmanship from traders that come to "fix" this or that in our homes or our streets and elsewhere yet we're expected to cough up the quality price rate for them. But if we insist on paying for good service and commodities only, traders will be forced to raise their standards or not be paid what they expect
JB: Most of the time, yes. Also when unrealistic or penalistic targets are set upon the work, as well as pure profit-mongering, often quality flies out the window in order to meet those deadlines.
PENNY: So why are they imposed?
JB: To prevent contactors prolonging their work to keep themselves in business and their employees permanantly employed. Corners are often cut so they are called on perpetually to repair their faulty original work. Unfortunately, quality goods now, as in the past, are out of the reach of many households. So to rectify, what should we do?
BENJAMIN: Find ways of getting people to change their ideas about time and the cost of it.
JB: This, I feel, will come to light as we progress with a wider scope of how people in other parts of the world value their lives, work and recreation. Now I remember, this brings us to where I cut off yesterday, about the possibility of discovering how other Universal beings do things in their world. We may find them futuristic because they are alien, forgive the pun, being unknown to us. But are they not contemporary, only different means of living?
This could be how equality and improvements in ourselves and our technology may not necessarily contradict. Let's ponder it as we continue today.
BENJAMIN: This could be the beginning of a massive survey.
PETER: Or the close of this project if we can't justify the expense to Miss Bridget.
DON: And how do we know you won't get the push at the end of term and we end up with a boring teacher.
PETER: Or no economics at all!
JB: True, this I cannot guarantee, but I would be prepared to set up an after school school, since you seem interested enough to continue learning from me.
PETER: That would be great.
DON: Would we have to pay you?
JB: I think we could come up with an amicable agreement should the need arise.
BENJAMIN: A form of credit similar to that used in StarTrek?
PETER: Do you mean those gold pressed latinum bars?
BENJAMIN: No, credit points, sort of.
JB: Think flexibly
BENJAMIN: Think relative to relativity.
JB: Another fallacy about time is that time spent doing nothing is wasted.
PENNY: How come?
JB: That time spent doing nothing is not wasted?
PENNY: If you like.
JB: It being the general attitude in western society that we should be busy doing. Our waking life should be actively full. Eastern society does not always hold to this. It allows for contemplation.
DON: Isn't that the same as meditation?
JB: Yes, it is a form of meditation. Practicing either or both opens yourself to universal wisdom that may inspire you to invent or discover something of world shattering significance or merely advice on when best to plant those flower seeds or bulbs or a recipe for a special meal for friends. The mind is more flexible when there is no time agenda. Both Einstein and Darwin were inspired whilst taking walks out in nature, along with many other creative people such as poets and artists et al. And who's to say they were not inspired by other world beings. For when we meditate, our brainwaves switch frequencies, allowing cell particles to travel away from the body crossing into other realms or planes of existance momentarily. Not only this, those meditating on those or other planes reciproccate with their cellular particles, or equivelant, returning to their physical or etheric bodies with information collected .
DON: So, we're all our own cosmic web sites. Is this what we should be doing, more consciously, though?
JB: Yes we could put it that way. And yes, be more consciously aware of how we communicate with each other. Our cells listen to us in ways we have not yet fathomed and respond likewise. But I want to mention another fallacy, that denies dreaming. How many times have you heard the expression that we spend a third of our lives sleeping, inferring that time is wasted?
[Some nods from pupils acknnowledged]
Yet sleep and dreaming is just as vital to our survival as breathing.
ROY: If we don't get enough sleep we become tetchy, right. If we lose too much we go crazy. I saw it on Horizon Once. It's a scientific fact.
JB: Exactly. It's essential for our peace of minds. I assume those who would have us stay awake 24/7 would have us either working or consuming, so long as profits are being made for the select few. But then that's my bias. I would sooner choose more dreamtime.
PENNY: Whilst awake?
JB: Certainly. This is the direction I intend our classes should be heading once we have decorated our classroom and possibly commenced on the rest of the school with Miss Bridget's approval. Now, I have spoken to Miss Bridget, and yes, she is willing to cooperate. She has her own list of budget targets the school needs to meet for this year and has handed us the interesting challenge of not only beating those targets, but of hiding any surplus funds from the school authorities.
KAREM: What does she mean by hiding any surplus funds?
BENJAMIN: What we can save for the school, we need to keep in reserve against inevitable rises in costs or fall in budget allowance.
JB: Very astute of you, Benjamin. We need to make the books right without cooking them, by some how justifying the saving without losing out in next year's budget. So, if we can decorate this room at no extra cost to the budget, Miss Bridget will see how she can allocate funds from the existing budget to decorate the rest of the school on condition we can beat her estimate before we start.
