One night I found myself looking inwards…

…that mode of thinking some find themselves in when the world is falling apart and you are trying, restlessly, to justify your existence beyond the ability to produce fiat currency for a system that for each dollar produced, produces 5 dollars of debt, creates money out of thin air to “buy” assets that inflate in price meaning by the time my labour can hope to afford them by means of credit all worth has trickled up, spare the items utility. Not everyone has those nights, but I had one recently.

When one enters a first meditation of individual value, if you really put in the time, you may end up at something known as a foundational belief, a properly basic belief. If you are lucky or suffering from enough of an intellectual handicap and cement block of existential awareness, you may end up with the feeling of a justified foundational belief. Sometimes the relief of an end to the line thought is enough, even if that thought is “we are all one in the great oneness of all.”

My reason for writing this article isn’t to explain the define philosophical terms, more to explore why, for me, my foundational belief emerged as “worth is intrinsic to existence” and to go one step further, why I’m terrified by the fact that belief can be usurped by doubt and it’s targeted deployment by propagandists maliciously, consistent with their own foundational beliefs. At points I will use maths terms and symbols, please copy and paste anything you haven’t seen before into google for some easy definitions.

I was going to spend some time and an extortionate amount of mental energy to distil a graduate level philosophical term that underpins theology, civilization and quite possibly the logos itself into a definitions paragraph, however, I really don’t think it’s worth it. If you can’t intuitively work out what a foundational belief is by linking two common use nouns, there’s not much I can do for you, personally. For that I’m genuinely sorry, but in case you didn’t notice, we are at war, the clock is ticking.

To retrace this string back to the beginning, when everything was lost to the infinity of utility, some ghostly tongue tickled ear, in inverted resignation I thought, “worth is intrinsic to existence, (and if you disagree you don’t exist)”. Why did I build my house upon that rock? In short, because if worth is intrinsic to anything else it is based on an others fiat. Much like moving from the gold standard in 1933 basing anything on fiat leads to evil, despair and death, all of which run counter to my foundational belief.

Honestly, I want to meet the man, woman or child that can look me in the eye and tell me my worth is based on something other than the fact I am standing in front of them. Or that the sum of a tree is its market rate, a plot of land is an asset, or an hour is an economic unit.

*Economics 101 enters the chat.

But some would disagree. Some would search the depths of their soul, on a restless night of existential doubt and conclude, “I am… worth something, because I have utility.” Honestly if that is what you find at the bottom of your soul, okay, I just really, really hope your foundational belief doesn’t necessitate my enslavement to some institutional manifestation of it, intrinsically. If it does, we may have a problem.

So, the issue arises, foundational beliefs are at heart based on contemplation. The thought begets the sum, and for some, that value = fiat ergo sum, for others the equation appears ex nihilo, completed balanced, then, in a rude birth ritual unequalised by its twin star ∑

Full credit to the artist Benedikt and Tuvaband: Benedikt feat. Tuvaband – My Killer (Official Lyric Video) – YouTube

But alas, given our foundational belief, which arises with no dependents only opposition as T enters +1, I can’t be reductive. Somehow the standard deviation must be accounted for, because it needs us to submit to its endless growth to derive its value until, inevitably, the after countless excess the sine wave returns to 0.

So where does that leave us? Are we passive waves in this endless sea? Will the new heaven and earth put an end to the cycle? Is momentum some kind of Ying Yang? Do we infer or deduce the next step? Or simply fight?