Where does capitalism take us?

affluenza, n. a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more. (de Graaf, 2002)

affluenza, n. 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by dogged pursuit of the American Dream. 3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth. (PBS) (Wikikpedia)

From the affluenza website

“Never before have our emerging environmental crises been laid out so clearly before us. Rather than shouting from the fringes, respected economists, scientists, and politicians are sounding the warnings in high-profile journals and the halls of government — warnings that our oceans are dying, that the ice shelves are melting, and that we are setting ourselves up for the most massive and devastating market failure humanity has ever seen.

So we recycle our garbage. We vote greener. We buy sleek, new hybrid cars and fill our houses with energy-efficient light bulbs. And we put our money and faith in the brave and ingenious technologies that will rescue us from the whirlwind.

But it won’t be enough. Because this is not, fundamentally, a technological problem. Nor is it, fundamentally, a political problem. This is a problem of appetites, and of narcissism, and of self-deceit. The planet is breaking, and it is breaking under the weight of our hunger for more. To reform the world, we must first reform ourselves.“

An American businessman was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied only a little while. The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The American then asked, but what do you do with the rest of your time?

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life, senor.”

The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat, with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution.

You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But senor, how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”

“But what then, senor?”

The American laughed and said “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

“Millions, senor? Then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

Never Give Up, Never Give Up, Never Give up – living with failure

Sometimes I feel like the biggest failure. Thankfully I am not a depressive personality so this usually doesn't get me down. But, it does affect the way that I see myself. This week I have failed. Stuffed up, mixed things up and generally fallen far short of my own expectations of myself. "You won't get it right the first time. Your campaign will need to be reinvented, adjusted or scrapped. Count on it." I am not sure where I got this from but it is very true. Whatever we do will never be right the first time, or sometimes the second time or the third time. In these situations ,"Never Give Up, Never Give Up, Never Give up". If we think we got it right the first time we are probably wrong. I have often fallen for this. I have done something that I have thought was pretty good but hadn't realised that it still required more work. This is a mistake that we can all fall for, the belief that we have arrived in some way. When we do this we preclude the possibility that there may be more for us to learn. And, there is always more for us to learn. "Never Give Up, Never Give Up, Never Give up". I was talking to a friend today who told me that the person who said those words suffered from depression. Winston Churchill's legacy as a great politician was the image of tenacity. He was the true British bulldog who worried away at his task until he got what he wanted. There will always be things that we will fail at in some way. It's important to be able to live with that lack of perfection. Learning to live with failure is one of the most important lessons that we will ever learn in life. It is a character lesson that will stand us in good stead to live in this less than perfect world. Once we learn the lesson of living with failure it frees us to be able to see glimpses of perfection. It opens up possibilities of greater love – because one of its fundamental requirements is the ability to overlook minor irritations. It opens up our personal potential and allows us to generate a positive influence on others around us. It always for greater possibilities for satisfaction in every area of our lives. It releases new opportunities to conquer new frontiers in every area of our lives. So when things go wrong some of the best advice ever is to, "Never Give Up, Never Give Up, Never Give up". I found this riff from Seth Godin,

"Now, of course, most blogs are one-person operations. Which means that successful blogs are often run by restless, outward-bound people in a hurry. And a lot of bloggers either have day jobs or passionate sidelines. I think that's a good thing, even when they fail. It's frustrating for me to hear, "stick to your blogging," when people criticize a project created by a blogger–because it's part of the blogging, part of the learning, part of what's unfolding. I'd rather read a book that's informed by the activities (not the reporting) of the writer, and I'd rather read a blog that's based on the successes (and failures) of the blogger."

Finding yourself is about finding others

I think that one of the major weaknesses of society is the emphasis on me.

1. We are told to look after number one.
2. We are told that the most important person is me
3. We are told that you have to look after yourself first
4. We are told that the most important discovery that we will make is about ourselves.

Of course there are elements of truth in all of the above list. We do need to have a certain level of self care. We cannot ignore some of our basic needs. But any system of self help must include the question how do I find my place among others.

Humans are social beings. We live in societies, we work in teams, we have families, we join groups. These are all important parts of being human. We cannot find ourselves until we are able to deal with the realities of living in a community.

One of the fundamental weaknesses of democracy is its insistence on the rights of the individual. This is because to a large extent we have failed to discover a common set of values that can bind us together as a community. We see the effects of the breakdown in community all around us. Broken families, depression, anxiety, stress, physical distress are all evidence of a breakdown in our wellbeing.
But the real outcome of this is that people become lost. When we no longer are able to function in community or find a community that we can function in and so we lose our way.

I have worked with people for a long time and over and over the story I hear is one of people trying to discover their place in the world. They ask the question, from where do I get meaning? And as much as self help can be an aid in that journey its not the destination.

Any journey of self discovery must take you to a place where you are able to meet with others. A place where people know your name, where you are valued because of who you are and not what you produce, where you begin to see yourself clearly through the eyes of others. It is only when we begin to realise the impact that we have on others that we can begin to change. If we only ever look at ourselves we will lack the impetus to make life altering changes in our own lives.