Economics today is maybe the most influential discipline in our world. Ideas like money, offer, demand, and so many deeply affect our lives. Investigating the basic economic principles is an interesting task, because it may shed light on our society.
If we read any economics book, it says that this knowledge builds upon a basic problem: that there is always more demand than goods to satisfy it. Given this essential shortage, we need a way of producing and managing these goods to satisfy our needs in the best way possible.
A quick glance at our surrounding seems to support this shortage theory. It seems like there are always more hungry than food, more people than nice houses, more cars than parking spots in the centre of town, etc. This idea has been accepted, and it has constituted as a fundamental column of the contemporary economy theory, upon which lies the functioning of financial systems, banks, and even ourselves.
The idea of the free market is justified by this concept of shortage. It states that as there are more needs than resources, competition to acquire them is naturally generated; every person should fight for their own needs. This fighting will make each individual more competent, which will benefit the society as a whole… but at what cost? Many have argued whether the free market is a good way of organizing society. What I would like to set out is a more basic question, about the shortage theory and free market fundamentals.
Is it true that there is always more demand than goods? Must it be that way? I would like to leave this question open, to let each meditate on it. Instead of giving a particular answer to it, we will see the consequences of considering the shortage theory as undisputedly true, as economists usually do.
Assuming shortage theory as a fundamental statement, economics has centered its attention on the production capacity of goods. It looks for ways of producing more goods with less effort, overcoming a little bit the eternal imbalance between needs and resources. As a consequence of this we see massive production methods and industrial farm systems, to mention just a few.
When the focus of attention is directed solely at goods, the nature of our needs have been forgotten. In this idea of shortage is implicit that any need is valid and should be satisfied, because it stimulates the production and the movement of labor. An uncritical vision of need has opened the world to free manipulation by publicity media, which does nothing more than generate new artificial needs. This generates human beings who are full of needs, creating a never-ending appetite.
Meditation on these ideas can have effects on our daily life. For example, a person focused on shortage concepts is used to thinking in this way: “I’ll always have less money than I would like to spend, and because of this I should only worry about how to get the most money possible; it will never be too much.” This mentality, very common in our days, is very harmful, because it makes people slaves of work that provides money. It turns into overwork, and this into stress and illness.
I propose that we look into what are real needs are, and which ones are just whims or artificially created. If we are able to return to our real needs we’ll take an important step into balance and peace in our lives, getting away from consumption craziness and a never-ending race. I don’t mean to imply that one must live in poverty with the strictest minimum required for survival; I simply suggest that a profound revision of our real needs may have an important effect over our personal economy, which is a huge part of our lives.
Personally I am supporter of enjoying simple and natural things. Many likes move us away from ourselves, making us dependent on artificial and expensive things, like the latest model car or newest fashions. Other practices, like Boabom, teach us to enjoy the most simple and important things we have. Boabom classes show us how to enjoy the movement, coordination, inner rhythm, agility and dexterity of which we are capable within our own body. We learn to value simple things like breathing, which is something we too often take for granted. Instead any good Boabom student knows how good a profound breath can feel, in the middle of an intense class! It can feel greater than the most expensive and refined delicacies of the world!!!
Boabom helps us to enjoy more about ourselves. It guides us toward liking what we are and being what we like. This frees us from false economic needs, and helps us to recover our personal way. Recovering the capacity to enjoy the natural things, we achieve a simpler and more balanced life.
-Frobenius (Boabom South)