The Two Struggles

Modern existence seems to be caught up in two differing struggles, based primarily on social class, but present in everyone.  It is not altogether clear whether when residing in the individual these struggles are alternating or simultaneous.  The two struggles are the struggle for power, and the struggle to survive.  In a highly competitive environment such as ours, both occur in an almost constancy.  We see it clearly in the political arena, but yet it is so pervasive it rests also in the personal.  Some obviously struggle for their very existence, living paycheck to paycheck, week to week, and scarcely able to pay for the necessities of life let alone any luxuries.  On the other hand we have some who have sufficient in the necessities and perhaps a number of luxuries also, but struggle to gain more of the same.  A bigger house, a better position, a new vehicle, a new yacht, a vacation home, a larger salary are all part and parcel of that struggle for power, even though it may seem that power is not the goal.  Perhaps the immediate goal is one of the items in the aforementioned list, but the overarching goal is power, though perhaps only a personal self-empowerment. For those who already have, there is confusion between wants and needs that leads the person to satisfy a want and speak of it as though it was a need.

For those who have not, there is a clear distinction between want and need, but often, perhaps far too often, the person is persuaded by advertising media to confuse want with a need, and because of overburdening with wants (objects of desire) the accumulation leads to a struggle to pay for the true necessities.  Everyone, regardless of social class, desires some form of enjoyment, some bit of pleasure that might make the struggle worthy of continuation.  It is unfair of some to accuse the have-not of taking on immediate pleasures (beer, cigarettes, games etc) and requiring welfare to satisfy the needs.  What do the accusers expect, an unpleasant life for the have-not, a continual struggle without relief?  This is the question we are left with, if we banter the have-nots with such accusations, Why is the want of the have-not any less worthy than the want of those who already have.  Both are wants and not needs.  The answer for the accuser is that the have-not ought to consider the need first and foremost.  But in the struggle to survive, concern only for needs becomes more a struggle, becoming more and more tiresome as the effort to meet the needs becomes the sole concern.  Some pleasurable relief from the din of the struggle is needed, if only for immediate and temporary relief.  So in some sense the want again becomes confused with need.

If one distinguishes higher from lower pleasures, the immediate relief for the have-not is not any different from the want of the one who already has, except the price tag and the fact that relief from the din of the struggle is in itself a need.  The pleasure that is obtained is merely a want, but the relief that pleasure brings is a need.  This leads to a rather paradoxical situation for the have-not, the relief may only be a lower pleasure and immediate want, but the relief obtained through exercising that want/pleasure is a need, if for no other reason than the sanity of the one exercising that want is at stake.

As I see it, the problem today is that the already-haves through social persuasion, advertising, and word of mouth create the desire for the want/pleasure which the have-not cannot afford.  It is quite clear that higher pleasures are unattainable for the have-not, since the struggle for needs is so overwhelming that only lower pleasures can satisfy the needed relief from the struggle.  Only the already-haves can afford the higher pleasures and the ability to obtain such pleasures.  In truth the only way out is through education, education for the have-not to realize better conditions so as to obtain higher pleasures, and truly satisfy the want, while the already-haves need education regarding the plight of the have-not and the conditions under which they must struggle for their very survival.