Unity

  Is money always the answer? It sure seems like that is the case. Whenever their is a problem, an issue to be resolved, the response is always increased funding. If we only had more money. Listen to the news and what the response ultimately will be, an additional tax, fee, or allocation of funds already collected by taxes and fees. That will solve the problem. Except that the truth is, it doesn't. What it does do is mask the problem a bit further. It just moves it down the road a bit. Money isn't everything but it sure beats whatever is in second place. My mother had a small figurine of a hobo holding a little sign with that written on it. I remember seeing that as a small child and the lesson stuck. 

  Money may be the answer, but it isn't the remedy. If that where the case all the great civilizations of the past that enjoyed such great wealth and influence would still survive today. Every one of them has fallen in spite of that, proof that wealth isn't the answer. It truly is as the Bible records, "the love of money is the root of all evil" often  misquoted to place the blame on the lack of money. If I had money I wouldn't want to steal it. That's the thought there. It's the justification of evil acts. The transferring of blame to something outside of yourself. Not my fault I don't have enough money therefore I'm justified in stealing that. If I only had money.

  Why do civilizations collapse? The answer to that is a complex one and varies a bit with each civilization and time period. The population, the availability of food sources, the collection of taxes and the division of labor are all contributing factors. It's my feeling however that a unified belief system is the most important of all. It is belief that drives the motivations of men. When men believe that wealth is the answer, the drive for that wealth will ultimately destroy them. Power is necessary for the acquisition of wealth. Shared power requires the sharing of that wealth. And that is the big issue every civilization faces. What they now call the redistribution of wealth. But it is power that drives that narrative as well. I want the power to decide just who is getting the wealth. That is the ultimate goal, the control of wealth.

  The establishment of belief is the building block to a successful civilization. A unified cause. That was the objective when the United States was established, the ideal envisioned by those forefathers. They weren't the first to have such ideas however, far from it. Religion has always been the foundation in any civilization. Today we tend to think of religion as a belief in a single deity. That isn't the reality though, Hindu's for one have multiple gods. Still all their gods have a unified message. The ancient Greeks believed in multiple gods ruling from Olympus. Zeus was the top dog though, and ruled over all the other gods. The gods existed to protect and help humans. In exchange you had to pray to them and please them in various ways. If you did not, you were punished. Not all that different from what religions teach today really. My point being, when belief collapses, so too the society. 

  It is a delicate balance between power, wealth and belief. Any one of those can cause the collapse of the others. Belief is, by far, the strongest of the three. You can't buy belief. You can't enforce belief. The Egyptians, for one, tried that with forced compliance and we all know the results of that. It was belief that created the exodus. Those enslaved had no power, no money, but they had belief. The balance was tilted in their favor. " Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire." (Epictetus)  That applies whether the desire is for wealth, power or belief. All three are dependent upon the acceptance of truth. Only you can determine that truth. All anyone can do is share their truth. It is when we all believe in the same truth that we prosper.