“Why is Social Status Popular?”
by Kelvin Chin
Simply put — I think people like to be able to think of themselves as “better than others.” What I discuss in some of my essays as the “Importance of Being Important.”
Where does that apparent need to be seen in that way come from? Insecurity. The more insecure the person is, the more strongly they lean on making themselves appear more important to their external world. Conversely, the more self aware the person is, the more they will lean inward and seek strength from within. And consequently will become more inwardly secure and less dependent upon external societal metrics of success and social importance.
And why do so many humans seem to have such a strong need to be seen in this “way of importance?”
I think at its root is our fear of survival. And for most people that fear still runs very deep.
Think about it.
The population of humans on Earth 🌎 today is about 8 billion. In 1900, only 125 years ago, it was 1.6 billion. So in just the past 125 years the population of people on Earth has grown by five times! And remember that the Earth is about 4 billion years old and there have been humans on the planet for millions of years, mostly increasing at a very slow rate. Until the past 125 years.
Where did all these new humans come from? I think from the animal kingdom. My guess would be especially the ones who have spent the most time observing humans and then eventually desiring to be one in their next lifetime — dogs, cats, horses, squirrels, deer for example.
And what type of behavior did most of those animals share when they lived in the wild? A need to survive. To forage for food, collect more food, eat more food, worry about where their next meal will come from. To collect evermore nuts 🌰 because there’s never enough.
I think that fear still runs deep in most humans. The fear of “not enough” — to survive.
In addition, what mental state is most conducive to self reflection and self development? A relaxed state. Right?
And are you in that relaxed state when you’re in the survival mode? Obviously not. Instead, you’re in the Fight or Flight mode. Hyper vigilance. On guard.
Looking back much longer than 125 years, let’s say for a million years, what state of mind would you say best characterizes the state of mind of humanity? Relaxed and self reflective? Or hyper-vigilant?
I think it’s only been in the past few hundred years where the masses of humanity have had even extended moments of “leisure” and relaxed “me time.”
Why do I point this out?
To give us a perspective on who we are and where we are today in our world 🌎. So that we can better appreciate what we have and make better choices about where we want to go with our lives.
Ask yourself:
Given that we as a planet 🌎 of human beings now have the ability to feed everyone and house and clothe everyone, and now that more than ever before millions of people have leisure time to relax and self reflect, does it make sense for us to continue to ignore our fellow humans and continue to follow the survival principle of Importance of Being Important? To hoard and to exclude? To waste and throw away food, clothing and shelter because we want to maintain the same “haves and have nots” status quo?
Does that approach actually make us happier, both individually and collectively?
Food for thought.
Kelvin H. Chin is a Meditation Teacher, Life After Life Expert, and Author of “Overcoming the Fear of Death,” “Marcus Aurelius Updated: 21st Century Meditations On Living Life” and “After the Afterlife: Memories of My Past Lives.” He learned to meditate at age 19, and has been teaching Turning Within Meditation and coaching others in their self-growth for 50 years. He helps people understand their life challenges through their individual belief systems, and helps them find their own solutions. His past life memories reach back many centuries, and he accesses those memories in his teaching and his coaching in the same way all coaches draw on their own available experiences for perspective and effective analogies. He can be reached at www.TurningWithin.org.