Anyone for a better world?

The above video was sent to me on WhatsApp by a friend who also asked me to write a blog post on the injustices of capitalism. The friend quoted Lenin: “Capitalism is going to give us the rope with which we are going to hang them.” I wasn’t particularly enthused by the message or the demand for a blog post because I am like Benjamin the donkey in Orwell’s Animal Farm. Benjamin is cynical when it comes to politics. He knows that no party or ideology is going to make any substantial difference as far as the common folk are concerned.

What can be an alternative to capitalism, for instance? Socialism/Communism? Benign dictatorship? Theocracy?

The video above shows the absolute heartlessness of capitalism. But has socialism/communism been any better in the erstwhile USSR, China, and present North Korea, Venezuela, and Cuba? Dictatorship and theocracy are not economic systems, but have they saved any nation from injustices?

I believe the problem is not with systems or ideologies. The problem is with us, human beings. Our greed and selfishness corrupt any system or ideology. Every economic and political system - capitalism or communism or any other ism - is designed in theory to serve society’s best interests. However, in practice, these systems fail because of human flaws.

Capitalism seeks to encourage innovation, competition, and wealth creation. But it has led to extreme wealth concentration, corporate monopolies, and exploitation due to human greed and selfishness. Socialism seeks to distribute wealth and resources fairly to reduce inequality. But bureaucratic inefficiency, corruption, and economic stagnation have been the actual products of socialism. Dictatorship overpowered communism wherever it was tried.

Human evolution was one-sided: our brains evolved (not in all cases, of course) but our hearts remained savage (in almost all cases). Science and technology advance rapidly because of that intellectual evolution. On the other hand, evil keeps mounting ever more rapidly because our hearts are still what our simian ancestors possessed.

Gods and religions were supposed to civilise our hearts. But they didn’t work, except in some cases. We used our gods and religions just as we used our economic and political systems: to achieve our own selfish and greedy goals.

A mutation seems to be the only solution to this. A mutation by which our hearts evolve too so that we realise the necessity of being virtuous instead of being vicious.

My friend who sent the above video is a religious person. That is, he belongs to a religious congregation whose members all live in communities which in effect practice the ideals of communism with deep underpinnings of Christianity. Such communities should be the ideal places for human goodness to flourish. And it does too. But, having been a member of one such congregation for ten years, I know that all is not so hunky-dory with such communities whose members are generally guided by the best of human virtues and spiritual principles. Human flaws cannot be escaped from totally even with the help of gods!

I quit religion because of purely personal reasons. But if I am asked to suggest a solution to this problem of human evil which towers above all systems and ideologies, I will fall back on a Christian monk, a character from Dostoevsky’s novel Brothers Karamazov. Monk Zosima teaches that human evil is not just an external problem for which we can blame any system or ideology. Each of us is responsible for everyone else’s sin, in Zosima’s view – a very profound view.

Instead of condemning others, we must recognise that our own lack of love, our indifference, and our selfishness contribute to the world’s suffering. Evil is not just ‘out there’ in the system – it is within us. In very simplistic words, to change the world, we must first change ourselves.

Zosima believes that love and humility are the only ways to combat evil. We have to be prepared for radical forgiveness, compassion over judgement, living by example, and readiness to suffer for the sake of goodness.

Zosima was a saint. He is asking all of us to be saints. The truth is there is no other way to make the world a better place. The truth is that we don’t want to face that truth. So the world will continue to be like what it has been – unless Artificial Intelligence takes over and works some miracles. 

Tailpiece: Has it ever made you wonder that most of the brutal political leaders are also very religious apparently?