PETER: Then we start dreaming our own style of economy
JB: As we proceed, certainly. I believe your mural is the first step to acknowledging each others perceptions, or at least those not already acknowledged and allowing me to realize them for myself.
We then begin our dreaming sessions with paper and pencil at hand to jot down whatever we were dreaming then create in any form something from those dreams we can each share. Remember we must justify our results to the class in the form of healthy debate. We then repeat the process until a pattern of thought is realized. We can experiment with grouping patterns and enviroments to discover whether any particular patterns produce more interesting results than others and so determine, for instance, who has a greater aptitude for dealing with certain aspects of holistic economy. If you prefer to work on projects in teams, they could then act as team leaders focusing on those aspects, for once we have suceeded with re-assessing the school budget we can then think about linking up with other schools as Benjamin has already suggested
PENNY: Why wait. Start the ball rolling now by elasticating time. Text and E-Mail our mates for feedback whilst we work on our projects, whatever they maybe.
ROY: Yea, what will these projects entail?
JB: The creation of your own living spaces, homes, streets, towns and /or cities recreational spaces, shopping centres. All your municipal needs you will learn to fund and cater for as well as your neighbours in natural spaces, as we've mentioned before. All factors will be painstakingly considered, from the needs of your grandparents, those physically and mentally disadvantaged [for the sake of a more humain term] to the smallest of creatures that maintain the micro-ecologies of the smallest blade of grass and sod of earth. To your own grandchildren, be flexible enough with your designs to allow them to be re-adjusted and amended without recourse to partial or total demolition of structures, municipal and domestic. Beleive me, you will need to know all this. And since the government have no interest in teaching it to you, the most practical way is for your generation to teach yourselves. I'm only here to guide you.
TO BE CONTINUED.
----------------------------------------------------------------------e you.
Not only does he teach remedial children , he carries out Lee Kui's directives for a holistic education for Megacity , creating programs to encourage adults and children to be more aware of their true potentials and destinies in service to themselves as a society
JOSEPH BLENDING is a man of absolutely no importance. So reckons the status quo of present society. However, he is fully aware this does not include everybody's reckoning, especially this present child generation, eager for a real education instead of the indoctrinated pap presently forced upon them. They seek relevance to their world not their preceding generations' worlds. This is Joseph Blending's mission.
Having sufficiently qualified himself in economics on an Open University course along with other relevant courses in sociology and psychology, he has managed to position himself with a school teaching those with reading and writing difficulties in order to impart basic economics. Of course, the authorities expect nothing great to come from the exercise, so leave Blending free to commence how he wishes. He aims to empower them to realise their true potentials, thus enabling them to restructure society to their desires responsibly and holistically.
Int: school classroom and corridor.
Walls bare and white above pine panelling below dado rail. Only black plastic chairs common to schools stacked against west wall, facing multi-paned window segregating outside panorama into small boxed fragments. Floor of parqueted mahogany, residue of a more prosperous yet unethically astute age. A huge 'whiteboard' replaces the now politically incorrect 'blackboard'. Mustn't be racialist now. What has a blackboard done to anyone a white' bored' hasn't, I wonder? Being black, I suppose. Why are these political correctness fascists so up themselves? Don't they realise their labels for people are just as offensive as those they've replaced? Challenged this, challenged that. We're all challenged here on Earth, it's why we ARE here.
The pupils await their economics teacher, whom they have never before met, in the corridor which is laid with plain pale grey linoleum.
Similar walls as classroom only completely white, as is the ceiling, illuminated by bulbs in cased in beacon like clam shells. Placed at two metre intervals along the corridor they produce an eerie gloom.
The children, thirty in this class, are boys and girls aged 10-16. They wear their own clothes.
MR.BLENDING aged 46, dressed comfortably in burgundy corduroy slacks, paisley shirt of red/green hue, a velvet jacket with reinforced patches at the elbow, also in burgundy [if not a deep wine red], walks in black Cuban heels, down the corridor toward his awaiting pupils. His hair, collar length with a left side parting at front is auburn with flecks of grey at temples and sideburns. He fumbles with the keys until he finds the one that opens successfully amongst assorted impatient groans from the children.
JB: Good morning all. Sorry for the delay. Problem finding the keys for this room. [Looks around classroom as all pile in] Dreary, isn't it ?
PUPIL: [Fastidiously] An understatement.
JB: Well there is a good reason for it being so dreary.
PUPIL:[Contemptuously] And that is?
JB: I intend for you to decorate it, to your tastes.
