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Capitalism and Integral Theory

Posted September 28th, 2009 by Greg Mayers
Two incredible things happened to me today. This is going to take a little bit to describe the situations, so please bear with me. I promise, you’ll be crying or laughing.
 
On my daily walk for exercise through town, I noticed that a new department store opened up in place of the old one that went belly up back in January. So, being an American, I did what all American’s naturally do with their fundamentalist, literalist religion. I paid a visit to the new church in town. And sure enough, right at the entrance, standing behind a portable, small podium, was a youth minister. I mean, he wasn’t a minister to youth, he was really young. I’m not even sure he was allowed to legally work in this country!
 
Anyway, he was doing his job at the door greeting each new comer, just like the grown up ministers told him to do. Preach capitalism! “Would you like a new Kohl’s credit card,” and without pausing to catch a breath, “you’ll get 20% off on everything you purchase today.” I said: “No thank you. I’m an anti-capitalist.” “But,” he repeated with emphasis, “you get 20% off on everything you purchase today.” “No,” I said politely, “I’m an anti-capitalist. I don’t purchase from big corporations.” “But,” he came back almost breathlessly, “we’ll give you $10.00 too, absolutely free,” as he started to write on the free $10 coupon in his hand. I said, “You don’t get it; I’m an anti-capitalist. I’m only here for the show. I don’t buy from big corporations. I only buy from individuals.” (That’s not really true; one can’t live in the 1st world and be untouched by big corporations. But the line has great shock value). At this point, this youth minister or illegal child laborer, I don’t know which, just stared at me with his mouth opened in disbelief that any sane person could turn down such an offer (or was it an offering?). I don’t think he was old enough even to understand the word “capitalism.” So, I said aloud to nobody in particular: “Where is Michael Moore’s film crew when we really need them!”
 
Honest to God! I am not making this story up or embellishing it. And I am an anti-capitalist. I think Gore Vidal is correct. There is only one political party in America: the Propertied Party. The constitution was crafted by propertied men and it works incredibly well for them. We even gave them how many hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds within the last year? Talk about socialism! You see, I think capitalism is corrupt and it is corrupting everyone especially innocent youth. The part time teenage check out person at the local store is always asking me if I want to add this or that to my order. I see their youthful bodies tense up and focus on me with the greed they are required to muster, greed oozing out of their muscles and tender spirits. Our youth are being trained in greed with the same intensity and vigor that Zen Masters impose on their students at Sesshins.
 
And here’s where Integral Theory comes in. One of the wonderful things about it is that it tries so very hard to label things accurately so we can actually see what is happening and what is out there. So, using Integral Theory’s integrity and honesty as my guide, I proposed that all corporate Sales Departments be immediately renamed: Greed Training Area.
 
And now to the second incredible thing that happened to me today. I returned from my walk and my visit to the new capitalist church in town and got my mail from the mail box. That’s not incredible. What’s incredible is that I am pre-approved for a “Black Visa Credit Card,” offered to only 1% of the population in the country! WOW! Take about synchronicity! I know you don’t understand my “wow” about this. I belong to a Catholic religious order and have vowed poverty, chastity and obedience. I don’t own a single thing in my own name. Never have in my entire life. I am by Church law forbidden and in civil law incapable of owning anything legally in my own name. I can’t even enter into legally binding contracts! I’m not impoverished. I live a communal life. Self chosen communism for a religious purpose works very well and has for almost 2 millennia. Communism imposed from the outside is a disaster. But I digress. So, here I am, pre-approved for a Black Visa credit card offered to only 1% of the population in the country, and this is a very rich country, so you know how exclusive this is. How did that happen?
 
Well, I have a confession to make. Thirty odd years ago, when we were all paying in cash, and the credit card companies wanted our business, and most credit cards had no annual fees, I started playing a game. I wanted to see if I could get a credit card with no credit history. I applied for one and got it. That wasn’t the game. I started to apply for as many credit cards as I could that offered no annual fees. (Remember I don’t have any money). That’s the game. And I started lying on the applications. That’s the confession. I lied. I made up figures to put into the space for “annual income.” Nobody checked up on me. And I kept getting new credit cards in the mail. I never used them. But they kept sending them to me. Greed! They wanted my “business” so badly they were willing to give credit to a person who literally hasn’t a penny to his name. The big financial meltdown last October started a long, long time ago, rooted in organized, legal, patriotic greed. (I’ve dropped all credit cards that pulled the bait and switch game and started charging annual fees).
 
