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People are apes. The anxiety level in apes is directly linked to the dominance hierarchy and where they are in the dominance hierarchy, and how secure they feel
by devoply 9y ago
People are apes. The anxiety level in apes is directly linked to the dominance hierarchy and where they are in the dominance hierarchy, and how secure they feel in that position. The dominance hierarchy in modern society is directly liked to your place in the corporate hierarchy. So the economy is directly linked to how much anxiety workers feel being a part of a dominance hierarchy that is incredibly unstable and sociopathic. If we want to reduce anxiety in the population we have to do something about the way business is conducted most likely globally. And universal income totally does not address this problem because if you are on it, i.e. that's your only source of income, you are automatically at the bottom of the social dominance hierarchy and therefore automatically feel high levels of stress, and you will self-medicate with drugs to reduce that stress.
- ooae 9y agoBut I'm a nobody and I feel great when I meditate. Is it because I don't occupy my mind with any memory or thoughts of that problematic? The world feels splendid when you don't keep in mind your past or future experience of it.
- devoply 9y agoIf you are oblivious to the dominance hierarchy then it does not affect you until you try to interact with it... like getting a mate or getting a certain level of recognition from your peers who are actively aware of it and their place in it.. etc. The hierarchy is part of a game, that you don't have to play unless you are forced to by other people. Due to economic need, sexual need, etc. There are alternative dominance hierarchies too, we call them sub-cultures that you might try to join instead for much the same purpose.
- ooae 9y agoIs the trick in not interacting with it?
- devoply 9y agoDepends on what you want. If you are okay being socially isolated, then sure. But that causes its own psychological problems... loneliness.
- philovivero 9y agoThat seems to be the trick the Buddhists and yourself have figured out. The language, however, is dated. Maybe you could update Buddhist mantra for 2017 using all the parlance of our times?
- devoply 9y agoWell Buddhists may claim to, but how often does that not beak down into some other similar game where you have some sort of hierarchy form like for instance in Tibetan Buddhism, you have a guru and his disciples and they are better for their religiosity and what not. Maybe an ascetic monk aspires towards that, again at the cost of loneliness and then maybe through that he can assert his moral superiority over some group. It's all the same game bro. I am better than you ... because... if anything in your existence has anything to do with that then you are in the game.
- chillacy 9y agoIs dropping this profound knowledge on us another way to play the game? Is the trick to happiness just carving out a facet in your life where you're secure in the hierarchy? (I'd borrow from Keith Johnstone and say High Status).
- devoply 9y agoDon't people do that anyway. I am not dropping any wisdom, I am telling you how it is. What you do about it is up to you. From a societal perspective we are already doing things to make the dominance hierarchy of the corporation more amenable to humans. Stopping bullying by higher ups, harassment, etc. are all about that. What prevents more of that is the nature of the game of business and the competition that goes with it, which is dog eat dog. Businesses would go out of business very quickly if they catered to the social needs of their employees rather than the business itself. The point then is to design a business process which isn't that ruthless with different objectives.