{"id":116322,"date":"2018-08-20T12:00:46","date_gmt":"2018-08-20T11:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=116322"},"modified":"2018-08-20T12:29:46","modified_gmt":"2018-08-20T11:29:46","slug":"life-at-the-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/08\/life-at-the-top\/","title":{"rendered":"Life at the Top"},"content":{"rendered":"

Full disclosure: While the author has at times felt being \u201con top of the world\u201d, he cannot claim any personal experience of \u201clife at the top\u201d. However, being a keen witness and a dogged student, the common idea of \u201ctop\u201d fascinates him. After all, a crazed race to \u201cthe top\u201d inevitably leads to injustice, crime and war. But anyone obsessed with \u201creaching the top\u201d can provide only a self-serving report of his or her life. Therefore an objective if light-hearted study is attempted here.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

***<\/p>\n

To reach an imagined \u201ctop\u201d, and to retain one\u2019s position at such an imagined \u201ctop\u201d, are fairly common human desires. Such desires \u2013 rooted deep in the human psyche \u2013 cause empires, fiefdoms, business conglomerates, cabals and other assorted gangs to form and to compete amongst each other.<\/p>\n

Clearly, \u201ctop\u201d in such contexts refers to wealth and power; specifically, \u201ctop\u201d is usually taken to mean \u201ctop of the wealth and power heap\u201d. We do not consider fame as a distinct ingredient of that heap, since fame is commonly arranged through a cunning application of wealth, power or both.<\/p>\n

But do we not sense an obvious and delicious catch right away?<\/p>\n

\u201cTop of the heap\u201d makes sense only as long as a \u201ccompeting heap\u201d does not tempt the person \u201cat the top\u201d. After all, a person would not be satisfied being on top of a heap of a modest size, if he or she spies another person on top of a bigger heap nearby! Fierce competition is thus an integral part of this game of \u201cone-upmanship\u201d \u2013 or \u201cone-uppersonship\u201d, avoiding gender specificity.<\/p>\n

So we must conclude that \u201ctop of the heap\u201d means \u201ctop of the biggest heap in the occupier\u2019s sight\u201d. This point is crucial, given the fact that the desire to be \u201ctop dog\u201d exists in both localized and globalized societies. Among forest dwellers, a \u201cwannabe top dog\u201d has in view a single hamlet or possibly a cluster of hamlets. In a globalized society, the same urge involves dabbling at global politics.<\/p>\n

In terms of the inner human urge, however, the \u201clocal\u201d and \u201cglobal\u201d varieties of \u201cwannabe top dog\u201d are no different. To an unbiased observer, both are ridiculous, regrettable, dangerous \u2013 and also, sadly, inevitable.<\/p>\n

Therefore, in this important aspect, there cannot be any credible claim of \u201cmore civilized behaviour\u201d in one society as compared to another. Of course, the tokens of wealth and instruments of power would be different in the two societies. There would also be more lies and hypocrisy in the society with more highly developed intellects \u2013 since more cunning minds would there be busy obfuscating.<\/p>\n

However, the \u201cwannabe top dog\u201d urge is the same across all societies, \u201clocal\u201d or \u201cglobal\u201d. This point becomes clearer with two simple word pictures:<\/p>\n

A \u201clocal wannabe top dog\u201d sports a loin-cover and a necklace of beads and leather, and holds a spear, bow and arrows in his hands.<\/p>\n

A \u201cglobal wannabe top dog\u201d is in dark suit and \u201cshades\u201d, has a smart-phone in hand, and is surrounded by bodyguards with automatic weapons.<\/p>\n

Both these human beings \u2013 although they seem to be worlds apart \u2013 are under the heady effect of the same \u201cwannabe top dog\u201d urge.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

We shall now see that there is much more to \u201cthe top\u201d than is allowed to meet \u201cthe commoner\u2019s eyes\u201d!<\/p>\n

To wish to be \u201con top of things\u201d is a perfectly normal and natural human desire. Given that life is a struggle, from time to time everybody needs the recuperative feeling that he or she is not facing \u201cinsurmountable difficulties\u201d. Fair enough.<\/p>\n

But when \u201cbeing on top\u201d becomes an obsession or a mania<\/em> \u2013 a fanatically held goal<\/em> \u2013 then a serious problem is created!<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is always room at the top\u201d \u2013 is the advice commonly given to a young person considering a choice of career. The correct meaning of this sound advice is that the problem of livelihood is tackled best if the person excels at the chosen career. However, if the word \u201ctop\u201d is taken to mean \u201ctop of the wealth and power heap\u201d, then this sound advice is no longer valid!<\/p>\n

