Capitalism Versus Socialism
Posted: Wednesday, February 24, 2010
by e
Dhammabucha Rocksprings Meditation
It's rather in these days to disagree rather than cooperate. Log-jamming I think is the term. It seems that instead of looking at what we are disagreeing with, we become caught up in the act of disagreement itself in order to win, in order to keep our large egos inflated. Rather than considering another's opinions we don't even hear them because of the constant din of our own noise. We have become, in effect, deaf.
In this case, the socialist has something to learn about wisdom, and the capitalist something to learn about compassion, but that doesn‘t seem to matter. The important thing is that we don‘t let the other person get the better of us. Both the socialist and capitalist have something to learn, but that seldom happens, and if it does, it happens grudgingly.
It's true that the more an argument is refined the more both parties tend to agree, but only if initially there is a conscious intent to find a solution to the problem. Instead, the problems are no longer intended to be solved, but rather used for political advantage and one-upmanship.
What causes this is persistence of an illusory ego and the desire for this illusion not to deflate, which it will if it doesn't keep itself constantly enlarged by pushing itself up by pushing others down and belittling them. It is the rare person that when insulted says, "You might be right! Let me think about this for awhile and see if maybe I am stupid!" And means it.
That would be a person with an open mind and no particular ax to grind, not even the ax of self. They accept the other‘s premise as a possibility and look into it, investigate it, and then come to an unbiased conclusion based on a result of their direct seeing and insight into the problem. With a large ego out of the way, the facts present themselves in a very different manner than if there is an agenda, or a stance from which there cannot be a retreat for fear of deflating that precious idea of a little man or woman behind our bodies and minds - a false idea of a separate self or ego.
In a perfect world, a socialist and capitalist would stop calling each other names, and challenging each other to duels, and discuss the matter logically and unemotionally. Fact: When the populace is secure, the society generally is happy and thrives - an argument for socialism. Fact: Only a small ratio of the populace has the energy, capabilities and desire to create opportunities for others regarding employment and bettering themselves economically, which in turn creates capital to expand companies that will further employ more people - an argument for capitalism.
We can't compromise on these two ideals when inflated egos, the idea that I must win, become roadblocks. If a populace is not secure, they will be hesitant to participate. On the other hand, if jobs are not available, they can't participate. It stands to reason then that a successful society will have both aspects of; social safety nets to provide security, and opportunities for entrepreneurial types to grow their businesses. With an important caveat that the social safety nets won't be taken advantage of by fraud; and the entrepreneurs won't take advantage of the workers with less than fair wages and benefits.
This all of course involves a deeper level of values and virtue than our present religions are providing.
As congress grinds through its agonizing throws of seeming self destruction, out of the chaos usually comes a compromise that in fact works out to be a agreement between socialism and capitalism. Recently however, with 24/7 news, and with stories posted within minutes with in depth analysis and opinionating a few minutes later, the general public is exposed to all of the rancor and discontent that goes into governing this country. In a way, the general public takes on, in their hearts, all the responsibilities of the president, and feels similar stress.
It used to be that we would only see a bill when it was being signed, and we trusted our representatives to have our best interests in mind. Now, everyone is an arm chair quarterback. We, individually, take on all the stress and wrangling of congress, and what results is constant anger and frustration, which is regrettable, because we neither get the pay nor the benefits of our elected representatives. And neither can we control things, so we end up in the unfortunate situation of middle management - responsibility (perceived) - with no authority. A recipe for stress, absolutely.
How many times have I met a friend, on a beautiful sunshiny day, and within minutes they are complaining about some obscure legislation before congress. Their minds are not in the moment with the beautiful day, but back in their homes sitting in front of the big screen inundated with electromagnetic waves that they perceive to be real. The sun is real.
So the question is, can we learn from our disagreements? Can we learn that when we disagree, there is something that we have not learned yet? This would involve a change of heart about our fellow human beings, a capitulation of sorts that accepts others not as adversaries, but as people struggling in this same boat of life that we find ourselves in.
At a deeper level, will we ever get to the point of investigating ourselves inwardly so that we can become aware of the mechanism of ego, which as far as I know only one religion homes in on, Buddhism.
This inquiry into one's self would solve all these problems at a very fundamental level. Unfortunately most religions have not evolved to that level of understanding and instead promote the idea of a strong ego, and still substantiate a viable self, which carries through and permeates all of our social interactions.
Hopefully, some day in the future, religion will take a turn toward refinement and address the real cause of our anxiety and stress. But then again, this would involve a certain level of spiritual maturity.
