The futility in society

Having studied social animals at college i am well aware of continual processes at work determining relative status.

In rabbits for example it has been shown that they spend half their time on the look out for predators and half their time checking out the position and attitude of rivals in the herd. Bearing in mind a dominant rabbit can disembowel a rival with one kick it is clear where the danger lies in rabbits.

Now that I am moving in wider social circles I am amazed at how much time is wasted by humans with the same concerns.

I have noted this phenomenon a few blogs ago but now see that the prevalence of maintaining relative status in humans accounts for far more than the 50% in rabbits more like 90%.

Everyone I know is involved in tit for tat struggles whether bitching and back biting to jealousy and keeping up with the Jones. It is worse in immigrant populations also.

A study on apes showed that the dominant apes are those who are able to resist the temptation to tit-for-tat struggle and save themselves for major battles. The same advice seems to work for humans.

Studies show that it is relative status which determines happiness far more than absolute quality of life - at least for people who have escaped the life of basic necessity. This is why societies do not get happier as they get richer.

Humans are indeed wasting their lives in social game play. It is a clear decision this week to avoid all this completely and anyone who is involved in it, which is everyone. And simply exist in the awareness of what actually is regardless of its relative merits.