Problem of ‘Success’ in Capitalist Culture
Psychological manipulation of people’s minds in the interest of capitalist consumerism which depends for its ‘success’ on making peoploe think that they always need to gain something or ‘win’. This is the appeal to insatiable greed upon which capitalism depends to remain ahead.The strategy works if people are not allowed to fulfill their own needs for growth and the attain the level of contentment that goes with it. Social forces in capitalist cultures serve to frustrate people’s personal or spiritual growth. Through whatever means… education, advertising, television… attempts are made to keep people from developing beyond the ‘ego’ level of consciousness. Their energies are directed or rather misdirected to satisfying their illusory egocentric ‘needs’ thus complying with the social forces of materialism. People are affected subconsciously, their behaviour becomes automatic and they think they are getting something rather than expressing who they are because their personal growth has been compromised.
They don’t know who they are in the sense that they are lacking in ‘self-knowledge’. Self-knowledge depends on education which allows for the person’s continued connectedness to their intrinsic human nature i.e. their their conscience or ‘soul’. Blockage leads to self-alienation and conflict with the environment. This in turn leads to one of two possible outcomes. One is the person’s so-called ‘adjustment’ through achievement of ‘success’ as it applies in the context of capitalism… material ‘success’, career path accumulation of wealth and so on. The other possible outcome… the person can integrate into the society in many possible ways and depends on their critical understanding which allows for continued personal development and the achievement of health and happiness which is true success.
Critical understanding of the cultural, social political, economic forces which impact one’s life can dissipate the anxiety and confusion which come from conflict with one’s environment. One is then free to ignore the pressures and to cut out a life for oneself according to values which are true to one’s own human nature. These same values are in the interest of one’s natural instinct to preserve one’s health and live in harmony with oneself and one’s fellow human beings. So it is important to re-examine and reconsider the basic assumptions of the culture one lives in… the cultural or social ‘reality’ in which one is functioning. One has to unveil the hidden codes of the paradigm which is the framework for this ‘reality’. Then it is possible to reconstruct a personal reality which is harmonious with the social ‘reality… it provides a realistic framework in which one can maintain both inner and outer harmony in a social environment which is constantly changing.
