Keep the COMPETITION, kick the TRAUMA to the curb

NOTE: This is long. But worthwhile. It’s the closest I’ve come to a coherent statement of my transformational entrepreneurial philosophy, and this perspective is the source of all the healing power I channel into the company cultures with which I work. I hope you will take the time to read it and contemplate its implications.

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Sometimes, actually often, and even almost all the time, I contemplate the origins of the human species and all that the process has given us, both joys and burdens.

A little worldview disclosure here. 2 background premises:

1. I trust that physicists, astronomers, cosmologists, biologists, and psychologists are evaluating the best evidence with unbiased rational faculties in order to draw the generally accepted conclusions about the physical processes that have brought us to the present moment. As such I operate with a cognitive framework that includes Darwinistic evolution, a 14 billion year-old universe, and measurably deterministic cognitive processes.

2. I find the purely materialistic outlook DEEPLY unsatisfying and believe this to be true of all humans. Many recent conversations, as well as certain personal experiences, have caused me to question some of the standard wisdom about mental illness. This is admittedly not my credentialed expertise, but I suspect more and more each day that “dysfunctional” behavior is often a matter of philosophical malnourishment. For some of us metaphysics is the most valuable and important of all disciplines. This is a new, untested, and perhaps controversial assertion, but I predict it will prove to be one of the new frontiers of human progress in the coming decades.

So, premises established, let’s talk about the joys and burdens of our origin story, and how we navigate our human inheritance in this vexing age of increasing self-awareness. This is a heady one, but super important if you want to optimize both financial success AND the mental health of you and the cultures you inhabit.

In the beginning there were forces. Then energy. This became matter. We don’t know where it came from.

Some matter became alive. We don’t understand how. Life has always competed for limited resources. Always. This causes trauma. Plants can be traumatized, but we don’t tend to associate that with suffering because we don’t think they are aware.

Some life developed will and cognitive frameworks (aka strategies) for maximizing gain. Creatures in the Realm of Action are acting 100% of the time. In animals this is unconscious, but driven by the goal of maximizing gain through various instincts. They can’t tell you that, and they don’t contemplate its meaning. It’s highly traumatic to be an animal in the wild, but they have no meta-awareness of this.

We humans DO have meta-awareness. Trauma plus meta-awareness leads to suffering and often bitterness. That’s the human condition. Humans CAN tell you they are working to maximize both gain AND meaning. That’s ultimately what it means to be a “healthy” human in the estimation of most people.

Every human has found themselves conscious, taking part in the grand, ever-flowing story of the universe. None of us asked for it. It is a gift given to and a burden placed upon us by our parents, and in turn given to and placed upon our children. We make the choice for them, just as our parents made the choice for us.

The human race is a dense, meta-aware episode in the ever-unfolding story of the universe, and the latest in a long chain of living, then conscious, then meta-aware beings who did not ask to be created. And the inheritance of un-meta-aware strategies guiding actions based on scarcity and competition is forged into our spirits. But we are meta-aware of them and this causes deep tension, dissonance, and neurosis that we often do not realize or understand.

Let that sink in for a moment. Breathe, and let your imagination contemplate all that. These topics are worthy of meditation. And it’s a VAST span of time.

The Earth is a miracle. It is clearly rare for a world to be suitable for life as it is. In spite of that, its elements are unforgiving. Our ancestors, both pre-human and early human, found resources scarce and the forces of nature deadly. And yet they survived. They banded together and against others, fought over scarce resources, instituted strict codes of punishment, and endured the excruciating tradeoffs of socialization over the prospect of enduring the elements. And it was traumatic. So traumatic. And humans survived. Enough of us. Enough to make the choice for the next generation. And the next. And the next…

That is what we are all born into.

And it’s a different world today than even 100 years ago. A world of abundant calories, effortless transportation, and unbelievable technological innovation that makes the nature of contemporary human life simply unimaginable to our ancestors of even a couple generations prior.

We have all this. And spirits forged by generations of traumatic scarcity and tribalism.

Get it?

We are living contradictions. Fat and happy with the unprecedented abundance of our age, also driven and fearful from eons of fighting the elements and each other to control scarce resources that could not ever go far enough.

Unprecedented abundance meets eons-old competitive instinct.

It’s our modern dilemma. And now you’re meta-aware of it. It will help you think on a higher level.

Because both of those elements are crucial to understand for our healthy thriving and happiness.

Here’s why:

Without competition our spirits wither and die. It’s why communism always fails. When we build companies we NEED the thrill of the chase that awakens our primal urgency.

It’s not life or death as it once was. We currently produce 50% more food than we need to feed the global population. We are not in danger of starving anymore. Many more of us die today of overnourishment than malnutrition.

Further, we all basically know at this point that money is not real. It’s an idea, a concept to keep score and rank status that puts the whole system in motion so we stay busy and motivated.

So, remember, it’s a game. For most of our ancestors it wasn’t. It was legit life and death. But not for us. We can build, create, enjoy, relish the process, love and cherish each other as we do. Acknowledge the absurdity of our condition and the paradox that is the coexistence of the often overwhelming burden of our inherited trauma with the inexpressible joys of loving one another.

Our ancestors came to amidst unimaginable trauma and uncertainty. You have awoken amidst unimaginable abundance and innovation. Remember this, and work to ease the trauma of those around you. We all have it from somewhere, passed down to us through the generations.

And remember we are still excited by the hunt, animated by the drums of war, moved by allegiance to our kings. These instincts must be honored as well, so stay hungry and play to win.

That’s our modern entrepreneurial challenge.

Keep the competition. The trauma we can kick to the curb.