PUPIL: But what has this to do with economics? You have got the right class, I presume, Mr. er Blandin ?
JB: If economics is what you expect to be taught you, then yes. And my name is Blending.[Walks to whiteboard, picks up marker and spells name onto it]. Has anyone any suggestions worthy of mention? [Looks out at sea of blank faces and shrugging shoulders] So that I can get to know you all without asking your names over and over, could you state them as you speak, please.
PUPIL: Peter Standish. How much can we spend?
JB: An excellent start to a course on economics. Next question, how do we justify what we spend?
PUPIL: Penny Oliver. How can we justify what we haven't thought of yet?
JB: Any suggestions?
PUPIL: Peter Standish. Let's see how we can decorate this place, add up it's cost, then present it to the 'Head' along with our justification of why we deserve an environment conducive to inspiration.
JB: May I suggest a collage to fill the vacuity? Comprised of images depicting the world how you perceive it.
PUPIL: Don Watts. What's a collage?
PENNY: [Hissing] Idiot!
JB: Good question if you've never heard of the concept. A collage, young man, comprises of many cutouts from magazines and old newspapers, also fabrics and other materials such as plastic or metal; whatever sticks to a canvas. But it's not always haphazard, there's reason behind the placement on/in the collage, even though it's not understood by all. What I propose is that we meditate on how we feel about the world we live in now. Relax yourselves anywhere in the room. Sit or lie down allowing your thoughts to gently focus on how you feel about the world.
[They do so in their own time]
PUPIL: Douglas Dempsey. Do computer images count?
JB: Of course they count.
DON: So when do we start?
[Raucous laughter raised by class]
PENNY: We've all ready started, you tosser.
JB: Now that's enough with the tosser.
[uncontrolled sniggering and hisses from some]
Relax and focus on how you ...
PENNY:[bored]...feel about the world.
JB: That's enough of that cheek too.
4TH PUPIL: Susan Hollingsday. Too short.
DON: Too heavy!
5TH PUPIL: Avril Puckering. Too much!
PETER: Ado about nothin'.
AVRIL: [Droll] Very witty.
6TH PUPIL: Brian sommer. Scummy.
JB: Any brighter images?
BRIAN: No it's all pretty much bollocks really.
AVRIL: Not all the time, is it. I mean there is a lot of good stuff in the world I'd like to see keep coming but without tackiness attached to it. Isn't a wiser choice to pay for quality rather than quantity, we can still recycle and curb our spending so we can ease up on our carbon footprint.
PETER: Carbon footprint my arse. It's a government scam to make us believe it's all our fault.
JB: Isn't it our fault, then?
PENNY: What do you mean? course its not all our fault. What about all the toxic dumping of the huge chemical and oil companies?
JB: Are you so sure its not? Do you not use electricity, water, gas?
What about all the chemicals you consume, whether you consented directly or not?
DON: What do you mean by consented directly
JB; Well, whenever you choose to buy something, you indirectly consent to consuming its ingredients, if foodstuff, otherwise its contents. So what exactly do you spend your money on, and where does it come from? Do you actually know where all our waste goes after we throw it, or spend it, or do you just trust that the local council deals with responsibly?
PENNY: The money or the stuff I buy?
JB: O.K. Lets deal with one issue at a time. What happens to the wasted or "dead" deposits of our fuel consumption?
PENNY: Most of it ends up in the atmosphere as pollution, right?
JB:[Nods agreement] And where else do you think?
7TH PUPIL: Roy Caper. It falls back into the earth to poison our food crops, plant life and animals so we end up eating and drinking our own crap.
DOUGLAS: And the scientists have considered cramming all our crap into pods or capsules and jettisoning it all into the Sun. Won't that just come back at us in the form of polluted sunlight?
JB: So what can we do if we can't burn it here on Earth without polluting ourselves nor in the Sun as it will just come back at us as poisoned sunlight?
SUSAN: So, how did we deal with our rubbish before the industrialization of the world?
PETER: Good question.[Turns to J.B. with inquisitive frown]
JB: What did we do, I wonder? Any suggestions on that one?
DON: Come on Sir, don't try to wriggle out of it.
JB: O.K. then, for a start, everything we produced for sale and consumption was organically grown and bred so whatever we had no immediate use for was somehow stored for future recycling. It is true that in the Neolithic and Stone ages people buried their household rubbish in a pit outside their homes, but this was all, but bones and broken crockery, biodegradable, usually whatever the family dog and other livestock wouldn't eat. Generally they produced/bred enough to meet their needs. However, as we all have come to realize, the subsequent escalation in consumption, due to wider trade links during the Roman and middle ages as well, our thirst for ever more electronically advanced tools and toys due to the present technological age, we appear to have amassed a hefty surplus of appliances as we are continually shamed into believing them to be obsolete. Not forgetting also the excess foodstuffs that pile only to be destroyed by E.U. and U.N. regulations.