A sad fact of life is that, in any profession, the jostling for advantage and position \u201cat the top of the wealth and power heap\u201d is intense, brutal and ceaseless. A young person setting out in life cannot be expected to know all this, but most people discover by and by the dirty politics of wealth and power.<\/p>\n

Another assertion commonly made is: \u201cIt is lonely at the top\u201d. This assertion also cannot be accepted at face value. The correct meaning of this assertion can only be this: \u201cIt is in fact quite crowded at and near the top, with non-stop elbowing, jostling, bad-mouthing \u2013 and worse. Therefore it does feel incredibly lonely\u201d.<\/p>\n

Since times immemorial, wealth and power have been closely intertwined. This is so because the exercise of power and the protection of wealth both require brute and \u201chigh maintenance\u201d instruments of power \u2013 that is, instruments which must be \u201cgreased\u201d with regular supply of money and other perks of power.<\/p>\n

Technology has always been utilized heavily for the exercise of power and the protection of wealth. Since technology itself is expensive and \u201chigh maintenance\u201d, it tightens even further the intertwining of wealth and power.<\/p>\n

Thus we see that there is sound basis \u2013 grounded deep in human psychology \u2013 for relating the common meaning of \u201ctop\u201d to the extremely closely intertwined social constructs of power and wealth.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

In reality \u2013 that is, biologically \u2013 all human beings belong to the species Homo Sapiens<\/em>. Human lives rely upon the same processes of physiology and psychology, and are inexorably subject to the same laws of karma<\/em>.<\/p>\n

As we have seen, \u201ctop\u201d is an artificial social construct based on wealth and power. Depending on a person\u2019s specific situation, wealth and power generate craving<\/em>, aversion<\/em> and\/or illusion<\/em> in the person\u2019s mind. These in turn generate deep-seated bias in how the person views and reacts to any given situation.<\/p>\n

For an unbiased student of life, it is necessary to deconstruct the common meaning of \u201ctop\u201d to its psychological ingredients. Gautam Buddha has shown that these elementary ingredients are craving<\/em>, aversion<\/em> and\/or illusion<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Thus a lack of true understanding underlies the common use of labels such as \u201ctop\u201d and its converse \u201cbottom\u201d. But it is also true that the basic survival instinct causes people to worship at the altar of power and wealth \u2013 and to nurse disdain for those lacking in power and wealth. Only a mind which is not insecure about survival can make an honest effort to enhance its own understanding.<\/p>\n

Must \u201ctrue understanding\u201d and \u201csurvival\u201d necessarily be at odds with each other? Is this the dilemma which separates \u201cidealists\u201d from \u201crealists\u201d?<\/p>\n

At this crucial point in the analysis, an amazing insight of Buddha helps us out.<\/p>\n

We know that survival, or self-preservation, is a basic biological instinct \u2013 and therefore an essential instinct, given that a living organism must learn to sustain itself through all kinds of challenges thrown up by the environment.<\/p>\n

But is it possible to conceive of \u201cself-preservation\u201d \u2013 the necessary biological instinct \u2013 as being but one component of a wider, more fundamental life instinct? In other words, is there more to life than the admittedly \u201cnon-negotiable\u201d instinct of self-preservation?<\/p>\n

We do not deny the absolute necessity and enormous value of self-preservation. Rather, we explore the possibility that human life has a far greater value than that which is implied \u2013 and circumscribed! \u2013 by the goal of self-preservation alone.<\/p>\n

Gautam Buddha asserted confidently \u2013 some 2500 years before Charles Darwin and Adam Smith \u2013 that attaining durable happiness is the deepest instinctive goal of every human being. We may also call this goal \u201ctrue fulfilment\u201d \u2013 keeping in mind that it does not in any sense detract from the value of self-preservation.<\/p>\n

So if Buddha was right \u2013 and the author does believe that he was \u2013 then both the \u201clocal\u201d and the \u201cglobal\u201d varieties of \u201cwannabe top dog\u201d must harbour the illusion<\/em> that they would attain durable happiness once they are on top of the wealth and power heap. In climbing frantically the wealth and power heap, in other words, what they are unconsciously seeking \u2013 and will not find \u2013 is \u201ctrue fulfilment\u201d!<\/p>\n

Thus, if Buddha was right, then the illusion of finding \u201ctrue fulfilment\u201d<\/em> through wealth and power necessarily<\/em> accompanies any \u201cwannabe top dog\u201d urge!<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Every human being has a natural need to attain from time to time a feeling that difficulties have been overcome \u2013 to feel at least a modest sense of fulfilment. Without having this feeling from time to time, it would be impossible for anyone to engage in the almost endless struggle of life.<\/p>\n

