Man's Desire for Money and Power: A Natural Gravitation?
The question is interesting and profound. My wife, incredible woman and genius she is, asked me what my thoughts were on this very question yesterday while on our walk. I wanted to answer definitely and with no room for argument, the one which I always feel around me when I envision and observe people and their behaviors, but I wanted to think about this too. I am not proud to say I have not thought any more about it; however, I am willing to lay out the argument as I see it here before you, to the reader and my lovely wife, so it may be picked apart and your own conclusions can be formed. Perhaps we may start a dialogue and arrive at some compromise or conclusion, though those of you who took notes on the last week, would know that no matter what we conclude, there is no single answer which can satisfy the meaning we are deliberately trying to make.
But before we begin, I would like to make mention of the image at the top of the page. For any of you out there that actually knew what that symbol was, I’m proud of you. For those of you who thought I would put up a senseless image which bore no relevancy to our discussion, shame on you. The image is called Mandala. Here is the definition, which may or may not be correct as I have to take this website’s word for it. www.mandala-universe.com
But before we begin, I would like to make mention of the image at the top of the page. For any of you out there that actually knew what that symbol was, I’m proud of you. For those of you who thought I would put up a senseless image which bore no relevancy to our discussion, shame on you. The image is called Mandala. Here is the definition, which may or may not be correct as I have to take this website’s word for it. www.mandala-universe.com
“Mandala in Sanskrit means sacred circle. The use of mandalas is rooted in historical practices from many different spiritual traditions. Mandala traditions are derived from direct experience of truth and have always been used as a means of turning inward to investigate the mind and to discover the inner truth about our essential nature.” (Emphasis mine)
Additionally, there is a second meaning, also intimately mystic and mysterious and bound to the nature of self-discovery which has to be represented here although, it must be noted, I chose this symbol for its first meaning, this unfortunately came along with it, though it still can hold water to the theme of this topic, it is certainly on another level.
"In the Indian Hindu Tantric tradition, the Mandala symbol for enlightenment and ultimate healing is called the SRI YANTRA. SRI YANTRA represents the unfolding of the universe both within you and without. These two processes—the inner journey and the outward unfolding—alternate eternally in a process known as manifest-unmanifest, or the entire creative process consisting of emanation, dissolution, absorption, and then emanation again.
SRI YANTRA, a revealed symbol, is the frozen mantra vibratory pattern created when the sacred sound of Aum is properly intoned by a yogi. AUM as atomic vibration is the active sound principle of creation, which brings thought into form through vibration. At another level Sri Yantra represents the return to one's center---through the star gate of the spiritual eye into silent source--- Absolute Consciousness or Beingness. "
(Note if you have trouble reading this portion, please enlarge the text on your browser: go to “View”, go to “Text Size”.)
On with the show. The question: does Man naturally gravitate toward money and power? Here is how I will answer this question: no, I do not believe Man (women and men), just so we are not confused whom I am speaking about, because, and this is a slight digression from the point, this world is still quite patriarchal, whether we choose to believe this or not, and do want this question to be viewed as only pertaining to men, since it is still the dominant perception that Men will be the ones to accumulate the tangible money and the intangible power, naturally gravitate toward and attempt to accumulate money and power.
Reasons: Money and Power are socially constructed ideals and artifacts, and because of this, after centuries and centuries of “Social Darwinism”, that is, those who followed the trend survived and reproduced, these social constructs became the key to survival and goal. Look here’s the thing: there is no single point in time we, in this case I mean “I” because I am not nearly smart enough to know everything about everything, can isolate to illustrate this was the magical revolution in human psychological evolution. What I can offer as evidence is Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s “Discourse on the Origin of Inequality”. Rousseau offer hundreds of complex scenarios in this discourse, but ultimately, within the first pages of his argument offers his explanation: the moment someone claimed, ‘this is mine’, is the moment inequality started. There was a have and a have not. Inequality. When this occurred, who knows? But, if you really want to be honest about it, it is this point which set forth in motion the desperate chase for money and power among Man.