ROY: Isn't that just criminal? Governments punish business for producing too much yet waste the food rather than do the decent thing of donating the cost of redistributing vital resources to those countries that need them through charities like Oxfam and Live Aid
JB Bravo! You've hit the nail on the head, Roy. Unfortunately governments are not as ethically advanced as are we. They only interest themselves in the profits of war and commercial greed.
PENNY: So how can we persuade them differently?
JB: Alas we cannot. We can only, as far as I can see, outgrow them by educating ourselves so we can take over the reigns responsibly. Make it your generation's destiny to make the appropriate changes by creating your own Governments. Not by inciting bloody revolutions that have failed throughout history, as the leaders of such coups have inevitably been of the same stamp as those they have overthrown.
PUPIL: Benjamin Freede. Wasn't it The Beatles who sang "if you want to change the world, you'd better change your mind instead" ?
JB: Maybe not the exact lyric, but yes, that is what they were saying and I am advocating to you. You need to side-step the way governments are run in the future by creating your own political parties that truly speak and deliver to your generation. Involve the population of your respective countries in the governing of themselves.
AVRIL: Well, we won't be needin' paper. Straight on the walls with it.
JB: How do you mean?
AVRIL: We don't HAVE to meditate, we can visualise. The writing can be on the walls like in ancient Greece and Rome. They used graffiti to express ideas and opinions just as we paint drab city walls with our brand of graffiti. We deliver our messages to those who understand us. If the councillors and other bods in government could bother themselves to read and listen, a channel for communication could be set up. We can be flexible if they can.
BRIAN: We're only here because the Education bods aren't flexible enough to realize that our forms of expression have moved on from the three 'R's', as they so patronizingly phrase it.
JB: Do you not think that there should be a standard of language for everyone to understand?
BENJAMIN: If so, shouldn't we all be speaking and writing the same language around the world?
JB: Well, it has been tried in the past. There was a language called Esperanto but it didn't take off.
BENJAMIN: Exactly my point.My parents often say Variety is the spice of life. Maybe that's why this Esperanto failed to take on.
JB: Maybe so. Most probably the Governments of the world found it too problematic to instigate.
with no problem anyway. We don't need any boring reading and writing lessons.
BENJAMIN: And as Avril has said, isn't it you adults who should be learning our languages since we are supposed to be the future? MR.Blending's Co-created Society BENJAMIN: Exactly my point.My parents often say Variety is the spice of life. Maybe that's why this Esperanto failed to take on.
JB: Homo Sapiens have outgrown their use. Make way for the Homo Superior. Is that what you mean?
BENJAMIN: No. We don't want to get rid of you, just your obsolete thinking.
JB: Then at least I speak the same language as yourselves. Or am I being presumptuous?
BENJAMIN: We understand where you're coming from. You have our attention.
[JB scans class for visible signs of approbation, receiving them in various forms. The Children begin to peer about the walls ,at and through the windows, even, for pictorial inspiration.]
JB: Let us get back to discussing our consumption and it's inevitable waste product, pollution. Penny referred to money as a product of this, in so many words. We all know money is produced at the Mint. But how the Governments of the world justify the amount of paper notes and metal to coin has long led to economical imbalances. We discussed earlier the wasted food and commodities due to the reluctance of Governments to redistribute to those who sorely need them, cause of an economical and ecological imbalance. So how can we expect the few in Government to responsibly distribute monied wealth when they wish to hoard it all for themselves at the expense of the many?
PUPIL: Especially when they have huge armies of soldiers and police to protect it. [JB stares at her inquisitively]Oh, Karem Weng.
DOUGLAS: How are we to get the armies and police forces on our side whenever we do create our own governments?
JB: Will you feel the need for armies since you all seem to agree that you speak a common language worldwide? I do agree that some kind of law enforcement is necessary until mankind has evolved beyond war and crime but it could be practiced by other means than at present.
Don't you think?
PENNY: When there is no want in the world crime will diminsh but, there will still be the power hungry. How will we deal with them?
JB: In the past we exiled them to tiny islands but only to replace them by equally power hungry egocentrics. So what should we do with the drunken sailors of your future.[Enigmatic expressions all round] Just an expression taken from an old song.
PETER: Like you adults singing the same old song which is why the world is in this present state of stagnation?
