Competition only Strengthens Competitiveness

There is a saying “Iron sharpens iron…” which means that when two people compete that both get stronger.  It’s simply not true.

Both get more skilled at the competitive act due to repetition, Neuroplasticity, and Hebb’s Law – “Neurons that wire together fire together.” 

But they don’t get “better” and they don’t get “stronger.” 

That is an illusion. 

“Better” and “stronger” are judgments, meaning they are comparisons to previous states, not absolutes. 

I’ll give an example: 

Football practice.   

This line about “iron” was introduced to me (though I have a competitive background, I hadn’t actually heard it) by listening to football coaches and players talk about inter-squad practices.  This is where players on the same “team” compete in practice against one another.  The worry is that it will create schisms within the team and so this phrase – “Iron sharpens iron” - is bandied about to justify the activity. 

On the surface, as long as “football skill” is the highest priority this does indeed tend to work.  

However, and hold onto your hats, what if an increase in “football skill” was not accepted as an absolute good??  

What if we looked at ALL the behaviors that constant competition reinforces in humans? 

In terms of football this also includes aggression, physical domination of others, that winning is better than losing (as well as the correlate that “winners” are better than “losers”), the inflation of the value of a game, etc. etc. etc.   

All this is also, along with football skill, reinforced by the activity, and, hold onto your hat, not ALL of those are of a constructive nature where the whole of humanity is concerned. 

I’m not picking on football.  TRUST me all competitive acts generate similar byproducts.   

Capitalism is a VERY clear example.  Can you imagine a natural tribal people not feeding, housing, or clothing a member of their tribe and then stepping over them on the way to the office where they sit comfortably inside and complain about the person’s odor?  No natural tribe was ever that insane, but give them Capitalism and they will be creating their own homeless “losers” in no time at all! 

I could literally fill four volumes with examples similar to these, but this is an essay and people’s attention spans these days are very short.  So I’ll get to the point. 

Competition is destroying humanity. 

It is creating distance between us and even worse between humans and their environment.  

It makes us “results driven” in VERY arbitrary results (money is an abstraction, it doesn’t exist, and yet most people believe that an accumulation of it will lead to happiness or achievement in some way…) And worse it makes us view other people as potential adversaries.  It closes our hearts to their suffering and turns them into utilitarian devices that either serve to “further our interests” or who threaten our “goals” and so are our enemies.  And it does the same with inanimate objects - forests are only seen as ways to sell lumber, etc. etc. etc. 

It closes the heart.   

Competitive people see empathy and compassion as “weak.”   

Competitive people talk about various activities being “soft” as if that were a threat to their need for a constantly competitive mindset. 

And it takes all the life out of life. 

Again, I could go on.  And essentially every essay I’ve ever written has a component of this essay in it. 

The real issue is that reality doesn’t agree with this philosophy. 

Humans have thrived because of cooperation not competition. 

When we are cooperative at our core, we are able to open our hearts.   

Cooperative cultures tend to not reserve that cooperation merely for humans they also see that they must cooperate with their environments and other species.  They are kinder, more connected and generally happier. 

And I’m afraid that it might simply be too late. 

It’s getting worse not better. 

But, I had to write this.  I had to speak the truth.  Very few people will read this and even less will get it. 

But it had to be said. 

Now I will sit back and watch as humans compete themselves into extinction.  I can’t see much chance of anything else. 

My “shift” has given me access to peace, joy, and love. 

And I will watch with tears in my eyes as humans compete themselves to death, while loving each one of those lost tantruming children with my whole open heart. 

Much love to you.