Competition in the modern world Pt II
We have these social perceptions that the business (corporate) world is ‘cut throat’, that it is ‘dog eat dog’, and ‘you have to look after number one’. When you stop to analyse these images they are really horrific, slitting throats and eating other members of your species just to survive – and it is this emotive positioning which drives much human behaviour in a business (corporate) setting (resulting in, more than most people would like to admit, lying, cheating, backstabbing, bribery, blackmail, and murder). What kind of enlightened, intelligent, animals are we that our very model of social interaction (economics) is so good at eliciting the types of isolating behaviours exhibited by animals unable to form meaningful (conceptual – formed within mind) social relationships?
Many people may believe that it was our competitive drive, competition itself, which enabled us to evolve how we have; in fact, the opposite is true. Cooperation, social bonding, is what made our species so great; the ability to utilise our individual minds toward a common, collective, goal; to catch that mammoth, grow/collect a sustaining range of food, or provide the various specialised skills needed to assist a community to thrive. It was cooperation that enabled a nomadic species to survive for thousands of years and to eventually settle down from the nomadic lifestyle and develop small communities. Over time some small communities developed into cities; and once cities developed, well, things began to change.
It is interesting, this topic, because nothing changed, and yet everything changed for our species. When you get down to it, all human beings inherently wish to be loved, to connect, be part of something bigger than our individual self. This is because that is the natural state of things. We are all eternally loved (in that we are part of THE ALL), we are all inherently connected though our connection to THE ALL, and we are all part of something bigger than our individual self (family/species/life/THE ALL). Socialisation, like all things in existence, has polar opposites. It can be used to control individual humans, to suppress their creative expression through convincing them of a story which limits the imagination (human nature, blah, advertised ideals, blah, terror, blah – it is hard to be creative when focused on fear and consumption). In the other pole, socialisation can be used to assist all individual sparks of consciousness to understand the natural world and universal principles, the golden rule, and how our cooperation results in abundance for all with minimal work/time for each individual (freeing us to experience this heaven above the ground). We remain fractals of the underlying consciousness, eternally loved. Although a social structure has developed in which living humans are socialised into disconnection; to erroneously believe we are of limited power, that other people (corporations) have the right to judge how we live our lives under universal guidance. Nothing changed, and yet somewhere along the way, everything changed for our species.
Over the last few hundred years cities have come to hold the majority of the world’s population, with increasing amounts of people being born and raised within the city environment; advertisements from every wall, (corporate) state education, and Hollywood entertainment. We are forced into competing in an environment where our access to resources is almost totally dependent on our ability to obtain money (which is ultimately owned by a few families hiding behind a network of corporations, and based on debt). This human competition is contrived, is the product of human minds, and so the solution starts with ideas in our mind (out with the old, in with the new mental structures – then it is easy to shape the physical world).
It was briefly previously noted that social competition is tied to our economic beliefs. So to question, and change, these beliefs is a good point of action for those who want to partake in the evolution of our social environment from competition to cooperation.
Even in a competitive environment, such as a sports team involving many people, or a work group, cooperation is needed for best success. So why do we even need our society to be one big competitive environment (especially given the negative psychological and social impacts they are proven to facilitate), wouldn’t a cooperative social environment be better for all?