Beyond Property

Timothy Wilken, MD

In yesterday’s article, I concluded that most human possessions are not property. Most human possessions are gifts from God and Nature, and from all the humans who have ever lived in the past..

Two Gifts

It should be clear now that the vast majority of human wealth is a gift. None of us have any moral or rational basis to claim individual ownership of this gift. We did not create it. We never paid for it. It is clearly not property. The land and natural resources of the Earth are a gift from God and Nature to all life on Earth. And, Progress is a gift passed in trust from all the humans who have ever lived in the past to those of us living today, and to those humans that will be born in the future. Today these two great gifts are possessed and controlled by a handful individuals, and these great gifts serve only those few individuals at great cost and harm to the remaining 95% of humanity.

The truth is especially hard to believe if it requires that we take action–if it requires that we change. If humanity is to have a future, we must take action–we must change. If humanity is to have a future, we must believe the truth.

How could we change?

The collective term we humans use to describe what we value is “wealth”. I define Synergic Trust as wealth that comes to us as a gift.

This includes the Life Trust—life itself, the plants and animals which are a gift from God, and Nature, and our human bodies which are a gift from God, Nature, and our Parents.

It includes the Earth Trust—the sunshine, air, water, land, minerals, the earth itself all of which come to us freely. This wealth is provided to us by God and Nature.

And, thirdly it includes the Time-binding Trust—the accumulated “knowing” from the time-binding of all the humans who have ever lived and died. Our inherited Wisdom, Knowledge, and Information including Architecture, Art, Literature, Music, Science, and Technology. It is the Time- binding Trust that forms the basis of all human progress.

We humans then are the primary beneficiaries of these three synergic trusts. Nearly all human possessions, nearly all human wealth is a gift of God, Nature, and past humanity.

Synergic Trusts are not property.

We, humans can not and do not own these trusts. They are not derived from our lives. They are not the product of our mind or labor. We have not paid for them. There is no moral or rational basis for us to claim ownership. They are not property.

Therefore, if we wish the privilege to use and control these trusts, we must act as trustees, and act responsibly for the benefit of all humanity. As responsible trustees, we must preserve and protect these trusts. We must act as conservationists.

“Conservation is the sustainable use of natural resources–soils, water, plants, animals, and minerals. The natural resources of any area constitute its basic capital, and wasteful use of those resources constitutes an economic loss. From the aesthetic viewpoint, conservation also includes the maintenance of national parks, wilderness areas, historic sites, and wildlife.

“Natural resources are of two main types, renewable and nonrenewable. Renewable resources include wildlife and natural vegetation of all kinds. The soil itself can be considered a renewable resource, although severe damage is difficult to repair because of the slow rate of soil-forming processes. The natural drainage of waters from the watershed of a region can be maintained indefinitely by careful management of vegetation and soils, and the quality of water can be controlled through pollution control.

“Nonrenewable resources are those that cannot be replaced or that can be replaced only over extremely long periods of time. Suchresources include the fossil fuels (coal, petroleum, and natural gas) and the metallic and other ores.”  —Reference: Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia.

The Life and Earth Trusts are perishable. They must be protected for our children, and for all future children.

The Time-binding Trust is less susceptible to damage by the user. Using knowledge or technology designs does not diminish their future value, but they must be used responsibly. We must not hurt others with any trusts that we control.In fact, we should help others to whatever the extent we are capable.

All humans are trustees. We are of course the Life Trustees of our own bodies. We should take good care of ourselves. Take care with our health and nutrition. We are also the Time-binding Trustees of all the knowledge and skills that we personally have mastered from our study of the past. We must strive not to hurt others with this knowledge and skill. We should try and help others to whatever extent we are capable.

I have established a website as a prototype for The Time-binding Trust. It can serve as a growing repository for human ‘knowing’—a source of information, knowledge, wisdom, and oneness—for all humans who would choose to act synergically.

For while Time-binding grants us humans the power to understand, it does not insure that we will use our understanding wisely.

Much of our knowledge is embedded in our tools. Human knowledge grows continuously and without limit. As we incorporate evermore powerful knowledge into artifacts, we create evermore powerful tools.

When we use tools to hurt others, they are called weapons.

If we incorporate evermore powerful knowledge into the tools we use to hurt others, we will create evermore powerful weapons. This pathway leads inevitably to the destruction of all humanity.

Yesterday, I said we humans must take the Moral Highground. We must begin to regain control and possession of the synergic trusts, not for our personal use and advantage, but for the benefit of all humanity—for all those living today and for all those yet unborn.

We humans have a choice. We can choose humility with our gift of Time-binding. We can choose responsibility as the moral requirement for using our power of understanding. We can choose to join together and protect our Synergic Trusts. Only this pathway will guarantee us a future.

Synergic Trusts –def–>

All wealth provided to humanity as a gift.

The Life Trust includes our bodies as provided by God, Nature, and our Parents in addition to all other forms of life–the plants and animals provided by God and Nature.

The Earth Trust includes the Earth itself and all Natural Resources provided by God and Nature.

And, the Time-binding Trust includes all the accumulated knowing and technology from the mental and physical labor of all those humans who lived and died before us.