I am tired of competition. It seems to exist everywhere. Rap music is a good example, but it’s of course always a major feature in business. Countries compete against each other. The USA against China against Europe. We compete for jobs. We compete to get doctor appointments. Seats in restaurants and concert tickets. We keep score. Who has the most stuff? And even: Who checks most of the boxes in life?

Are you married? Check one. Do you have a kid? Check two. Two or more kids kids? Check three. Where did you go on your last vacation? .. and so forth.

I get it, it’s a fact of life of living on planet Earth. Access to resources has always been scarce and therefore there was always competition. Our current social order merely reflects that.

I also don’t believe it can be fixed by something like a revolution from above. Socialism has been tried, is still being tried even, and it is really bad. I think competition is here to stay in some fashion but perhaps our shared myth will be a different one. Perhaps it really won’t matter that much to show off material success. Or it won’t matter that much to check off invisible checkboxes. Perhaps other things will move to the foreground. Self actualization maybe. Or saving the planet. Or, who knows, maybe even colonizing Mars.

(And let’s not forget: Our capitalist system has many advantages. Let’s not forget: It is a major component why most of the world no longer lives in horrible poverty, without access to water, food, medicine and education. It also promotes peace.)

Finally, here’s the kicker. Most of my tiredness with competition might have to do with me being very competitive.

I mean this: The world as a whole is pretty meaningless. It’s just a large number of events constantly happening. And then we humans come along to give it meaning. But what meaning can we give unless we first recognize certain patterns? And what patterns can we recognize that are not within us?

Someone wrote: If you think the world is full of assholes, check yourself, because there’s a good chance you maybe be one.

I believe this is very true. So if I see competition everywhere and if I am tired of it, it’s probably just be me. I am competitive. My greed, my envy, my ambition filter the events of the world and present this picture to me.

By assuming this, I am free to work on myself. I can find a new truth, regardless of whether the external world, for example political system, changes. Because I also have my personal myth. I don’t have to accept other people’s versions of success. And, thankfully, we live in a relatively free society with lots of wiggle room to express our own views freely.

Another positive thing about our built in filters is this: Each one of us is a little bit different. Therefore the explanations we give and the stories we tell, differ. Maybe another blogger writes about the same subject, however his text will probably reflect on the matter in a slightly different way.

And that’s interesting. That’s worth having.

How are your filters? Do you care to tell us your story?