Integral anti-capitalism continued

Continuing from this post, in response to Pascal's further comments in the main post:

Agreed on our unconscious programs and biases. But that is the beauty and horror of political manipulation through framing. It is a conscious method to downwardly affect our unconscious prejudices. We cannot access that unconscious directly but we can influence it strongly with such conscious methods, reinforcing unconscious desires. And we can use this methodology for good or ill, for the people as a whole or to further enrich the top and disempower the bottom. I’d suggest that the Obama campaign finally listened t Lakoff in the last election and hence via its own framing overcame an unprecedented spending spree of frequently reinforced and unadulterated lies by the opposition, countering it with the same framing methods but based on authenticity and truth. Well not entirely, but certainly more that the regressives.

Now granted there are already existing cultural memes already setting the stage. Hence such research into overarching developmental worldviews. So there is truth to the notions that worldviews are co-instituted with stages of human development and their socio-economic formulas. I’d question though, as you do, whether capitalism is an outgrowth of the so-called orange stage, i.e., egoic rationality. Wilber notes it is the first stage of equality for all and capitalism is most certainly not about that. I’ve suggested often that democratic business, like democratic politics, is indeed an example of this stage. And that capitalism is still a regressive holdover from the aristocratic feudal period. Or in kennilingus, the politico-economic line in our culture is lagging behind other developments. Capitalists are still the privileged aristocrats that do not want equal opportunity but to maintain their privilege. So when governmental forms shifted from the old aristocracy to democracy with a vote for all they fought tooth and nail to subvert that process by refining quickly the art of rhetoric backed by the science of linguistics. And of course coupled with a heaping pile of bullshit lies to feed an already abused mass starving for promises of hope.

As to the myriad questions of to where we should go, for now I’d just like to recommend two classics by Ray Harris at Integral World, “Left, right or just plain wrong” and “Thoughts toward an integral political economy.” The first is a critique of kennilingus on the topic and the second are some general guidelines for how to go forward. Written in 03/04 they are still applicable today and a good base from which to proceed. As but one example from the latter on private property:

“Although its origins are debated it is generally understood that capitalism, as distinct from commerce as such, arose in England as a result of the agrarian revolution caused by the 'enclosure acts'. These were a series of acts of parliament that essentially handed common land used by peasants to wealthy landowners, in other words, open lands were enclosed and privatized (this was accomplished in stages over a long period). This did a number of things. It displaced thousands of peasants who lost the ability to provide for themselves and turned them into waged workers. It also turned the landowners into landlords (the origin of the word) who then charged a rent for land that had previously been rent free. This then created capital which could be used either as investment or as social leverage. The enclosure acts coincided with the beginning of the industrial revolution and the landless peasants became the workers in the new factories.”

He goes on to note that both capitalism and socialism are modernist movements and some combination is needed “to facilitate the ethical redistribution of the surplus to best serve the evolutionary requirements of the whole spectrum.” Although in another ’04 article he did note this developmental sequence:

“We might even argue that there is a correlation between SD's value hierarchy and political-economic systems.

Red	Feudal
Blue	Stratified state
Orange	Capitalist
Green	Socialist
Yellow	Communist
Turquoise	Anarchist

“I don't mind if this scheme turns out to be wrong. But is it? The thing is that integral philosophy has not yet fully examined the question.”

It’s too bad Harris gave up on the integral movement due to being shunned for this kind of work. He’d be an invaluable leader to take the movement forward.