How does the world work?

There are an awful lot of businesses out there, doing an awful lot of different things. My understanding is that almost all of these end up being supported by individuals.

For example, a company makes computer chips, which are used to make servers, which are used to sell things to individuals. Or, if not to individuals, then to another company, that manufactures wash room supplies. Whatever that company does, whoever it serves, at the end of the chain must come a product or service that individuals outside a work environment buys.

The only exception I can think of to this would be something like preservation and reforestation charities - they "produce" nothing to sell to people, though of course what they are "producing" is "valuable".

What does this mean? Firstly, I suppose, that there is a lot of "make-work" - so much is done for no good reason. The entire business world could be streamlined, simplified, and designed.. of course this would lead to mass loss of jobs. But, perhaps many roles could be shifted from unhealthy office ones, to food growing without the use of chemicals, and so on.

Secondly, how fragile the whole system is - it makes perfect sense that, in a recession, things look grim. Individuals spend less, meaning companies have less to spend, meaning... it's not a resilient, supporting circle, but a tall tower ready to topple and crash (or a bubble ready to burst, if you prefer).

If you want to think of a pyramid, with the basics necessary for life at the bottom - ie, food production - then think of this. If you look at it as the number of people working in food production, it's a very oddly shaped pyramid indeed. In the UK, the average age of a farmer is 60.

If you haven't seen it, Food, Inc. is well worth a watch - who controls food? Well, if you choose to - you do. There are farmer's markets (even if many close down for a month in January - crazy!!), organic food shops, and so on.

The world works by people being ignorant of (whether by choice or not) a whole range of things. Choosing awareness might not exactly make you happy (because you can see what a mess things are in), but it's liberating. And it's true - real - not shirking your responsibilities as a beautiful powerful human being!