There has not been enough food for most of the animals from early times..
Scarcity of food has been the rule among the lower species.
Even in the human history we find pervasive scarcity in all fronts.
Food has been scarce from the very beginning. Even today in many parts of the world a number of people are starving. Famine and draught have made people’s lives miserable in large areas of Africa and Asia. A World of plenty is an impossible dream for them.
No wonder there is a deep seated scarcity- orientation that colors how they see the world. It is as if they wear scarcity spectacles that distort their vision. They see resources as limited or scarce.
In the ancient times, if anyone took more than ‘his fare share’ of what food was available he would be seen as evil. If he tried to hoard some food for difficult times ahead, that was a greater evil. Even if one produced more than his needs he could not take more than the others or save the surplus. This could be the reason why so many people still see profit and wealth making as evil.
The ‘fare share’ principle has been handed down from generation to generation. Your own parents have been victims of this. Hence they said, “Don’t waste food. There are so many starving today;” “Be careful with money; they do not grow on trees.”
They often forced you to share your toys with the other kids. They must have often reminded you about being selfish too.
They had a mental orientation that no matter what they do their money hunger could not be satisfied.
The no-solution-orientation acts like a self actuating expectation. This has strengthened your belief that your unsatisfied money hunger will persist forever.
There is a universal thinking that the starving people should be helped by providing them with the survival needs.
Victim mentality may have its origins in the helpless phase of infancy. We are all born as helpless babies totally dependent on our parents for survival..
In a poor house all share the pain, poverty and desperation. Most of the neighborhood could be in abject poverty too. As a result, many of them develop a helpless mentality.
This distorts their vision and influence their lives negatively.
Scarcity outlook and victim mentality has a lot to do with the way we imitate others too. We observe what our parents think and do and we imitate them thinking that it is the only way to survive.
In the primitive communities ‘fair share’ was a powerful survival idea. If an animal was hunted and killed, the practice of sharing it with the community helped everyone’s survival.
We do not live in primitive societies any more. Scarce, Poor, Limited Program does
not hold any more. Abundance has become the order of the day. .
‘Fair Share’ could be seen as a relic of the primitive past. It worked in those conditions.
But it has no relevance now.
You may have had a number of other scarcity experiences like
Scarcity of food and dresses that you liked
The limited number of admissions available from nursery to college level..
Limited membership in sports teams, debating clubs, choir and so on.
Scarcity of friends from the opposite sex.
Scarcity of good jobs.
Scarcity of money .
In 1977, Wisner Erhard launched the ‘Hunger Project’ He identified scarcity, and no-solution-inevitability as being at the root of the world hunger. They expect hunger and scarcity all the time. Their thoughts and actions are in synchrony with their expectations. And thus hunger and scarcity become the reality.
If anyone is stuck in the scarcity orientation, he will not put efforts to produce more or think of ways to overcome the situation. He will surrender to his predicament.
Your mind need not have to accept any limits any more. There is no need for the ‘fare share’ concept now. We have abundant resources that every man woman or child can produce any amountof money or food.
A scarce resource outlook is a mistaken idea. When you make enough wealth, you don’t take away others’ fair share. What you make is in addition to what others produce. Wealth is a form of
energy. And there are infinite resources of energy in the world.
We are not tapping even one millionth of the energy that comes to the earth from the sun.
Abundant food, energy or wealth could be produced.
More summaries about the Poverty and Scarcity