Sunday, September 22, 2013

The Genetic Hardwiring of 'More' vs Free Will?




The Hardwiring of ‘More’ vs ‘Free Will’?  

Growth for growth’s sake (more for more’s sake – jds)  is the ideology of the cancer cell
Edward Abbey

            Identified with his body as his ‘sense of self,’ man’s primary strategy (delusional as it may be) to overcome this fear of bodily extinction of his sense of self seeks continuity, permanence, certainty or at least palliation through the strategy acquisition (the Hebrew for which is Cain as in Cain and Abel). The primary derivative of acquisition is ‘more.’
            Thus, if not genetic, more is certainly hardwired and reinforced by the acculturation of ‘more, better, now’ (regardless of economic system). 50,000 -100,000+++ messages a year bombards man in the media relative to ‘dissatisfaction’ – not enough – he or she isn’t enough – and therefore needs more. Compounding the bombardment is comparison as a basis for one’s worthiness – be it how man A’s, how one did relative to the Dow, etc – but in any case being more than ‘the other’ by us –  is the standard of excellence and worthiness.
            After 40+ years of writing, lecturing, consulting on enough versus more, I’ve come to the conclusion that the more genetic hardwiring predisposition reinforced by the Moreon culture cannot be solved or cured.  Rather more can only be postured relative to enough in a dialectic of tension – recognized and managed. At best, intermittently more goes into remission (usually in down markets) when, in fear, one hears ‘if it comes back, I won’t piss it away this time, I just want enough). Of course, once the market turns, there is reversion to more –‘which stock or bond should I buy’ (managing assets relative to external indexes) rather than internally managing goals (regardless of external indexes).

I have met the enemy and the enemy is us
Pogo

            The enemy of enough is us – moreons – and the battle with the culturally reinforced inclination/predisposition – even with internalization of enough – is non ending for us Cain-inites.