is this the mother of all our errors [gcs, golden calf syndrome]?

Question

is this the root cause of all our unnecessary miseries, our selfdestruction, our soon selfannihilation?
'to feel better for doing things better than others' 'wd u be happy if you aced the test & got the same grade as someone who just managed to scrape thru? youd stop working hard' '[fiscal] reward for excellence'?
it reminds me i once thought it wd be an excellent idea to have two grades, the usual one for how many of the answers you got right, & another, a grade for how well you did relative to yr personal average - so that the person who easily did well wd have an indication of how well he was doing relative to himself, whether he was improving, & the person who had fewer braingifts cd feel proud of improving relative to himself, not just feel that he was always much less than the smarter ones - the second grade means that more/less gifted are put on a par - the braingift is separated out, & the effort relative to self is highlighted - giving gifted & ungifted a reason to strive

Answer 1

What you speak of is how life really is, as distinct from how it appears to be. For example do you admire the ex-heroin addict, and the ex-slumdweller who was beaten regularly at home, who are now taking a degree course for their progress in life? Do you know the saying "it's easier to make your second million than your first thousand ($/£)"?

People imagine that life is like rubber bridge. The better the hands you are dealt [childhood, money inheritance, genes, etc], the more likely you are to "win". In spiritual reality, life is like duplicate bridge. You "win" according to how skilfully you play the hands you are given. You can have all the aces and kings and lose. You can have a complete yarborough [nothing higher than a nine] and win. But "maya" (the cosmic illusion that what appears to the senses is real) gets in the way of realizing this truth and truly living by it.

Answer 2

Life isn't an individual exercise. No one can make it alone. Individual happiness is incredibly connected with group success.

Some sort of differenciation between individuals is necessary for group success. Every social system does this to one extent or another. In a capitalist society, this is done by using wages to encourage people to do the most needed tasks.

People will be happiest when they embrace their own roll in society. The Bible talks about the body of Christ being made up of people fulfilling different roles. Not everyone is meant to do everything, but all should do their best fulfilling their role. Grades and wages aren't a sign of self worth, they are a sign of economic worth. If you have a roof over you're head and food on you're table, you are the only person preventing you're own happiness.

Answer 3

You think....you think a whole lot!!