I think Pope Benedict XVI has got it right in his latest encyclical on the social teachings of the Catholic Church, (they call him B16 – get it? Bingo?), namely, capitalism needs to be replaced. Pope Benedict asks economists to come up with a new world financial system that takes into account the rights and needs of the poor and disadvantaged in the world because greed is ruining us, spiritually and materially.
 
Now I get pre-approved for a Black Visa credit card! The accompanying literature says: “Limited membership; 24-hour concierge service; Exclusive rewards programs; Luxury gifts; Patent pending carbon card” all preceded by bullets so I won’t miss these exciting benefits. I think I will pass on this one. Actually, they’ve made up my mind for me. They require me to pay them a $495 annual fee to fool people into believing that I am extremely wealthy.
 
I can’t afford it. I literally don’t have the money.
 
Greg Mayers
Zen taught me everything I can do
Christianity taught me everything I can’t do

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Definition of Capitalism

Posted September 29th, 2009 by Jonathan Cobb

"Capitalism" and "socialism" are such loaded terms, they can be interpreted to be just about anything these days.  I certainly oppose the reckless, speculative "Casino capitalism" that we've seen over the past couple decades.  But if one thinks of capitalism in terms of private property and a market economy, I'm all for that.  This is why I think there's a lot of talk in the Integral community about "conscious capitalism."

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An integral version of economics 101. . .

Posted September 30th, 2009 by Charles Bowling

Hi Greg,

 
Is it accurate to equate capitalism with greed? Or is there some form of conflation with this notion? And what light can integral theory shed on these questions ?
 
Integral theory very clearly comes down on the side of developmentalism; often citing the work of many developmentalists. If we take a broad strokes approach to these studies it's possible to see them falling out into two broad categories sometimes called first tier and second tier. Abraham Maslow used needs to define these two, where folks in the first broad category tended to see themselves in terms of deficiency, of having less than they need. The second category had to do with needs of another sort, those of being.
 
To walk around or to go through life with a consciousness centered in first tier, is the rough equivalent of having a void (and in extreme cases a black hole) in one's psyche. All sorts of forms of acquisition are employed in attempts to fill up this hole, this includes untoward habits, addictions, and greed itself. This sort of behavior seems to be doomed to continue, until some sort of satiation or frustration with a struggle akin to that of Sisyphus. At that point the question may enter, say something in the form of, "How high is up?"
 
Pardon me if all this is a bit elementary, but it does provide a psychological background for economic theories of various sorts, all of which are subsumed by developmentalism or the lack of it.
 
Capitalism has its roots in the formation of capital; the simplest definition of which is defined as the ability to acquire more than what is needed for survival. In the earliest days this meant a surplus of grain, that could be stored for use in leaner times. This excess quantity or abundance is capital. It's very difficult to argue against this idea, of putting something away for a rainy day.
 
So if capital represents stored value, it's a very small step to see that money itself serves exactly the same function. In fact money itself is very democratic, (and can in fact actually be seen as. spirit itself); every time anyone ever spends money they are in a sense voting, or valuing one thing over another, including the value of the medium of exchange or currency.
 
However in order for capitalism to function as a system that meets real needs of a wide swath of folks who live in such a system, cheating and other forms of exploitation cannot be permitted. Common law addresses this with notions of contract, which holds that each party must benefit from such arrangements; and that things sold must be good for the purpose for which they were intended, etc.
 
Selling swamp land in Florida in the 1920s, was a form of 'cheating' that helped to bring on the great depression. Much in the same way that the unrestricted selling of credit default swaps (ostensibly a form of insurance) brought on our recent economic crisis.
 
So i'd be much happier blaming cheating, and other evidences of undeveloped human behavior, for humankind's economic woes, than i would some economic system, such as capitalism or socialism.
 
Warmly,
Charles
41N54'51' 88W18'31"

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Cheer up

Posted October 1st, 2009 by Alan Sato

I wouldn't hold such a glum viewpoint.  After all, Obama is championing medical coverage for all Americans.  Thus, as 2nd tier thinking moves into the government, we will see much more compassionate incarnations such as this.  The change since the industrial revolution has been to become more and more compassionate.  That goes naturally with a wider scope of consideration.  The historical trend is that the scope is widening.

