Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Competition, willy nilly

People of the world have long been in competition with one another for survival. This happens on an individual level, a corporate level, a racial level, and a national level. Competition has always been there. It will always be there, whether we like it or not.

The most complete and absolute way to defeat someone in a game is to prevent your opponent from even realizing that there is a competition.

Imagine blithely working a puzzle by yourself only to find out after the fact that the first person who completes the puzzle is the winner, making you and everyone else losers. You didn't even know that there was a competition. That's because the game is not fair. Nobody tells you the rules in the game of life: you have to figure them out, or rather, figure out that it IS a game, and that there are no rules except what you can convince other people to agree to.

Competition is upon you, whether you realize it or not. That is not to say that altruism is always wrong. Reciprocal altruism is a good thing, but only if it is reciprocal. Without reciprocation, altruism is weakness that is exploited by competitors.

When you receive, you should feel the weight of obligation to pay back your benefactor. If you do not feel this obligation, then you are unworthy to receive anything.

When you give something to someone, judge their gratitude, and weigh it in terms of obligation and likelihood of reciprocation. Will this person or these people ever provide a benefit to you or your people in return? If not, then they are exploiting you, and you should not allow that exploitation to continue. For your own sake, the sake of your children, corporation, people: do not tolerate exploitation.