[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Castout

@Skybird: I'm not demonizing any opinion. Just speaking my mind.

You said: "I see that the roots of money are very deeply entrenched that people lose their objectivity and critical thinking when it comes to discussing that money is holding us back."

I replied: "Just demonising it on grounds of troubled emotions, or declaring people as psychologically inhibited, will not get you around certain factual needs and technical chgallenges in the real world that you cannot avoid."

Naturally, human beings are inclined to do good.

Says who...?

It starts with changing standards that decidce what is seen to be good and bad. It ends with the fact that you are heading for a frontal head-on crash with empiry over your claim. Imagine you were talking to some IS dude.

A Buddhist would say the one thing all people have in common is that we all try to gain what makes us happy or gives us satisfaction of any kind, and that we want to avoid aversive stimuli.

A dentist drilling my tooth's hole, is an aversive stimuli.

The boy whose family always fought for survival, may find happiness in collecting ever more gold and wealth and even betray others for that, and steal and plunder.

Where is your goodness now? Your evil? You have to look deeper, beyond the shallow surface of what is just terminology.

Buddha also was asked how many people in his opinion spend their lives in a valuable fashion. He picked some dirt from under one of his fingernails and said: "compared to all dirt on all beaches of the world, not more than this."

Man is an animal that has an inbuild feature called instinct/drive for survival. This can - and often does - lead man to act egopist and selfishly. THAT is natural, and part of human nature. The discussion amongst philosphers whether or not even altruism in itself is a form of egoism, is old and does not really seem to lead anywhere. Being altruistic, may give you rewards that are egoistic in themselves. What means that for the altruism in the beginning? Can altruism even exist?

Most people do what serves their interests best. That simple and obvious it is. If they only would follow the golden rule, already very much would be won.