Checkmate
“Natural science is the study of the sources and control of natural energy, and social science, theoretically expressed as economics, is the study of the sources and control of social energy. Both are bookkeeping systems: mathematics. Therefore, mathematics is the primary energy science. And the bookkeeper can be king if the public can be kept ignorant of the methodology of the bookkeeping.”[1]
Money is an embodiment of energy; energy is synonymous with power. He who has the gold makes the rules. Has this cliche lost its meaning? No, how could it when all current social systems are based on hoarding. At the entry level, this looks like multi-national corporations. Big black shiny buildings with big sterile lobbies and sans-serifed logos. Impersonal monoliths of wealth and power. Is this where the power lies? No, this is just a container, but we’re getting closer. Okay, how about those glorious top story windowed offices with waterfront views, is it someone in there? Not likely, real money doesn’t show up for work. Alright, so where does money move from here? Banks, the stock market, bonds, and mutual funds. Now we’re getting warmer. Okay, how about economics, the ebb and flow of money, the tides of wealth. Is it possible that there may be people sitting at the helm of this seemingly uncontrollable process? Check. These are the power elite. Is it all just a game to them? Checkmate.
The release of “The Secret” and the subsequent fuss after it was added to Oprah’s book list has popularized a spiritual concept — that you have the power to manifest your own reality. That thoughts become things. This idea is rather simple, however, like most simple things it is intensely powerful. It empowers the individual to be the master of his own destiny and not entirely the subject of the whims of fortune. This idea is dangerous to economics, whose purpose it is to constantly reaffirm the scarcity mindset. Feast today, for tomorrow we may die — or sell off your stock today, for tomorrow it may dive.
[1] William Cooper, Behold a Pale Horse (Sedona, AZ: Light Technology Publishing, 1991), 39.