JB: Exactly! Which is why I wish to teach you how to bridge this empasse. So lets get back to this money issue.
BENJAMIN: Wouldn't it be a idea to find out just how much money there is in the world and how it can be evenly distributed just as we should be finding out how much money the Head Teacher has to spend in order to justify our expenditure.
JB: Capital! Which is the amount a business or institution, such as this school, has to spend on maintaining itself. When it comes to entire countries we speak of GNP and GDP as a measurement of a nation's wealth. But since Gross National Product and Gross Deficit Product are pretty inaccurate measurements if we are dealing with an holistic economy, I think it wiser to leave dealing with them until a more appropriate time. However, if we could, with the cooperation of Miss Bridget, assertain and re-evaluate the school's budget, which is a good starting point. Which also brings us back to our original task of justifying the expenditure of decorating this classroom, which would also be a feather in our cap for seeking her cooperation.
[Meanwhile some pupils have taken the initiative of raiding the school art stores. Having procured all the tablets of paint pigment and any powdered paint, gathered some empty tubs, containers and blunt instruments, are busy crushing pigment into powder, filling containers, adding water, and vegetable oil to thicken enough to daub successfully, they mix each colour in separate containers].
JB: But we still have not answered the question of where the money comes from to justify the money minted.
BENJAMIN: So how can there be more credit available than actual paper and metal? Isn't this why the banks have gone to pot?
JB: Unwise speculation on the money markets has always been the cause of crashes and burst speculation bubbles throughout history. Its to do with trusting the metal to keep its expected value on the market. But When gold and silver drastically drop or rise unexpectedly, inflation or depression follow. The quantity of goods being manufactured and the spending power we have are also a factor previous governments neglected to consider, notably Germany after the First World War. The International Monetary Fund decides how much money is brought into circulation in certain zones of the world and how much is withdrawn from others at certain times. Of course we already discussed the political bias as a major factor for the imbalances throughout the world. Instead, I want us to explore a totally different perspective, hence the collage I suggested and the graffiti mural you have decided on as a base to explore where we wish to go with our approach to a holistic economy.
[paint being duly mixed the pupils begin daubing the walls] When your parents arrive home after a days' work, complaining of being knackered, unable to play or help with homework, yet prepared to sit in front of the soaps all evening, have you wondered whether there's more to it than physical exhaustion?
BENJAMIN: They're emotionally drained too. My mum's always threatening an heart attack or nervous breakdown if we don't calm down and shut up.
JB: So why do you think this is?
DON: Stress in the workplace. Agro from the boss and others at the office, or wherever. Then us when she gets home.
JB: That's what I'm getting at. What does your mum work at, Don?
DON: [Sniggers and mock vomitting from his mates] She helps cook the school dinners then has to cook for us.
CHILDREN: Gluttens for punishment, Yeargh!
JB: Calm down now. And why the agro?
DON: 'Cos people get on yer tits a lot of the time.
JB: So how are the tensions sparked off, do you think?
PENNY: You heard, people piss you off a lot of the time.
JB: Inequality and lack of selfworth engendered in the workplace, I feel, are the major contributors to emotional stress in the workplace. Of course this spills over on the commute home. Delays and cancellations to public transport, traffic jams etc; and upon reaching home as minor issues are wound up into huge arguments. Some employees efforts are overlooked whilst shortsighted managers reward those deemed by their colleagues as undeserving such rewards.
PETER: We all need incentives to aim for though, otherwise what's the point of working other than to pay bills and feed ourselves.
JB: What do you perceive as incentives to aim for?
PETER: Decent chance of promotion and wage rises to beat inflation are what my parents bang on about, but we need more stimulation. The choice to contribute to the company we work for in more than one capacity.
JB: So how would this work?
PETER: By working part time on the shop or office floor and part time in the manager's office we can grasp for our selves the overall picture of how the business we're employed in operates, so prompting us to successfully present improvements to management without being softsoaped by mediocre managers, fearing the loss of their power.
AVRIL: In what way do you see the boss as being equal to the employees yet still order them to do their work, Mr.Blending?
JB: Well, Peter obviously understands where I'm coming from with this. Incentives are indeed neccessary, but do they need to be penal opposed to inspirational? A worthy employer is of such a quality of character that coercive incentives...
DON: [interupting]What's coercive mean, sir?
JB: Threatening. Do this or else that will happen to you. So a worthy employer has no need of coercive measures to motivate staff to persue their duties. As Peter has pointed out so succinctly, an employer who values employees by inspiring them to leadership roles within the company instead of fearing their success, encourage them to become self motivated. For example, how does Captain Picard successfully captain his ship whilst rarely raising his voice or cajouling his crew into action?