Cultural festivals offer occasions to exhibit such fulfilment on a collective basis; and similarly individuals too need their moments of satisfaction.<\/p>\n

But now suppose a mind becomes obsessed<\/em> with the idea of total and unending fulfilment in life \u2013 with no threats or doubts anywhere in sight. Then there are two paths open to such a person to seek unending fulfilment:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. the path towards \u201ctotal control over everything in sight\u201d, and<\/li>\n
  2. the path towards wisdom which overcomes the obsession, as suggested by Buddha and many other saints.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    There is an interesting legend about the infant prince Siddharth Gautam. A sage is said to have predicted that the prince would grow up to be either a great emperor or a great saint. The prince\u2019s father then took great care to shield him from all possible forms of suffering. Indeed, today\u2019s \u201cruling clans\u201d also take great care that their offspring cannot imagine anything other than \u201cthe prescribed life\u201d.<\/p>\n

    Clearly, \u201cprescribed clan behaviour\u201d and individual search for truth cannot coexist. These two types of behaviour are in fundamental contradiction.<\/p>\n

    When choice (a) is taken \u2013 \u201ccontrol over everything in sight\u201d \u2013 a person is compelled<\/em> to seek successively bigger and bigger heaps of wealth and power, giving \u201clife at the top\u201d its common meaning. The wish to \u201ccontrol everything in sight\u201d also gives rise to the wrong-headed notion of \u201cconquest over nature\u201d, which is today casting a dark shadow over mankind\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

    Of course impermanence is a fact of life. Therefore the slippery illusion of \u201ccontrol over everything in sight\u201d also waxes and wanes \u2013 in sync with the many inevitable vicissitudes in a local or global potentate\u2019s life. After a setback, most \u201ctop dogs\u201d see no alternative but to double down. Any legitimate doubt arising after a setback is cleverly and ruthlessly suppressed.<\/p>\n

    Hierarchy of wealth and power is sustained at its \u201chigher levels\u201d by selfish courtiers and lackeys \u2013 and at the \u201cground level\u201d by an untold number of simple-minded and trusting persons who buy into the propaganda of wealth and power. Lavish \u201cparties\u201d amongst wealth- and power-mongers are occasions for badly needed reinforcement of illusion. The common implicit theme is always: \u201cDon\u2019t we deserve to be on top of the heap? Of course we do!\u201d Anything less than wholehearted agreement to this theme leads to immediate exclusion.<\/p>\n

    Since wealth- and power-mongering is necessarily grounded in illusion, a \u201cmasked ball\u201d is really nothing but a masquerade within a masquerade.<\/p>\n

    ***<\/p>\n

    Such is \u201clife at the top\u201d \u2013 when stripped of its glitter, scams and evasions, and thereby reduced to its basic psychological ingredients.<\/p>\n

    \u201cTop dogs\u201d do not find in their life what they really need. But only two things keep them from trying, failing, covering up and doubling down: senility and death. As hangers-on watch them closely at their deadly games, they too are infected by the \u201cwannabe top dog\u201d disease. Sharp-eyed, they wait \u201cin the wings\u201d for a chance to grab power and pelf. There is no honour among this<\/em> band of thieves.<\/p>\n

    Meanwhile, it helps others to be wise and to stay safe \u2013 even if it is unavoidable on occasion to have to deal with a \u201cwannabe top dog\u201d or a lackey.<\/p>\n

    The incomparable Bard wrote:<\/p>\n

    All the world\u2019s a stage,<\/em>
    \nAnd all the men and women merely players; <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Thanks to Buddha, perhaps now we can add:<\/p>\n

    In an endless play of craving, aversion, illusion \u2013<\/em>
    \nsome more than others<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    _________________________________________________<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/em>Dr. Naresh Jotwani is a semi-retired academic living in India and a member of the <\/em>TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/em><\/a>. Apart from part-time engagements in engineering education and consulting, he engages in an in-depth, personal exploration of how Gautam Buddha\u2019s profound discoveries and teachings can be applied to the acute problems of modern life.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    While the author has at times felt being \u201con top of the world\u201d, he cannot claim any personal experience of \u201clife at the top\u201d. However, being a keen witness and a dogged student, the common idea of \u201ctop\u201d fascinates him. After all, a crazed race to \u201cthe top\u201d inevitably leads to injustice, crime and war. But anyone obsessed with \u201creaching the top\u201d can provide only a self-serving report of his or her life. Therefore an objective if light-hearted study is attempted here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116322\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}