This Article has been viewed 505 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (6 total)Interesting article. I agree that people need to focus on the issue, or the problem, and not themselves or the other person. Too often today, due to the political strategy of the progressive movement, we have turned politics into personal attacks. This political strategy is outlined in Saul Alinsky's book, "Rules for Radicals" and has become a powerful idea lately - unfortunately.One point I'd like to add is that going over the same issue ad infinitim without any progress is insanity. When you have investigated an issue, and the person challenging you is making the same arguments you've heard over and over again, going back to investigating it to see if you are wrong makes no sense. If they bring something new to the argument, then sure, that deserves a closer look.In tough economic times people seem to put everything into question. That is healthy, we need to learn from our mistakes. However, throwing out the baby with the bathwater is an extreme that will make things worse. Fix what needs fixing, don't change the entire system. That seems to be what we are doing today by questioning the very foundation of what made the U.S. a world superpower.When it comes to values, we have begun to lose our perspective on the idea that truly solid values that will stand the test of time must be obtained from a higher authority than ourselves. If we let our culture or the trends of society determine those values, there is no security in the values we hold. We never know when the waves of social change will invalidate them. Religious values have provided the foundation of what built this country. If we stray from that, we venture into treacherous waters without a rudder.Good article.Thanks Jim, always appreciate your comments. Thanks for reading.
Best...........e
I can't say that I agree with Jim's statement that 'Religious values have provided the foundation of what built this country.' For one thing, there's too much disagreement about any given religious value. If we could substitute 'spiritual' for religious, we might make a little more progress. Religion was created by man, spirituality has a much higher creator.Yes, a fallacious argument presupposing an unproven truth. But Jim has a good heart.I agree, religion was created by man, and there is a "much higher creator". I also agree there is too much disagreement about religious values. There is a thing called reality, and it remains constant regardless of what we believe. If we could acknowledge reaility, and our lack of control over it, we would make progress.You might be interested in taking a look at what the Heritage Foundation says about the men who founded this country, to get a little more insight into this issue around our constitutional values.
Excellent article, sir! My hope is also for spiritual maturity, but for the present I think what I hope for most of all is for both sides in any debate to just listen to each other.Sure, people won't agree on everything, but they won't agree on anything (such as these days in Congress) if they don't listen. I hear people all the time (usually on those beautiful days) spout something they heard on talk radio and I just listen and usually don't respond because that person has already made up his mind (or rather, had his mind made up for him). Sad, it is, yet that's the state we're in. All I can do is remain true to myself and my own beliefs and try to understand what people are really saying when they talk.Again, great job!Thanks, Michael. There is always room for compromise if our hearts are in the right place, meaning that we are honest and haven't been paid off by lobbyists. I hope that's never the case.
Best....e
This morning I will be meditating in a Meeting House. I disagree with many of the opinions of many other Friends. Except one. We are all Seekers of Light, Seekers of Truth. When one finds Truth it must be recognized and accepted, that's all. "Let you Yes mean Yes, and your No mean No. Anything else is from the evil one" Mk4-33-37 There is too much dishonesty in today's society, left and right.Thanks Jack, Good luck on your meditation. Meditation is all about de-learning - letting go, even of opinions, and especially thoughts while you are practicing. After the thoughts, emotions and opinions die down, the result is far less stress. Contemplate where your strong opinions come from, where you learned them. If you now have stress in your life - that is your truth. But it can be changed.
Best.....eIt's Quaker Meeting, of course.Quakers are pretty cool people.
I believe Jesus was a socialist, he preached against a capitalistic society. People are too involved with themselves, doing for others is the way we should act.Amen, David! The problem is that greed, hatred, and delusion, the opposite of what Jesus taught, is what results when people devote their entire lives to the pursuit of pleasure, thinking it will make them happy when it in fact it does the opposite, causes stress in their lives. Compassion, loving kindness, generosity brings happiness. But because people see things through deluded vision, they don't get it. Some will never learn, they will just continue to slog through the swamp. It's called incorrigible kamma. It's called the mistaken notion of a dualistic self.Jesus was/is not political.He does teach generosity, but not through government. Giving changes the heart of the giver with the benefit derived from giving. Giving through government doesn't accomplish that.
The Buddha warned against making a living by using gain to make more gain, and the bible, I believe, said something about usary ( I just checked the internet and there are a gazillion scriptures against charging interest or holding collateral) Usary is a lazy man's way of making a living.
But I think what happens is that people, understandably, get caught up in the excitement, money, and power of business, trying to shortcut wealth, and become paranoid when trying to rectify their religion to their actual behavior. They try to justify their actions but it is quite obvious where their hearts are. They become fractured, as sorts, and not whole or one faced. Business and wealth are fine if the profits are used wisely, which means taking care of your workers and not taking excess profits for yourself, which would happen if ones mind was calm and full of wisdom, but unfortunately, most minds are unrefined and give way to basic greed hatred and delusion. Three things that absolutely guarantee stress and suffering.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.