Sunday, September 28, 2008
Goodbye..... to the Success/Survival Paradigm
by Mike Van Dam
Government for the people and by the people. Nice words and yet our worship of success in terms of financial success has yielded us a process that is in fact for the financial interests by the financial interests. I think we can all take some responsibility in this. When I was in high school and actually decided to go to school to learn. The overwhelming majority of the strait A students and intelligent crowd were preoccupied with one thing: to get good grades, to get into a good collage, to make a lot of money. Now there is nothing wrong with that and it is a quite natural and necessary thing to do. And yet for so much of our society the ambitions begin and end with this vision of financial success.
Much of the drive for this success is also provided by the instinct of survival and fear associated with not having enough and the desire to be free from the bonds of want. And yet what is enough? The society as a whole has long since been able to provide quit comfortably for our physical needs. Even given the needs of human kind to engage in all manner of physical, mental and spiritual activities the capacity of our present economy is more than up to the task. Yet nothing can ever satisfy the current mindset. The fear and greed that provide the reoccurring dramas of Wall Street are the same forces that shape the lives of many of the financially successful as well as underclass segments of our society. The Success/Survival Paradigm are two sides of the same coin and are manifest in the fear and resentment of the poor and the greed and selfishness of the rich. Nether of which I suggest is particularly useful in living a happy, progressive and productive life.
The time has come to examine the usefulness of this core value of our society, the Success/Survival Paradigm. I suggest we weed it out of the garden of our legacy. Perhaps it was of service to a former world and yet it has become a burden, a hindrance and a liability in our time.
It is time we graduated from the core belief that getting more than you give is a good thing. It is often on display in the financial business, retail business, employment relationships, friendships, and in the emotional dynamics of romantic relationships. We often idolize consciously or unconsciously those who appear to take much more than they give. Or out of fear we do it first, or maintain a defensive or aggressive attitude out of this fear. In reality we do not gain at all when we receive more time, attention, love, money or energy than we give. The only person cheated is ourselves, for you cannot give what you do not have. When we receive more than we give it simply amounts to theft and reinforces the cycle of an inner void that must be continually refilled with the energy of others.
Let us learn to explore the great capacity that lies within ourselves. That self esteem and self acceptance are the basic foundation of a healthy life. I suggest we rewrite the basic rules of our psychology. To redefine the concept of success to mean someone doing something we really enjoy and are good at. To teach ourselves and our children the manners that are based on the consideration of others.
When we have the courage to stop the cycle of fear and dependence, then we start to learn to give to ourselves. It then becomes easy to give and awareness of ourselves and others begins to expand.
As we make these changes in our individual, family, and social lives they will be reflected in our government and economic systems.
Government for the people and by the people. Nice words and yet our worship of success in terms of financial success has yielded us a process that is in fact for the financial interests by the financial interests. I think we can all take some responsibility in this. When I was in high school and actually decided to go to school to learn. The overwhelming majority of the strait A students and intelligent crowd were preoccupied with one thing: to get good grades, to get into a good collage, to make a lot of money. Now there is nothing wrong with that and it is a quite natural and necessary thing to do. And yet for so much of our society the ambitions begin and end with this vision of financial success.
Much of the drive for this success is also provided by the instinct of survival and fear associated with not having enough and the desire to be free from the bonds of want. And yet what is enough? The society as a whole has long since been able to provide quit comfortably for our physical needs. Even given the needs of human kind to engage in all manner of physical, mental and spiritual activities the capacity of our present economy is more than up to the task. Yet nothing can ever satisfy the current mindset. The fear and greed that provide the reoccurring dramas of Wall Street are the same forces that shape the lives of many of the financially successful as well as underclass segments of our society. The Success/Survival Paradigm are two sides of the same coin and are manifest in the fear and resentment of the poor and the greed and selfishness of the rich. Nether of which I suggest is particularly useful in living a happy, progressive and productive life.
The time has come to examine the usefulness of this core value of our society, the Success/Survival Paradigm. I suggest we weed it out of the garden of our legacy. Perhaps it was of service to a former world and yet it has become a burden, a hindrance and a liability in our time.
It is time we graduated from the core belief that getting more than you give is a good thing. It is often on display in the financial business, retail business, employment relationships, friendships, and in the emotional dynamics of romantic relationships. We often idolize consciously or unconsciously those who appear to take much more than they give. Or out of fear we do it first, or maintain a defensive or aggressive attitude out of this fear. In reality we do not gain at all when we receive more time, attention, love, money or energy than we give. The only person cheated is ourselves, for you cannot give what you do not have. When we receive more than we give it simply amounts to theft and reinforces the cycle of an inner void that must be continually refilled with the energy of others.
Let us learn to explore the great capacity that lies within ourselves. That self esteem and self acceptance are the basic foundation of a healthy life. I suggest we rewrite the basic rules of our psychology. To redefine the concept of success to mean someone doing something we really enjoy and are good at. To teach ourselves and our children the manners that are based on the consideration of others.
When we have the courage to stop the cycle of fear and dependence, then we start to learn to give to ourselves. It then becomes easy to give and awareness of ourselves and others begins to expand.
As we make these changes in our individual, family, and social lives they will be reflected in our government and economic systems.
