The Cursed Hunger

2041 years ago, Virgil, the superstar writer of the Roman Empire, wrote about “auri sacra fames” (= the cursed hunger for wealth). Empires have come and gone since then, rising and falling with violence, destruction and death on the way up, and violence, destruction and death on the way down, with the cursed hunger for wealth fueling the minds of the rulers all the way.

Today’s North Atlantic Empire is no exception, not in the typical trajectory of rise and fall, or in the cursed hunger for wealth generating the policies of the emperors, who, for all practical purposes, are now known as billionaires. The world’s 2000 billionaires represent about 0,000025% of the world population, a percentage which differs insignificantly from the members of the Senate of Virgil’s Rome compared to the subjects of the empire.

Because the policies of the rulers cause so much despair and destruction, we see these policies as evil. They are. But are the rulers evil? Or are they cursed? Whether we call them cursed, diseased, obsessed, possessed, psychopathic or mad doesn’t change the nature of the sickness or the behavior of those inflicted. Anyone, you and I included, would act in a similar way if we were infected with massive wealth. There can be no doubt that wealth beyond an amount that supplies our needs breeds greed, not happiness. The more wealth, the greater the greed until we become cursed, or diseased. Wealth functions like Frodo’s ring. It gives us power and takes possession of our souls.

How are we to help the billionaires, cure them, liberate them from their obsession and prevent them from causing harm? By creating the conditions to make them truly wealthy. Their present type of wealth* conflicts with nature and the family of Homo sapiens. Instead of happiness or satisfaction, the cursed billionaires suffer fear and hatred. They live in a cutthroat world of merciless competition where any partner, friend or lover could turn out to be a Brutus, while the multitudes of their customers in general and victims in particular have the potential of forming a tsunami of revolt to drown them in revenge. They fear and despise the weak and vulnerable, the non-exceptional, not to mention the “useless eaters” who cannot add drops to their sea of wealth. Because they “own” the sphere of culture, their fear and hatred oozes down, contaminates the population, and feeds the flames of decadence causing hysterical shadows.

* The billionaire rulers possess private wealth. This private wealth commands the lives of 100s of 1000s of individuals using massive resources and energy of the earth “owned” by a single person who has managed to climb to the top of the prevailing money-oriented pyramidal order of society. Common wealth, as opposed to private wealth, is the only hope of achieving a just world and providing salvation for Homo sapiens. 

With common wealth the earth can be made into a garden in a glorious future shining with ripples of satisfaction; where everyone enjoys the security of basic needs and the comfort of social support; where health and a culture powers motivation to achieve ever greater configurations of happiness; where problems are confronted without fear and solved with calm enthusiasm; and where each Homo sapiens feels their worth with the confidence of a rose in its beauty and an oak in its strength.

Health is wealth. Security is wealth. Peace is wealth. Friendship is wealth. Freedom is wealth. Love is wealth. Respect is wealth. Justice is wealth. Nourishment is wealth. Knowledge is wealth. Love is wealth. Education is wealth. Solidarity is wealth. Laughter is wealth. Kindness is wealth. Motivation is wealth. Employment is wealth. Truth is wealth. Love is wealth. Trust is wealth. Opportunity is wealth. Happiness is wealth. Honesty is wealth. Love is wealth.

*

“It is not a utopian fantasy to see Homo sapiens secure in their needs, but the only means of survival.”
Dartwill Aquila

*

The West Bank is now the Judea-Samaria area.