Letter Home: The Strangeness of Greed and Human Motivations

Letter Home from Planet Earth, April 16th, 2016, local time


Dear All,

Hope everyone at Home is doing well!

I continue doing my best to integrate myself here on Planet Earth, but I have to confess that I am completely mystified by certain aspects of the Humans' behaviors and motivations. Lately, I have been considering their strange compulsions surrounding "wealth" and "greed," perhaps because it is very much in the news here, as part of the whole "Presidential Elections" circus, here in this country.

I realize that what I am about to describe here may sound completely alien to you, so I'll try to explain.

As best I can tell, Humans have little or no understanding of the concept "enough." Or "having enough," as it relates to living full and happy lives. Sometimes, I am not even sure they know what the word means. As a result, many engage in frightening "accumulation behaviors" unlike any I have seen before.

Try to imagine someone who works hard and provides well not only for their family and loved ones, but also for an extended family and friends. But rather than enjoy their lives, they continue "accumulating," always trying to get "more." In their existence, there is never such a thing as "enough." They are like squirrels collecting nuts for winter, except they keep collecting enough nuts to feed 1000 squirrels for 1000 winters.

Of course, I know people at Home aren't all "equal" and there are income and wealth differences, but the extremes on this planet are... well... extreme. And it is the cause of huge amounts of suffering on this planet.

For example, here in the United States, the 20 wealthiest individuals own more wealth than the lowest fifty percent. Think about that. That's 20 people vs. 150+ million people. If you want to expand the bracket a bit, the top 0.1% has as much wealth as the bottom 90%.

In real terms that might be better understood, it takes about 20 million "US Dollars" (the local form of payment) to be included in this top 0.1%. I can assure you that represents a lot of wealth; enough to comfortable support many many families. But that's not the whole of it-- many of these people are still trying to get more!

The thing that is very puzzling about it is that the Humans have conducted many studies on happiness and wealth (I think these things confuse them, too!), and these studies have repeatedly revealed that after a certain point, the amount of money you have does not actually make anyone any happier. Scholarly experts from one of their major centers of learning-- Princeton University-- did a huge study that showed that happiness does not materially increase once a person makes more than 75,000 US Dollars per year in income.

Can you see the paradox? The Humans tend to toil endlessly to obtain something that won't even make them any happier with their lives! As far as I can tell, the only material (and societal) "reward" is that huge numbers of other Humans are left suffering, as a result of these strange inequalities.

You might be wondering how such inequities are even possible for a civilization that stands at the threshold of becoming "advanced."

To be honest, I am not sure. "Fear" seems to be a primary motivator on this planet.

Specifically, the fear of "being without" seems to have driven many to lose their sense of common decency and compassion. Many Humans are very fearful of sharing what they have, but-- ironically-- those who have the least, are often the first to generously share.

Oddly enough, the Humans seem to have manufactured this paradigm, themselves. This planet is perfectly capable of sustaining the life living upon it, yet there is a deep rooted fear that there is "not enough" for everyone and-- indeed-- millions of humans do die needlessly every year because they don't have the very basics for survival. Maybe it is this latent fear of scarcity that causes Humans to hoard more than they actually need... more than enough.

When I consider it-- and think about how we live at Home-- I feel a little sick to my stomach, and in my soul.

Apologetics for the existing system seem to center their defense around the notions of "survival of the fittest" and "freedom" and the false idea that a society can only grow if individuals can be lured with disproportionate rewards for their contributions. Some also talk about their "rights" being violated, if certain rules and restrictions are applied. This country-- the United States-- seems to be obsessed with a strange passion for defending the rights of "The Individual," typically at the expense of the common good and well-being of all citizens. Maybe I am misunderstanding something, there.

It always leads me straight back to the evident Human lack of capacity to grasp the basic concept of "Enough." I keep wanting to ask the question "Why do you want MORE, when you already have enough?" Sometimes I get called "names" (that's a derogatory thing, I believe..) for my questions.

If we go back to the previous idea that you don't get materially happier once you make 75,000 dollars, and even allow for a doubling of that as a measure of "enough," why are Humans so obsessed with obtaining multiples in the 10's, 100's and even 1000's of these amounts? And why are they so resistant to the idea of "paying it back" to their communities, once a certain threshold is reached?

As is often the case, I end up with more questions than answers... and find myself rather powerless to offer suggestions that might help end the suffering on the planet.

They could really use a "Philanthropy and Community Tax" like we have at Home. Given their competitive nature, The Humans could even set it up as a social game, where rank and status as the most "important" person in the community (and society) was connected directly to the size of one's contributions to the betterment of all. They would even be celebrated as Heroes of Society. Alas, this thing called "personal greed" always seems to get in the way, and they harbor a deep mistrust of any rules that benefit the community, rather than individuals.

Well. I have written more than enough for now. I will continue to study this strange species and endeavor to understand what they are about... and report back as I learn more. In the meantime, I have mixed in some pretty images of this Spring season. This really can be a very beautiful place!

Till the next time, this is your faithful but somewhat baffled emissary on Planet Earth, signing off...