Hoarding... a symptom and act
In our lives, we as individuals however educated or uneducated we are, we tend to practice certain behaviors very subconsciously.
Most of these behaviors are supposed to be subconscious, genetically ingrained into us and have been transmitted to us from the ancestorial practices of survival.
The human brain, the cerebral cortex, which is said to be the 'new brain' is known to be the core that makes us humans what we are - different from animals.
The older or the primitive brain is the one that is responsible for the emotional aspects of the human action while the cortex is the logical, reasoning and the non-emotional control center of the brain.
The reason this brief is needed is because we humans, however educated we are, or however knowledgeable we get, tend to be carried away by the primitive brain more often than we think we do.
In contrast, it is those who have a better control on their logical, new brain who are more successful in their individual endeavors because they know not only to control their own emotional primitive brain but they also have a better understanding of others' primitive responses. So they are able to deal with any situational issue better.
But still, the tendency to hoard is very natural to everyone. All humans included. Only the totally enlightened and the totally free spirit would consciously avoid this tendency but then there are very few such souls.
If you watch Discovery or Animal Planet channels, you realise that the quest to understand the creatures of this planet makes man superior, and this quest also brings forth to man, some very ugly facts which we usually tend to keep under wraps.
When it comes to hoarding, the term usually applies to material things that a living being will collect - to the extent of being obsessive about it sometimes - simply because the brain as an existing entity, wants itself to be secure always; when it does not trust the surroundings and feels a threat to it's survival, it will try to find ways and means to survive and thus will try and collect as many things as possible to ensure its long term existance.
Now lets cut the scene to the present times. These are times that we all say are hard, difficult and it is the question of our survival - esp. when it comes to living in the corporate world and amongst competitive business practices.
Today, the most powerful tool that human race is using is nothing to do with the physical tools that helped human race to grow the industrial revolution; it is time for the knowledge revolution and thus, knowledge is the most powerful tool that people possess.
Thus today, however evolved the human might be, but they are shown tendencies of hoarding knowledge in a variety of ways.. and the most potential fallout of knowledge hoarding tendency is .. as you might have guessed it right.. Politics.
Today when you see corporations downsizing, and cutting costs, they are only so successful as the person who has the most knowledge of more than what (s)he works with and one who guards this knowledge with the tightest possible security - of playing suitable (political) games to keep himself/herself in the seat as long as possible.
I have personally worked with (knowledge) hoarders and have seen their attitude and approach to situations. They never trust anyone more so even their team members. They never share what they known and you will see them always trying to bully others to listening to them and working as they say.
The level of insecurity with such people is also very high. They are always thinking of ways to save their jobs, their positions and in the process are willing to let others fall off the cliff.
Knowledge hoarding in the 90s when I started working was seen with the then senior people in organizations who wanted to make sure they kept their roles active by holding on to whatever knowledge they had then.. esp. people moving from the public sector into the private sectors.
Today, I see the same act being played out.
This time it is with people who are abroad at a client site, say in the IT industry;
They somehow or the other want to ensure that their roles are not taken away by offshore people or people in other countries so they involve in wasting a lot of time on calls, discussing topics that are totally not in sync with the general agenda, people who try to put things off by not participating fully in the knowledge transfer/sharing sessions.
This brings me to a philosophical thought - one is born with tightly closed fists, and we pass away into the unknown world with our hands splayed out... Death is unbiased and a great leveler.
People who hoard knowledge today or hoard anything today are causing pain not just to their own selves by trying to build ways and means to protect that knowledge and keeping their minds constantly under pressure of vigilance of someone taking that knowledge away thus causing much stress, but such people also cause stress to others who could use that knowledge to improve existing situations and by avoiding to re-invent the wheel and improve efficiency.
I think when true maturity sets in, people become more open to keeping themselves out of an equation by contributing sufficiently to a process which allows gathering of knowledge in a repository for the world to share with than sitting on a chest of knowledge books than themselves becoming pivots that try to run the cogs of this world.
At a karmic level, all this might still be part of a grand design and result of past karma but coming out of a denial mode is the first sign of transcending the animal brain functions and moving more towards being a fulfilled and higher human being.
