online shopping glitch

An online shopping glitch has caught my attention and occupies my mind. I have just put the ball back into ‘their’ court. In theory I can therefore drop the issue while waiting for a reply. But dropping the issue is easier said than done.

Fortunately I can find relief by kicking the brain upstairs so as to get things in a larger perspective.  This involves imagining ‘doing a helicopter’ or taking a ‘cosmic zoom’.

Online shopping is a buying/selling process and therefore involves division of labour. It could be a barter situation (I will teach your kids if you will build my house) but in fact it is an exchange of goods for cash. It could be done face to face with known members of the community (my granny knew your granny) but in fact I am dealing with strangers or with their machines and databases. I am hard wired to be suspicious of ‘them’. (Beware of strangers.)

I do most of my online shopping through Amazon and I use Paypal to oversee the process of shifting cash from my bank account through my credit card and on to the seller who contracts a courier to collect and deliver the goods. Trust is an issue which merges with the ‘good name’ of the seller. This can be measured through customer feedback entered in a database.

Lots of stuff comes from Chinese factories on giant container ships which are filled and emptied in deep water ports which bristle with giant cranes. Large, articulated trucks then deliver the containers to the distribution hubs of the mega stores.

There is something pleasing about seeing the big picture. It frees the mindbrain from churning the intimate details. The ego-aware and parochial points of view have their uses, but it is good to get away from them now and again. This can be done by highlighting alternative and superior non-egoic themes.

SO – it worked. Before – there was the egoic and anxious mood related to the intimate details. After – there was a relaxed mood related to global economics and to a non-egoic frame of mind.

I am amazed and grateful that the process of buying and selling has evolved to its present level of sophistication. The glitch that initiated this essay is most unusual. There are few problems. The idea of an awesome set of miracles lingers on the margins of consciousness.

‘I’ have three university degrees and I taught science for 20 years but ‘I’ still occasionally lean towards the myths and magic of my ancestors. These go back 100,000 years to the time of foraging and before language. It is hard to calmly comprehend the speed and sophistication of evolution and ‘progress’ - especially over the last 3000 years which is no time at all by geological standards.

SO – a pernicious online shopping glitch in the here and now led to inspirational thoughts about the ‘magic’ of human evolution. Cool!