Competition is a key component of our modern earthly existence. When watching a brilliant, beautifully filmed documentary on leopards in Kenya recently, I was struck by the harshness and apparent cruelty of nature and how this is mirrored in our human experience. The film graphically demonstrated how competitiveness in nature is a matter of survival.
The free enterprise system, as embraced by the West and now profoundly by China and India, relies upon competition as a cornerstone.
Competition is healthy..... It optimizes demand and supply, sets prices, delivers excellence, builds economies and creates opportunities. It is also happens to fuel materialism, nationalism, the celebrity culture, eco-damage, and other elements of our 21st century civilization.
Spirituality is what sets man apart from animals. It is also that element within the human make up which does not rest comfortably with competition. In fact spirituality requires transcendence of competition and all its manifestations. Therein lies a conflict – how to reconcile right livelihood with progress; how to achieve spirituality within a competitive environment.
This is especially ironic when formal religions compete with each other as to which one is ‘most spiritual’…..
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This is especially ironic when formal religions compete with each other as to which one is ‘most spiritual’……………….it is therefore safe to say that religion is not spiritual. From what I have seen, religions exemplify one of THE most competitive elements of mans behaviour. Most wars are fought in the name of a religion and surely wars are one of man's greatest areas of competition too - no animals that I know of declare war on each other. Not to say they don't kill each other for survival but their killings are not ego based. Yes, competition is healthy yet it has to be based in ethics and business without ethics seems like cheating to me..... Linda
....business without ethics is like cheating.....so true! ethics in business are most useful in enabling participants to assume that all will play by the rules (especially the unwritten ones).
In a truly competitive environment it is our Spirtuality that is our greatess weakness.
Spirituality is something you share with yourself, your family and your friends. Spirituality is a state of mind for men. Life has no meaning except the meaning you give it.
The lion does not think he is cruel ( unspiritual) when he kills. And the crocodile has no guilt when he takes a deer into the water.
As long as you have men.... you will have wars. "The death of a single man is a tragedy. The death of a million men is a statistic" Stalin.
The idea that ethics can be used in business by business is a dream. The free enterprise system is a bunch of sound bytes dreamed up by spin doctors in The USA. Where does it work fully, without protective tarrifs being put on this or that countries products.
Show me the ethics in Governments and you will see it is used as a negotiation tool to pacify the weak. So the stronger party can get it's way.
It may not be the system we choose but rather the application which has the biggest impact - 'it's not what we do but how we do it...' So whether we choose free enterprise or planned economy, both will need to be applied with restraint and intelligence.
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