Most of these behaviors are supposed to be subconscious, genetically ingrained into us and have been transmitted to us from the ancestorial practices of survival.
The human brain, the cerebral cortex, which is said to be the 'new brain' is known to be the core that makes us humans what we are - different from animals.
The older or the primitive brain is the one that is responsible for the emotional aspects of the human action while the cortex is the logical, reasoning and the non-emotional control center of the brain.
The reason this brief is needed is because we humans, however educated we are, or however knowledgeable we get, tend to be carried away by the primitive brain more often than we think we do.
In contrast, it is those who have a better control on their logical, new brain who are more successful in their individual endeavors because they know not only to control their own emotional primitive brain but they also have a better understanding of others' primitive responses. So they are able to deal with any situational issue better.
But still, the tendency to hoard is very natural to everyone. All humans included. Only the totally enlightened and the totally free spirit would consciously avoid this tendency but then there are very few such souls.
If you watch Discovery or Animal Planet channels, you realise that the quest to understand the creatures of this planet makes man superior, and this quest also brings forth to man, some very ugly facts which we usually tend to keep under wraps.
When it comes to hoarding, the term usually applies to material things that a living being will collect - to the extent of being obsessive about it sometimes - simply because the brain as an existing entity, wants itself to be secure always; when it does not trust the surroundings and feels a threat to it's survival, it will try to find ways and means to survive and thus will try and collect as many things as possible to ensure its long term existance.
Now lets cut the scene to the present times. These are times that we all say are hard, difficult and it is the question of our survival - esp. when it comes to living in the corporate world and amongst competitive business practices.
Today, the most powerful tool that human race is using is nothing to do with the physical tools that helped human race to grow the industrial revolution; it is time for the knowledge revolution and thus, knowledge is the most powerful tool that people possess.
Thus today, however evolved the human might be, but they are shown tendencies of hoarding knowledge in a variety of ways.. and the most potential fallout of knowledge hoarding tendency is .. as you might have guessed it right.. Politics.
Today when you see corporations downsizing, and cutting costs, they are only so successful as the person who has the most knowledge of more than what (s)he works with and one who guards this knowledge with the tightest possible security - of playing suitable (political) games to keep himself/herself in the seat as long as possible.
I have personally worked with (knowledge) hoarders and have seen their attitude and approach to situations. They never trust anyone more so even their team members. They never share what they known and you will see them always trying to bully others to listening to them and working as they say.
The level of insecurity with such people is also very high. They are always thinking of ways to save their jobs, their positions and in the process are willing to let others fall off the cliff.
Knowledge hoarding in the 90s when I started working was seen with the then senior people in organizations who wanted to make sure they kept their roles active by holding on to whatever knowledge they had then.. esp. people moving from the public sector into the private sectors.
Today, I see the same act being played out.
This time it is with people who are abroad at a client site, say in the IT industry;
They somehow or the other want to ensure that their roles are not taken away by offshore people or people in other countries so they involve in wasting a lot of time on calls, discussing topics that are totally not in sync with the general agenda, people who try to put things off by not participating fully in the knowledge transfer/sharing sessions.
This brings me to a philosophical thought - one is born with tightly closed fists, and we pass away into the unknown world with our hands splayed out... Death is unbiased and a great leveler.
People who hoard knowledge today or hoard anything today are causing pain not just to their own selves by trying to build ways and means to protect that knowledge and keeping their minds constantly under pressure of vigilance of someone taking that knowledge away thus causing much stress, but such people also cause stress to others who could use that knowledge to improve existing situations and by avoiding to re-invent the wheel and improve efficiency.
I think when true maturity sets in, people become more open to keeping themselves out of an equation by contributing sufficiently to a process which allows gathering of knowledge in a repository for the world to share with than sitting on a chest of knowledge books than themselves becoming pivots that try to run the cogs of this world.
At a karmic level, all this might still be part of a grand design and result of past karma but coming out of a denial mode is the first sign of transcending the animal brain functions and moving more towards being a fulfilled and higher human being.
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