One of my favorite teachings is from my Zen master who said, in essence…

We have lost the ability to distinguish reality from the imaginary.

Over the last couple of weeks there has been quite a circus involving the debt ceiling, the deficit, downgrading of ths USA credit rating and a plummet in stock prices that rivals the 2008 crash. Let me ask you an interesting question.

How has the real, physical world changed in the last few days?

Answer: It hasn’t!

Despite these huge changes in politics and economics, people continue to go to the jobs they had on Friday, continue to take the trips they were scheduled to take, and continue to go to the bars at night to talk about all the problems. This is really fascinating. Other problems that the world is facing like global warming and a shortage of safe water are real physical problems. If there is no clean water, you go thirsty or drink pollution. There is no debate and discussion. On the other hand, economics is purely imaginary. It is purely mental. It is playing Monopoly at a level where people believe it has the same reality as real physical challenges.

Here is the secret. Economics is nothing more than a set of conscious and unconscious agreements about how to count beans that keeps a few people rich. It is a global Monopoly game. Did you ever notice when you played Monopoly that the people who wanted to keep playing were the ones that owned Boardwalk and Park Place and and hotels on them and houses on a bunch of other properties? Therein lies the economic challenge.

Everyone who is talking about the problem from politicians to pundits are the people with the hotels and houses. They are so highly invested in the game that they cannot look outside the box for solutions. They operate from the fundamental solution that the economic game is real in a metaphysical sense. What they fail to see is that the rules of the game simply do not serve the vast population of the planet. The hotel owners have been selling the idea that the game has paid off for everyone because there are so many cool toys around to buy. Certainly, there have been great contributions to the world in some areas like medicine, but at a basic level we need to ask ourselves if we are happier as a global society and if that iPhone is really worth having people thrown out of their homes.

Once you understand that the economy is really just a game, then you can make a conscious decision if you are going to play by the rules of the game or shift them to make your own personally world better. Here are some examples.

If you invest in stocks, forex, or commodities then you are totally inside the game. Frankly, this is like staking your future on your results at Las Vegas. The game is totally in favor of the guys who have the big accounts with the computers that can evaluate what’s happening and make split second decisions. If you have your money with a traditional broker (like in a 401K) the chances are you lost a ton of money yesterday before you could even contact your broker.

What gets you more and more out of the game is to have less and less of your wealth in liquid assets… in other words in money in the bank, stocks, etc. Think about it. What would make you more secure than owning your own land and home. Sure, the “value” of the home may rise and fall… that’s the game part. On the other hand, if you own your home with no mortgage, then no matter what, you have a place to live.

With your own home, you get one step further out of the game by getting rid of dependencies on the grid. Install your own solar electric system, have a well and septic system, start an aquaponics garden to have a constant source of protein and fresh vegetables.

The way that you can change the Monopoly is by not playing the game. So long as you play, you are giving the guys with the hotels and houses the rules that let them win at your expense.

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