Duality Trap: Complicating Life

I just finished filling out a 19 page tax return. Why? Well, I suppose a side-business, a home, a child, a divorce, and some nonsensical rules about sales taxes and earned income credits had something to do with it. What was truly fascinating to me was that I was under a deadline to file this piece of paperwork and it was not April 15th. My deadline was ASAP so I could fill out the FAFSA, another piece of governmental paperwork necessary if you want to apply for financial aide (and that program is first come first serve). Of course, I couldn't file my Form 1040 until my W-2 form came in. I got that the last day of January, making me already a month late for the FAFSA. That was okay though, because the application to the Master's programs required an essay, three references letters, transcripts from all universities and a completed application form. Luckily, this program didn't require a GRE. Since the transcripts and letters were delayed, the filing of the late Form 1040 was not going to affect when I got this done. At any rate, after multiple emails and phone calls, these items were submitted and I thought my application was complete. No. Come to find out they had two programs with similar names and the requirements I had just met were for the other program and they would have to forward my information to a new admissions counselor and add an additional piece of paperwork. That was okay too since I couldn't file my Form 1040 and thus file the FAFSA because now the TurboTax program I was using was requesting my bank routing number and bank account. Well, in the course of last year, the bank I used was bought out by a bigger bank and they had warned us that the routing numbers and bank accounts would change in 2006. So, I obviously had to wait until a weekday so I could walk into the bank and ask them what the new numbers were. They turned out to be completely different and it was good I had remembered this little piece of paperwork since my refund would not have gone through and potentially I would have been charged fees for some bank snafu that already would have cost me my tax return. That's when I realize: I am in the Olympics of paperwork and bureaucracy.

So, eighteen days after I initially started to fill out my tax return and the FAFSA, I was finally done. All I have is one more Olympic event when I apply to yet another university as a back-up. My daughter laughed out loud when I told her that if I was ever elected a political leader I would work to get rid of all the paperwork. The system was insane.

It reminded me of the simple sign-in forms we used to check attendance in a school program. The attendance is used to determined participation and monetary rewards. One of the teacher's commented on the fact that she knew several students had been absent on a certain day and yet there were signatures there for them on the sign-in sheet. They obviously had a friend sign for them.

"They better be careful," I commented knowingly, "they might end up having to give three forms of identification, a thumbprint, and a retinal scan, if they insist on making things so complicated. They should be grateful we try to make things simple."

So, as we are clearly learning now, simplification is not about giving someone in a power hierarchy the ability to get things done. In order to do that, they have to be authorized and we have to know they are who they say they are. Then, of course, they will want to know that any resources they make available will be to 1. People who need them, and 2. People who are who they claim to be. All of this leads to inevitable waste of resources and time because we've become a culture where simplicity is not inherent in the system. I would wager to bet that millions, if not billions, of dollars fall through the cracks of this paperwork maze and land in the pockets of people who know how to work the system, and not those who need the resources. And much of it is all perfectly legal. So, what is the answer?

The answer is that the culture is nothing more than the reflection of our inner selves. We have divorced ourselves from ourselves, as Elias would suggest. In order for the finger to lift the fork to the mouth, the hand needs security and identification forms in triplicate to make that one action happen. We don't realize the hand is our own. The food belongs to everyone and that we as individuals can start to simplify our own lives and by our contribution to Self we begin to change the bureaucracy into a cooperative. By simplifying our own lives we loose the need for paperwork and even hierarchy as we begin to learn to trust Self and the Divine Within.