The current aspirational model is based upon self-serving wealth, status and power: the individual is conditioned very early on in life that to have their needs, wants and desires met, they need to climb the slippery pole of avariciousness, to enable them to buy whatever they want, whenever they want it. However, this model has a fatal flaw if we wish to have a more caring community: it's divisive, because it favours those with privileged backgrounds, the more able, the greedy and the power-hungry. Since it is pyramidal, it is broader at its base than at the top; so all aspirants, apart from those at the top, will be disappointed. Not a very wise model for creating well-being in its participants, but one that is perpetrated through most educational, social and commercial environments - with the winner taking all. Yet the truth is: the footballer needs the crowd, the crowd needs the footballer; the lawyer needs the litigant, the litigant needs the lawyer; the actor needs the audience, the audience needs the actor; the celebrity needs the hairdresser, the hairdresser needs the celebrity; society needs the individual and the individual needs society. John Anderson - The Art of Being Human
ORIGINAL COMMENT
The current aspirational model is based upon self-serving wealth, status and power: the individual is conditioned very early on in life that to have their needs, wants and desires met, they need to climb the slippery pole of avariciousness, to enable them to buy whatever they want, whenever they want it. However, this model has a fatal flaw if we wish to have a more caring community: it's divisive, because it favours those with privileged backgrounds, the more able, the greedy and the power-hungry. Since it is pyramidal, it is broader at its base than at the top; so all aspirants, apart from those at the top, will be disappointed. Not a very wise model for creating well-being in its participants, but one that is perpetrated through most educational, social and commercial environments - with the winner taking all. Yet the truth is: the footballer needs the crowd, the crowd needs the footballer; the lawyer needs the litigant, the litigant needs the lawyer; the actor needs the audience, the audience needs the actor; the celebrity needs the hairdresser, the hairdresser needs the celebrity; society needs the individual and the individual needs society. John Anderson - The Art of Being Human