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Quit the Bullshit



We should quit the bullshit.

I told a friend of mine, that I guess we -on average- waste about 80% of our time/energy/money/resources on BS. He laughed, and then estimated that 95% would be more realistic.
What is your estimate?
What parts in your life would you like to get rid of because they feel like:
nonsense, unecessary, a waste of time, useless, not essential, boring, bad, polluting, low quality, irritating, too expensive, unhealthy, stupid, dumb, a lie, a ripp-off, unfair, like them having an official license to steal from you, bureaucratic bullying, rubbish, braindead, heartless, loveless?

We can not progress quickly with all that BS active.
When all of us quit the BS, we can get a huge amount of freedom back!
And next; what can we do with all that freedom?


What is bullshit and what is not.
I'm sure that we can not agree about that.
Here's where it becomes complex already.

Some unpleasant things we need to do because they really are necessary, essential. These may feel like BS, but they are not. Unpleasant does not equal BS. Some pleasant things we like to do, are like a waste of time and all. But having a good time, playing around enjoying whatever, is very important! This is no BS. Everybody should have enough time to 'waste'.

Real BS are the things that make us sick and prevent us from progressing as individuals and as a species (in balance with Earth's biology).

Why is it so hard to get rid of the BS?
Most of the BS, we have created ourselves. It is only natural for BS to keep appearing, just as how sticky dust keeps appearing in our houses. Many people benefit from creating BS. Most have accepted BS as if it is a normal or even 'essential' part of life. Some are like addicted to their crap, think that they can't live without it (which is an important goal of those who sell it). People often know that for example their job is basically BS, but feel they have no other option.

What makes humans special, is the ability to reduce the amount of BS. We can choose to clean up our "systems", the rules of living and working together. No; I am not promoting some kind of violent revolution. Every system needs maintenance to keep it healthy. I am promoting maintenance on many levels. People can be lazy and very resistent against change. That seems to be one of the biggest cause of our troubles.

Escape from the BS? Where to? Back Into the forest -is a dream.
It is almost impossible to escape from the BS, because it is baked into the structures of probably all societies, worldwide.

Why don't I just quit my BS and stop complaining about it? Well I try; I watch very little television, I eat more healthy than I used to do, things like that. But it is not possible to just simply eject everything I think is BS.
For example: I don't want to pay all of my rent because I think the prices of living in a house are way to high, like 4 times higher than necessary for building and maintaining the place. But I if I don't pay all of my rent, I will get in serious trouble.

How much does it cost to built and maintain a house? Paying for a piece of earth is ridiculous to start with. The design? Most houses are just ugly boxes, cheap to make, boring copies. Part of the rent goes to the people who built and maintain it, that sounds ok, but follow the money; most of what they earn goes to... their rent! It's crazy, and there is no easy escape from it.
I would like see the build quality of our houses rise from just acceptable to way beyond lovely, and the rent to go down to a reasonable level.



How to deal with the BS?
Your options:
- Surrender to the BS, don't resist it, go with the its flow, against your will.
- Join the dark side, become a strong player in the world of BS.
- Try to become financial rich. Money can bring some freedom to some.
- Reduce the amount of BS in your own life, as much as possible.
- Get organized, change the world, think big, act big.


How can we chance the world for the better?
We should:
- Get organized.
- Take a good look at the current situation. Where are we now?
- Think about what we would like to have instead. State a goal.
- Give these ideas a reality check, by means of discussion.
- Set up multiple real life experiments.
- Compare the results, analyze.
- Set up new experiments, based upon what has been learned.
- Enlarge the most successful experiments. Large is different from small.
- Try, learn, adapt, grow, try, learn, adapt, grow, and so on.
- Never settle. Even the "perfect" design will need maintenance and adaptation.


Why do I even have to write this down? It's all so basic.


OK, let me brake it down:
All that bull shit, is our mess. We created it.
Problem is not the lack of solutions. We can clean up our mess.
Problem is: Large groups of people don't function well.
We are surrounded by high tech, but inside we are just smart animals.
Maybe that is the next level: for people all over the world to get organized well, so we can simply:
- Look at the current situation.
- Think of where we want to go.
- Take the necessary actions.
- Adjust when things deviate from what was expected.


Giesbert Nijhuis

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