17 Jun 2011
The WE-culture
What is it about power that turns corporate and national leaders against their own people, is it greed? Greed is the uncontrollable accumulation of things, wealth and power. It is a pathological force that motivates people to impose themselves on to others. According to the adaptation model, following a leader gives the group a collective advantage for survival. In this model hominids follow not only the strongest and fittest but also the most creative and well spoken. In some primitive cultures the leaders of the tribe are shaman and wise-men. In most industrial and technological societies, leaders are a cast of men that reign in total self-interest and personal gain. It would seem that we operate like wolves, where the most vicious canine leads the pack. Social animals cannot function without a hierarchy.
Like the bee and ant colonies where rank and function are an inherent property. Unlike bees or ants, most humans in high places don’t defend the best interest of the whole, instead they gorge nonstop on personal ambitions all the way to annihilation. The fathers of modern economic thought told them so: “what ever is in your best interest is in the best interest of capital gains.” Ivan Boesky memorable speech back in 1986 inspired the business world with the idea that greed was healthy and a feel good trait. The modern power hierarchies of humanity are corruptible post’s that induce in their members a rapacious desire in the pursuit of power, wealth and status.
What is it about leaders that easily trade loyalties and use force to placate millions ruthlessly into submission? They get away with it, thinking that what’s best for them is best for their country. When thousands upon thousands are submitted by force and intimidation, the atrocities of war break loose in the streets with scars. Until thousands of thousands decide not to take it anymore, like those in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen… The balance of power has shifted, the difference this time is the possibility of instantaneous connectivity via text messaging and the mass-power it generates. These internet social networks integrate the nervous system of millions, like extended body-minds in cyber space. In this case people followed each other simultaneously in an entangled hierarchy. Ortega y Gasset in his book “Revolt of the Masses” says that people will follow an autocrat more easily than they will follow somebody that appears weak, peaceful and of quiet intent. Wait a minute what about leaders like Gandhi. This man lived with only very basic needs, and extreme simplicity, yet his mountain of inspiration led a whole nation with no guns to confront and defeat the colonial power structures present in India in the early 20th century. Why is it that we need to follow somebody else?
Perhaps the herd mentality is a developmental stage of humanity, like infancy and puberty when we do as our parents tell us to. That removes us from taking responsibility for our sins, like desert religions were forgiveness from the omnipotent father figure is always available to you. Its time to grow up and assume responsibility for our doings, like we do in adulthood. We all have a leader encased in our skin awaiting to be spoken. Follow your inner guidance. Warning, there too lies the threat of excesses. It takes discipline to find proper maps for steady awakening, to quiet down the illusion of mirrors created by social materialism. Its time to change the mythology of the world of objects and separate ego’s in continual growth and progress.
In social materialism, greed, lust and gluttony take to reckless pillage of the land and its resources, until nothing but a callous Martian canvas full of dirt is left. What is it about our biology that compels us to loose site of limits and impose personal wants over social needs? When personal wants exceed the available supplies, peoples rights get hurt and crunched in favor of those with more power, energy hungry and few. This scarcity mentality has affected us all. What is it about our focus and obsession over frivolous commodities that drain us to spend uncontrollably, as if shopping compulsively for layers of the missing me. This way there will never be enough to go around, because nothing was missing in the first place. Our possessions including the body suit we are all in, are illusions we have been convinced to appreciate as reality.
Moreover in this most momentous threshold, useless merchandise and electronic gadgetry fill our life’s with emptiness like the media spell that keeps us busy in trash consumption and trivial pursuits. What is it about the human spirit that lets others decide who they are and how they must think? We as people have the tools and power to steer the course of history. Like the several million Egyptians that decided to say no more, all at the same time on twitter. The purchasing power we bring to the market place can collapse supply economies over night. Our demand for imposed commodities imprisons our souls. Its a conscious choice, wherever we decide to spend our money will ultimately control the social mainstream. We need an economy were the what’s good for us all is what’s good for business. In a healthy collective producing quality goods and services, that are durable, sustainable and fair. Let us be loud and clear, what the world needs more than ever is a sense of WE, weary of the pathological I and its hoarding behavior. From the perception of the many me’s in entangled hierarchy of wholeness.
In the WE culture the need to belong is our greatest good.
This post is written by Carlos Cuellar Brown for the Full Insight blog
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