Sunday, December 16, 2012

Chapter 1.2 – Competition is war

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»Sometimes we need to remind ourselves exactly what competition is all about. Like Pete Rose, who said simply: “Somebody's gotta win and somebody's gotta lose – and I believe in letting the other guy lose.”«
Ed Kittrell
US communications consultant

Competition starts early in the classroom. Anyone who wants to get somewhere later in life should be better than average. In my schooldays you still allowed your neighbour to copy from you. Such comradely behaviour is rare nowadays and schoolmates have become competitors.

But wait, I must correct myself. In many cases the rat-race is decided even before the children start school. For the family a child is born into is the crucial factor for the course of the child’s future life. We have a class society and the course is more or less already set from birth for the child to belong to the upper class, the working class or the group of social welfare claimants. True, there are dream careers now and again but these are very rare cases.


»We live in a system in which one must either be a wheel or get crushed by the wheels.« 

Friedrich Nietzsche
philosopher, stateless

Let’s go a step further. The increasingly fierce competition naturally takes place on both high and low levels. On the individual level it means an increasingly wide gap between the classes. On the company level we are seeing ever-increasing cut-throat competition and hostile takeovers. The big fish are eating the small ones. And on the nation level competition manifests itself in wars (economic wars and armed conflicts). Most wars are currently being waged either to obtain access to important resources such as oil or to strengthen the country’s power position. 
                                                      

»When someone out there doesn’t hit the other one because he has the feeling he should play Jesus, he himself gets hit. That’s the simple truth.«
  – Helmut O. Maucher
German top manager


It is nature that has always got a raw deal up to now. But now enough is enough: nature is starting to defend herself more and more. We are experiencing this in the increase of natural disasters worldwide. No place on earth is safe anymore. And the »people in the street« are getting a raw deal as well. They have always had to pay for the »fat cats’« games. But let’s be careful not to blame anybody here either! The »people in the street« have also made their contributions to the big game, even if they have simply played the game up to now.

Possibly everything has had to happen as it has so that humankind can progress in its evolution. Otherwise it would be difficult to explain why nature has looked on for so long without defending herself. If we assume that our universe and our earth did not come into existence by chance but that a higher plan is revealed here, the current situation must be part of this plan. We have to leave our comfort zones so as to continue developing. Up to now most people have not left their comfort zones until it really started to hurt. If we do not go on developing of our own free will, a loving creator may possibly have to help us along.


»Anyone who isn’t number one or two on the shelf can mostly pack up immediately.«

Tim Crull
Chief Executive Officer, Nestlé USA

A while ago I heard an interesting report on the radio. It was reported that three major German carmakers had made record profits last year with Daimler in third place. Instead of being pleased about this good result, the investors criticised the management because Daimler had not made it to first place.

The idea of competition or a rat-race is based on an illusion. It is suggested that everybody can manage to get to the top. Touching examples are cited of people who grew up in poor circumstances and succeeded in becoming millionaires through their own work and a bit of luck. Pop stars, actors, sportsmen, internet billionaires, industrialists… the rags-to-riches fairytale is still very popular. The few people who have succeeded can be counted on the fingers of one hand, whereas the other seven billion do not fit into one hand. The human mind really lets itself be taken for a ride. Our industrial society is a pyramid-shaped game, a house of cards built on competition and on the lie that everybody can make it to the top.

And as everyone is busy feeding themselves and their families, climbing the career ladder and getting a small piece of the big riches, only very few people allow themselves time to take a step back to look at the whole game from a different perspective. However, anyone who nevertheless does this should be careful, for it could be dangerous! Once you have seen through the game, it may be hard to go on playing it.

But gradually everything will become more obvious. More and more people are realising that the old game cannot work anymore and that it is only a matter of time before the house of cards collapses. An evolutionary window is starting to open: more and more people are noticing that the old system no longer works and are looking for solutions. And these do exist! However, we have got so used to competition over the centuries that the solutions are competing with each other as well. After all, we do not know any different and first have to learn to cooperate. But gratitude and appreciation of other ideas and people who think differently are growing constantly. Good times have started for »do-gooders«,

Let’s now go another step down and ask which dogmas, illusions and concepts have led to money being created through debt and competition being allowed such an important place in our society.

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