My contention is these are learned behaviors and social mechanisms, as the advent of inequality blossomed into greater social institutions, such as placing value on items, a barter and trade system, kingdoms, chiefdoms, hierarchies of power. Along the way there had to have been an individual not blessed by nature, as there lies Man’s first inequality, our genetics, who decided the only way to level the playing field is to accumulate “possessions” and obtain these possessions through an item which would carry value. The argument from here on out becomes muddled and over-wrought with scenarios: strong vs. weak, intelligent vs. not-intelligent, eventually leading us to the argument institutionalism vs. Nature.
My point may be muddled, so I will put it squarely out there: Nature starts inequality in men, this cannot be helped and is taken as a given, as our base. However, I believe Man works in unison to achieve survival, converging and optimizing all talents, strengths, and weaknesses. Since “power” and “money” are constructed ideals of Man, as to their ever-shifting meanings and what these things constitute, they are inherently learned behaviors in societies. At one point there was an individual who constructed different ideals of “survival” and equated this with possessions. There starts the inequality we know today. The moment someone said, “This is mine.” Man then begins to create societies which balance the new equation of possessions = power. And we snowball further and further.
I am interested in anyone’s point of view on this question: does Man naturally gravitate toward money and power? I have offered my hypothesis to you. You can choose to accept or not.
Reasons: Money and Power are socially constructed ideals and artifacts, and because of this, after centuries and centuries of “Social Darwinism”, that is, those who followed the trend survived and reproduced, these social constructs became the key to survival and goal. Look here’s the thing: there is no single point in time we, in this case I mean “I” because I am not nearly smart enough to know everything about everything, can isolate to illustrate this was the magical revolution in human psychological evolution. What I can offer as evidence is Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s “Discourse on the Origin of Inequality”. Rousseau offer hundreds of complex scenarios in this discourse, but ultimately, within the first pages of his argument offers his explanation: the moment someone claimed, ‘this is mine’, is the moment inequality started. There was a have and a have not. Inequality. When this occurred, who knows? But, if you really want to be honest about it, it is this point which set forth in motion the desperate chase for money and power among Man.
My contention is these are learned behaviors and social mechanisms, as the advent of inequality blossomed into greater social institutions, such as placing value on items, a barter and trade system, kingdoms, chiefdoms, hierarchies of power. Along the way there had to have been an individual not blessed by nature, as there lies Man’s first inequality, our genetics, who decided the only way to level the playing field is to accumulate “possessions” and obtain these possessions through an item which would carry value. The argument from here on out becomes muddled and over-wrought with scenarios: strong vs. weak, intelligent vs. not-intelligent, eventually leading us to the argument institutionalism vs. Nature.
My point may be muddled, so I will put it squarely out there: Nature starts inequality in men, this cannot be helped and is taken as a given, as our base. However, I believe Man works in unison to achieve survival, converging and optimizing all talents, strengths, and weaknesses. Since “power” and “money” are constructed ideals of Man, as to their ever-shifting meanings and what these things constitute, they are inherently learned behaviors in societies. At one point there was an individual who constructed different ideals of “survival” and equated this with possessions. There starts the inequality we know today. The moment someone said, “This is mine.” Man then begins to create societies which balance the new equation of possessions = power. And we snowball further and further.
I am interested in anyone’s point of view on this question: does Man naturally gravitate toward money and power? I have offered my hypothesis to you. You can choose to accept or not.
4 comments:
Wow that really neat looking symbol makes me want to take yoga classes and have my chi adjusted....
I would agree with you that money is a social construct, but do not believe it is in any way tied to darwin-like survival instincts. In this day and age having more money does not make procreation more likely. Just take a look at the average number of children for families below the poverty level.
Since it is no longer social acceptable for the genetically superior members of our society to establish their dominance by beating the crap out of their physically inferior counterparts, we have substituted money as a more civilized way of creating the hierachical structure that we are programmed to need.