Eventually, capitalism may end up becoming communism.  It's trend is to get there eventually.

My personal gripe with capitalism is the lack of accountability.  CEO's of corporations can make decisions that adversely affect millions with complete impunity.  Take for example the pharmaceutical industry or the tobacco industry.

Also, it is biased too heavily on money.  Other things, such as compassion currently have no place in the model.  Integral is working to change that.  But a realistic change of the model will require that the analysts overcome their dysfunctions and operate from a freely-flowing compassionate embodiment.  We're a long ways off from that.

So I wouldn't necessarily say that Capitalism is bad.  The people are bad.  The Soviet Union used socialism, and that didn't work out so well.  Long term stability brings about healing of dysfunctions and positive change.  Are we not all spiritual beings? And is Spirit not fully embodied compassion?  If mankind survives, it will ultimately express that compassion.

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A Quick Fix?

Posted October 1st, 2009 by Alan Sato

As a quick fix to capitalism, one could introduce accountability into the system.

China does that.  I heard a story that a Chinese toy company released a toy that had a piece that broke off and some babies choked and died.  The Chinese government executed the CEO of that company.  At red, 1st person level of concern, punishment is a compelling preventative.

Who would be a CEO for the tobacco industry then?  No one.  Except someone with a death wish.  Every farmer, CEO, etc... would be executed for their crimes against mankind.  The tobacco industry, which is fueled by greed, would utterly collapse. (But it would still go on illegally in less developed countries.)

 

Another idea, completely unrelated to the above: defenders of Capitalism will say that your "greed" is merely a shadow of your competitive nature.  Our 1st person concern gives birth to personal greatness, to great leaders.  Capitalism fosters people such as President Obama.  Once you start confining anything, you confine the good with the bad, when the bad is the problem.  We need to heal the bad, and the problem goes away.

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It's up to us; and, Ruining or Evolving?

Posted January 18th, 2010 by Katin Imes

Hello Greg & Namaste!

Thank you for blogging and sharing. I think it helps a great deal to read about other people's perspectives, and you've got a fascinating combination of background and looking. At least, especially fascinating to me since I wrestle with many of the same areas and background, and I feel we've shared some spiritual trails.

The quote I want to respond to is:

 "Pope Benedict asks economists to come up with a new world financial system that takes into account the rights and needs of the poor and disadvantaged in the world because greed is ruining us, spiritually and materially."

I'm not sure economists are the ones to ask. From my studies of money and finance, these things are just tools. Huge tools, complex tools, system-managed tools and critical tools, yes, but money and finance are still tools invented by man to be used by man.

Asking economists to come up with a financial system that limits greed and victims is rather like asking a knifemaker to create a knife that limits murder. The abuses of the tools will decline and cease as man transforms and evolves past the perceptions and practices of greed. As we become kind, loving, caring and world-smart as a people, our economy will become the same.

The catch-22 here is that most people are caring and kind. The problems are (1) education around money, (2) our agreements around money (from way back), and (3) those under 1% of folks who aren't so caring and kind at this time and will abuse anything and anyone. In the meantime, those three factors are creating more people who believe that greed is a basic form of survival, corrupting many who would have been fine otherwise. So the question is, if we could redesign the financial system to be in alignment with 99% of the population's needs and attitudes, what would it look like?

Very, very different. Almost inconceivably different. For a fascinating look at what that might look like, check out the free online novel called "The Invisible Hand," by Larry K. Mason. (I enjoyed listening to the MP3 audio version, also free). Fiction, yes, but an affecting exploration into the possibility of what changing the basis of the money system can do. This book is a real brain-bender, so be warned.

The system described in that book is just one possibility. There are many other wonderful systems of equitable trade tools without useary that have been designed, discussed, documented in books and that even have software systems written and working. Yet, all of these systems are marginalized, ignored or even outlawed. Why?

It isn't the economists that we need to work on. It is the politicians and bankers that we need to convince to get going on evolving on the financial systems. Or, maybe it is just us, normal everyday people that need to learn and evolve our standards around financial understanding. Either way, it's a huge task.

We already have the technology and system designs for new financial systems and economies. Humanity just hasn't evolved past the lizard-brain influence of greed yet. It may take a few million years for us to stop seeing a knife as a handy murder weapon as well as a basic tool for living.

Thanks again for your blog and these online conversations. :)