Inequality coming to a place near you, if not already, then soon!

Like most children in the UK I was introduced to a board game called Monopoly at a reasonably early age. I can distinctly remember playing this game with my family one Christmas when I was about 10 years old. My dad said to me at the beginning when I asked to play - "you're not going to like this". Being as stubborn as I am I insisted on playing anyway unconvinced that a board game was going to upset me. And he was right, eventually as the game progressed I realised my Nan was going to be pushed out of the game because she was running out of money. And I did not like the inequity. What was most annoying is the rules did not allow anyone to help my Nan stay in the game by giving her some of their money. At this point I tipped the board up in the air in protest and left the room in tears.

Put simply Monopoly is a child's game that teaches us from the cradle how the economic system works. Money accumulates. The wealthy get richer and the poor get poorer.

Which brings me to the many recent reports, surveys and questionnaires on inequality, like the youtube clip above. I am astounded why so many of us are incredulous, surprised and shocked by what is an inevitable consequence of the economic system we live in.

I'm not for one second condoning neo-liberalism or the capitalist system that produces these inequalities.The system does absolutely what it sets out to do - make money. It doesn't for one moment make claims to make anyone healthier, happier or more whole. It is a money making machine - the end. So if the human purpose is to make money we've done well. However, if like me, you think the human purpose, our reason for being is something other than making money, then you maybe asking yourself what is the alternative.

And that's when I think back to my childhood and wonder what games I played that showed me another system other than the capitalist one. Well there were lots of sports games where we had to compete against one another, outwit our opponents and strive to be number one, the winner. I'm not sure if that is much different to the game of Monopoly. Then there were games like pass the parcel or musical chairs, where again one outright winner would emerge. I suppose the lesson was to win and lose with grace, whatever that means.

How about hide and seek? We begin in a hidden unseen fragmented state and slowly by searching the group comes back to wholeness. And yet we still define the winner as the last person to be found. Nevertheless, it maybe that we are getting closer to an alternative system. We could explore all the cooperative games. Few spring to mind, although I know they exist. Such games teach us how to have fun, be ourselves and also play together for a shared experience. No winners, no losers, simply players. Maybe in this type of system difference would still occur, but it would not present itself in the form of inequality. Just a thought.

I am left asking myself the question, how can we transform -them / us- dualistic thinking into -and / both- non-dual thinking?

Answers on a postcard to ...