DON: [Immitates Picard pointing finger]Make it so.
JB: Is it his rank or personality that commands so?
AVRIL: Both, by pulling rank only when he feels it neccessary, not to bolster his ego.
DON: He also allows his officers to speak frankly or 'off the record' if they believe his stubborn streak is jeopardizing the ship, crew or mission.
JB: So delegation normally runs smoothly throughout the Enterprise, because?
PENNY: Because the crew are valued by their captain.
BENJAMIN: Shouldn't we consider an equality of salary. As an incentive to contribute to the companies we'll work for?
PENNY: And how would that encourage managers to feel their worth, considering our present parent generation's mindset
BENJAMIN: It would bruise quite a few egos, for sure, but test the integrity of those who claim to be upto the challenge.
ROY: They don't use money either, do they? Just some kind of credit system.
JB: So they must be credited in some way for the service they provide for The Federation.
ROY: On Deep Space Nine they use bars of gold pressed latinum, whatever that is.
PENNY: But they're not universal currency, within The Federation.
JB: So how do they value the commodities they order from the replicators? This is the kind of scenario I want to place us in, where money as we know it, no longer has value so we are compelled to create afresh by revaluing ourselves, our resources, and the commodities we decide to produce both for the home market and abroad. As well as our choice of imports and importers. Do we for instance choose those countries we can make a fast buck from, or those we recieve fair quality from whilst ensuring their employees are treated as equally as we expect of ourselves?
PETER: If we opt for a truly holistic economy you seemed to be alluding to, shouldn't we be considering the plant and animal kingdoms?
SUSAN: Not forgetting the minerals, elementals and other lifeforms. Even though we can't see them, they all share Earth's environment with us.
JB: Yes, everyone must be equally considered.
DON: So, how much money is the world really worth?
JB: Some sources reckon on $47 Trillion. But does that consider the entire planet's resouce potential, I wonder?
PENNY; So, how can we assertain it for ourselves?
BENJAMIN: I think it better to dismiss these official figures altogether and look to a new method.
JB: Ditto. I suggest we are no other but each other. We are all varieties of energy patterns formed from the Universal source.
So how can we pretend further that we are superior to other varieties of ourselves? Can anyone honestly look to the sky and pinpoint THE centre of Creation and claim it to be more or less superior to any other pinprick of light or dark, anymore than this planet could be?
AVRIL: So, how can we improve on anything if everything is equal?
JB: Indeed, how do we justify furthering our potentials as well as that of which we rear or produce if all is equality?
BENJAMIN: By percieving equality and potential in a different light?
JB: Good answer, but is it enough, do you think? could we be missing something? If we were to tap into the wisdom of other beings in the Universe, to discover how they do things, we would of course think many of them far advanced than our own, simply for being unknown to us. But I think we should discuss this further tomorrow. For now, let's return to present value assessment
PETER: We could make a list on the mural of what we as a class value most then justify our claims.
BENJAMIN: Why not go online to find what other schools value?
PETER: Ask them how they would value their choices?
AVRIL: Finding a common denominator to work with.
BENJAMIN: An interschool currency but without cash?
AVRIL:
The very reason Mr.Blending suggested we evaluate how the school is funded we could use in order to value an interschool currency. An interesting exercise for us could be, once we have assessed how we feel about the world, school, and what and how we are taught to believe in, should be expressed. And if we could learn from Miss Bridget the logistics of managing a school, from her perspective.
Scene closes as children continue daubing the walls and pine panelling.
Day/Int. Morning classroom
Children have already got stuck into their mural. JB bowls into the classroom with a stack of papers and glossy magazines propped under his chin. Almost crashing into the far wall he defts a spin on his left heel so the stack lands with a smack to the floor.
JB: How many of you think there's not enough time and how many think there's just enough?
AVRIL: Just enough for what?
JB: Exactly!
DON: What exactly?
JB: Have you had enough of it yet?
PENNY: Of what you've been wasting, maybe?
JB: Why not? There's enough of it.
DON: How do you know if there's enough?
JB: Now there's enough to be getting on with. O.K then, who thinks time is or could be elastic?
DON: Like a spring or elastic band, you mean?
JB: In a way, yes. It's the way you think about time that has to be elastic for you to experience its elasticity.
BENJAMIN: Einstein said time is relative. That's what you mean, isn't it?
JB: Exactly. You have to be elastic with your relativity. People often use fear-based phrases concerning time as if there's never enough of it, ever. Another cause for stress in our lives we could do without. How many of you consider a holiday starting at your holiday destination ?
