Excerpted from OpEdNews.com

May 25, 2014 edition

 

“Competition, taking and hoarding are higher                                           values than cooperation, sharing and gifting.”

 

The western worldview says in essence, that technological progress is the highest value and that we were born to consume, to endlessly use and discard natural resources, other species, gadgets, toys, and often, each other.  The most highly prized freedom is the right to shop.  It’s a world of commodities, not entities, and economic expansion is the primary measure of progress.  Competition, taking and hoarding are higher values than cooperation, sharing and gifting.  Profits are valued over people, money over meaning, and entitlement over justice, “us” over “them.”  This is the most dangerous addiction in the world, not only because of its impact on humanity but because it is rapidly undermining the natural systems that sustain the biosphere.

 

Bill Plotkin