I am becoming disillusioned with competition (political contests being a particularly nasty example of it) and suspicious of the notion that it’s the best way to progress as an individual or a society. There’s always a stronger opponent, a younger, more attractive player on the scene, a faster gun.
Competition as the best way to approach life makes good sense if one accepts the premise that there isn’t enough to go around. If that’s true, there must be a winner, and, by extension, losers. I know from my experience with the FISH program our church participates in that the idea that there’s not enough food to go around is false. My car, an EV, can potentially be powered by sunlight. Bucky Fuller said once that pollution was just a resource we haven’t figured out how to use yet, and there is truth in that statement. Recycling is one small step in the attempt to reduce our waste of resources. The COVID pandemic taught us, surprisingly, that much work can be accomplished without physically moving from one building (home) to another (office).
Competition also makes sense if our value is measured in terms of better or worse than the person next to us, or across the border from us. I’m beginning to see this as a narrow and inaccurate view of things.
I can see the value in competition as a vehicle for urging more rapid discoveries in science or in the area of entertainment; sports are competitions that have clear beginnings and endings, and provide pleasure for both players and spectators. It isn’t that competition has no place; it’s that its elevation to the primary way of living our lives ignores the riches and potential progress that can come from pooled energy and insights.
“What will undo any boundary is the awareness that it is our vision, and not what we are viewing, that is limited.” James P. Carse