I'm kinda bummed out about the whole thing cuz I'm incredibly ripped and would probably be really high up on the social ladder if physical prowess was the only factor.
I am with toohugetim, who is, indeed, ripped.
When men are not allowed to kick the sh&^ out of each other, they compete in other ways: sports, marriage, curling, et cetera. Money is just another way to do it.
I live on a half an acre of land... is it better than living on an 1/8 of an acre? You bet your ass!
-Enoch
wow. This is quite a topic. I have to say that I could yammer on for pages and pages about this one, so I will attempt to make this short.
The ideas of money and power are both as old as time itself for both of these come somewhat naturally to us. But money is the one of these two which I will agree with you on. There never has been nor will there be a gravitation to money. This is because of many reasons, but the main root is because money is merely a great by-product of power. Before our complex and effecient monetary system in place today, man did not rely on money to pave his way through the world. Barter and communal tribal property [seen in Native American and African Tribes] were ways to substitute for money. Nuff said on this particular vice. On to the big boy.
'Power corrupts and Absolute power corrupts absolutely'. This is not only true but a good look into why we gravitate toward it. In older cultures and societies, even ones in which money was of no importance, power and status were, and they went hand in hand. Men strove to become warriors, shamans, hunters, etc... Why? These positions in society were not only respected among their tribes but others as well and afforded these people certain privelages throughout life. Men strive to become powerful, and by this I mean Women as well.
The have and the have not is natural, that's correct NATURAL. It is evident everywhere in the natural world, even God himself had a hiearchy among his own angels, Seraphs of course being the highest. Man saw this from his first days on the planet, and knew that he himself needed a power structure more than any other creature on this planet. Power is the ultimate high, the ultimate control. Control is what man strives to do everyday he is on this planet. We invent things to control things and on every level of our exsistence.
If you need a present day example look at any "amp'd Mobile" ad which has a person controling other people for their own personal gratification. That is the essence of power. That is power. And man will strive for it till his dying breath because he knows power is control and we all want to control our own lives.
Thank You for your time. Great topic, love the show.
The old one says....
Money and power are the result of the environment. An unfortunate result of man's evolution.
In my view these items are not to be evaluated independently, but rather have become joined as they are linked by the cultures that has developed them.
Pick any place on the planet and show me the one place, culture, or country that doesn't have some form of social heirarchy rooted in these principles.
The roots of these are based in the ancient principles of survival that are only now brought into question because industrialized society has stripped away the need to hunt & gather, farm, or develop a trade to support these ways of life for existence.
In fact, throughout history it has been individuals of power that truly have benefited from the ability to organize defense and lead groups of people that created money through barter and things of equilivant value.
Let's see....did the catholic church fall into the same trap in the middle ages. Popes were kings and brokers of money and power leveraging their religiousity over kingdoms of Europe.
It has always been man's nature to find ways of survival and security.
The problem, in my view, is the evil motivations of man that has driven people of power and money to develop these organized systems, that create more people with power and money, who they themselves, in their endeavors to maintain their social status also become corrupted trying to maintain the systems they created.
This process gave rise to the development of idealism to maintain and drive power and money.
So when industrialized society came on the scene and man's techonological ability advanced to the point of world wide influence, "protectionism" exploded again....driven by people who could gain power & money through idealism.
I give you Adolf Hitler as a prime example of someone with nothing that grabbed power and money through corrupt idealism.
Just look at today's conflicts, political, religious and economic idealogies drive the conflicts all over the world.
In fact, the lines between these areas are so blurred that understanding what people are fighting over is the subject of endless debate. The slightest differences any one or more of those ideals can cause civil war or even a nuclear world war. But make no mistake, the root of these conflicts is based in power and money and the aquisition of both those things.
I give you the middle eastern issues...pick any of them....as an example.
So, maybe the best thing to do is yoga and realize you can't really change or stop the nature of power and money.
The old one says eat, drink and be merry and lend a helping hand to someone less fortunate than yourself....make a child smile....because the real nature of power and money is out of your control.
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