How do you live under capitalism without sacrificing your “soul?” There is no doubt that capitalism has led to the highest level of material wealth and physical comfort achieved in human history. How does one advance in this world without discounting the value of caring about other people’s well-being? How do we balance pursuit of our own self-interest with the thought that we are our brother’s and sister’s keepers? How do we deal with the realization that the same individualistic, competitive instincts that so successfully drive our economic system are not the moral lessons we teach to our children at home?
I was previously in a situation about which many people dream: I could sell the product or service which I sell for almost any price I wanted and the buyer would say yes. How could this be?
I am an immigration lawyer and a change in the law made it possible for hundreds of thousands of people across America – and thousands in Worcester County – to become legal in America if they could find an employer or family member to sponsor them. This law existed only for four months. Not many lawyers specialize in immigration law. I and others in the field were faced with more work than we could ever do because so many people wanted our help. The time to apply under the law was short, the number of immigrants who needed help large, and the availability of competent immigration lawyers few. Many good immigration lawyers were even turning down cases because we couldn’t do all the work available. Any immigrant who found a lawyer had to say yes to whatever affordable price the lawyer named. Supply and demand allowed immigration lawyers to charge almost whatever we wanted and people would pay it. I and other immigration lawyers worked 65-80 hours a week for these four months. Even those of us who acted with some restraint made more money than we ever thought possible, though we were totally exhausted both mentally and physically. I completed more cases for employers sponsoring workers in these four months than I previously had in my twelve-year career up until then. After the whole thing was over I had time to reflect upon on what had just happened and the nature of the capitalism’s adherence to supply and demand.
Businesses generally set a price by asking, “How much will the customer pay?” with supply and demand controlling the entire transaction, “How much can I get?” is the operative question. There is no doubt that capitalism has led to the highest level of material wealth and physical comfort achieved in human history. But how does one compete in this world without viewing others as people to be used for one’s own gain? How do we balance pursuit of our own self-interest with the thought that we are our brother’s and sister’s keepers, or that we should treat others how we want to be treated? How do you we live under capitalism without gauging people when you can, and therein sacrificing your “soul?” How do we deal with the reality that the same overly competitive instincts that so successfully drive our economic system are not the lessons we teach to our children at home?
Too much competitiveness alienates us from those around us. It makes us feel alone and increases our desperation to get what we want as individuals, at the cost of broken relationships and spiritual detachment from the world. However capitalism encourages us to compete to be our best, whether competing against others or more idealistically against ourselves. Our sense of accomplishment then gives us a sense of self-assurance. At the same time the wealth, power and security of ourselves, our families and our nation grows.
Further, if we compete to get as much as we can in our business relations, how do we drop this basically anti-social attitude in our other relationships? Do we put up a “wall” and say, with family and close friends we act open-heartedly; with acquaintances we’re in the middle; and at work we compete? Or do we tone down the competitiveness generally, constantly questioning ourselves about what we really need, not falling into the trap of wanting too much?
Of course there are no answers to these questions but we must not forget that if we are to keep balance in our lives we must balance opposite forces: our drive for individual achievement and our spiritual need for acts of selflessness. We must remember that the forces of capitalism will continuously pull us in the direction of work, achievement and competition. Our traditional anchor to all this, religion, seems to be something we have relegated to our childhood and old age, ignoring organized religion as an active ingredient in our life during “our productive years”. Without religion how do we pull back and look towards each other with compassion and selflessness, instead of envy, or instead of choosing a life of solitude apart from one another. How do we remember to be a “giver” not a “taker” when our capitalist culture focuses on competition and consumption?
Thousands of years ago Plato wrote, that remembering that there is a balance to be kept and acting with a degree of moderation and restraint is vital to living well. It was no more true then that it is today.
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