[Six children show their hands.]
How many consider the adventure commencing as soon as you 've left your homes?
[Only two pupils show theirs]
DON: So what's the difference ?
JB: All the difference in the world, maybe. When I fear the lack of time to a schedule, such as arriving at the airport in time, things enevitably go awry. Allowing plenty of time to arrive with no fear of losing any, every part of the journey runs more smoothly. Now that's easy for me to say, not being a parent of highly excited or mischievious children, but if the parents could chill out and view the whole journey as an adventure instead of a logistics course on The Krypton Factor, their holiday could be all the more relaxing. Or am I talking out of my backside. Be flexible, leaving space for alternate plans.
PENNY: Like when it rains when you want to go to the beach?
JB: Exactly! Consider when you are at the beach, how much time do you spend in the sea as to on the beach itself. The amount of time spent doing either and the enjoyment of them are factors in the evaluation of your holiday. Likewise with eating, what you eat and where you eat. Where you sleep. Is it a hotel, bed and breakfast, hostel or camping site? Are you under canvas or in a caravan? Did you personaly want to go there, or was it your parents' choice and you had to lump it or leave it? Ditto for the accomodation and eating.
DON: So what has all this to do with economics? You've lost me.
BENJAMIN: What sir is saying is that we must ask ourselves these sort of questions in order to understand the relativity of life in all its complexity. We can then evaluate our experiences and commodities we buy considering their relativity, pricing them accordingly.
DON: What if you could fill out a comments slip about your stay at a hotel, B&B, or campsite which could immeadiatly be fed into a computer to assess how much you deserve to pay?
BENJAMIN: Right on! Could the same be done with package deal holidays?
DON: Some money could be paid upfront, one or two hundred pounds, say until you return. After filling the forms in about all the aspects of your holiday, the computer then makes an evaluation reimbursing or demanding more.
AVRIL: But wouldn't people make out they had a terrible holiday so as to get all or most of their money back?
JB: True, but I'm sure there would be watchdog systems to protect those within the travel business as well as holiday makers.The travel company would have to take full responsiblity for this so all are serviced adequately. It's the same with work. The quality of the commodities you produce or help to produce, or the services you provide depends on how much time, care and diligence you devote to them.
AVRIL: So, if you feel undervalued in your work, you won't bother about quality, and so we end up with crappy commodities in the shops.
DON: And shoddy workmanship from traders that come to "fix" this or that in our homes or our streets and elsewhere yet we're expected to cough up the quality price rate for them. But if we insist on paying for good service and commodities only, traders will be forced to raise their standards or not be paid what they expect
JB: Most of the time, yes. Also when unrealistic or penalistic targets are set upon the work, as well as pure profit-mongering, often quality flies out the window in order to meet those deadlines.
PENNY: So why are they imposed?
JB: To prevent contactors prolonging their work to keep themselves in business and their employees permanantly employed. Corners are often cut so they are called on perpetually to repair their faulty original work. Unfortunately, quality goods now, as in the past, are out of the reach of many households. So to rectify, what should we do?
BENJAMIN: Find ways of getting people to change their ideas about time and the cost of it.
JB: This, I feel, will come to light as we progress with a wider scope of how people in other parts of the world value their lives, work and recreation. Now I remember, this brings us to where I cut off yesterday, about the possibility of discovering how other Universal beings do things in their world. We may find them futuristic because they are alien, forgive the pun, being unknown to us. But are they not contemporary, only different means of living?
This could be how equality and improvements in ourselves and our technology may not necessarily contradict. Let's ponder it as we continue today.
BENJAMIN: This could be the beginning of a massive survey.
PETER: Or the close of this project if we can't justify the expense to Miss Bridget.
DON: And how do we know you won't get the push at the end of term and we end up with a boring teacher.
PETER: Or no economics at all!
JB: True, this I cannot guarantee, but I would be prepared to set up an after school school, since you seem interested enough to continue learning from me.
PETER: That would be great.
DON: Would we have to pay you?
JB: I think we could come up with an amicable agreement should the need arise.
BENJAMIN: A form of credit similar to that used in StarTrek?
PETER: Do you mean those gold pressed latinum bars?
BENJAMIN: No, credit points, sort of.
JB: Think flexibly
BENJAMIN: Think relative to relativity.
JB: Another fallacy about time is that time spent doing nothing is wasted.
PENNY: How come?
JB: That time spent doing nothing is not wasted?
PENNY: If you like.
JB: It being the general attitude in western society that we should be busy doing. Our waking life should be actively full. Eastern society does not always hold to this. It allows for contemplation.
DON: Isn't that the same as meditation?
JB: Yes, it is a form of meditation. Practicing either or both opens yourself to universal wisdom that may inspire you to invent or discover something of world shattering significance or merely advice on when best to plant those flower seeds or bulbs or a recipe for a special meal for friends. The mind is more flexible when there is no time agenda. Both Einstein and Darwin were inspired whilst taking walks out in nature, along with many other creative people such as poets and artists et al. And who's to say they were not inspired by other world beings. For when we meditate, our brainwaves switch frequencies, allowing cell particles to travel away from the body crossing into other realms or planes of existance momentarily. Not only this, those meditating on those or other planes reciproccate with their cellular particles, or equivelant, returning to their physical or etheric bodies with information collected .
DON: So, we're all our own cosmic web sites. Is this what we should be doing, more consciously, though?
JB: Yes we could put it that way. And yes, be more consciously aware of how we communicate with each other. Our cells listen to us in ways we have not yet fathomed and respond likewise. But I want to mention another fallacy, that denies dreaming. How many times have you heard the expression that we spend a third of our lives sleeping, inferring that time is wasted?
[Some nods from pupils acknnowledged]
Yet sleep and dreaming is just as vital to our survival as breathing.
ROY: If we don't get enough sleep we become tetchy, right. If we lose too much we go crazy. I saw it on Horizon Once. It's a scientific fact.
JB: Exactly. It's essential for our peace of minds. I assume those who would have us stay awake 24/7 would have us either working or consuming, so long as profits are being made for the select few. But then that's my bias. I would sooner choose more dreamtime.
PENNY: Whilst awake?
JB: Certainly. This is the direction I intend our classes should be heading once we have decorated our classroom and possibly commenced on the rest of the school with Miss Bridget's approval. Now, I have spoken to Miss Bridget, and yes, she is willing to cooperate. She has her own list of budget targets the school needs to meet for this year and has handed us the interesting challenge of not only beating those targets, but of hiding any surplus funds from the school authorities.
KAREM: What does she mean by hiding any surplus funds?
BENJAMIN: What we can save for the school, we need to keep in reserve against inevitable rises in costs or fall in budget allowance.
JB: Very astute of you, Benjamin. We need to make the books right without cooking them, by some how justifying the saving without losing out in next year's budget. So, if we can decorate this room at no extra cost to the budget, Miss Bridget will see how she can allocate funds from the existing budget to decorate the rest of the school on condition we can beat her estimate before we start.
PETER: Then we start dreaming our own style of economy
JB: As we proceed, certainly. I believe your mural is the first step to acknowledging each others perceptions, or at least those not already acknowledged and allowing me to realize them for myself.
We then begin our dreaming sessions with paper and pencil at hand to jot down whatever we were dreaming then create in any form something from those dreams we can each share. Remember we must justify our results to the class in the form of healthy debate. We then repeat the process until a pattern of thought is realized. We can experiment with grouping patterns and enviroments to discover whether any particular patterns produce more interesting results than others and so determine, for instance, who has a greater aptitude for dealing with certain aspects of holistic economy. If you prefer to work on projects in teams, they could then act as team leaders focusing on those aspects, for once we have suceeded with re-assessing the school budget we can then think about linking up with other schools as Benjamin has already suggested
PENNY: Why wait. Start the ball rolling now by elasticating time. Text and E-Mail our mates for feedback whilst we work on our projects, whatever they maybe.
ROY: Yea, what will these projects entail?
JB: The creation of your own living spaces, homes, streets, towns and /or cities recreational spaces, shopping centres. All your municipal needs you will learn to fund and cater for as well as your neighbours in natural spaces, as we've mentioned before. All factors will be painstakingly considered, from the needs of your grandparents, those physically and mentally disadvantaged [for the sake of a more humain term] to the smallest of creatures that maintain the micro-ecologies of the smallest blade of grass and sod of earth. To your own grandchildren, be flexible enough with your designs to allow them to be re-adjusted and amended without recourse to partial or total demolition of structures, municipal and domestic. Beleive me, you will need to know all this. And since the government have no interest in teaching it to you, the most practical way is for your generation to teach yourselves. I'm only here to guide you.
TO BE CONTINUED.
----------------------------------------------------------------------e you.
Love is the answer. We humans seem to have an innate need to be one up on our neighbour. Vanitas vanitatum, all is vanity. All power to Joseph Blending, accepting that he doesn't seek political power. An idea is more powerful than anything else.
ReplyDelete