“…scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it.”
In this post I want to examine the effects of underlying, unconscious feelings of scarcity that have affected my life, and since we’re all connected in so many ways, your lives, too.
Thinking back on how I have lived and continue to live, I see that one of the main forces that drives me to always do better, do more, is a feeling of scarcity.
Not immediately obvious why scarcity should make me want to do better, is it?
So I need to look at and understand scarcity and how it operates to manifest in my life and compel me to do things in certain ways.
But first, I need to know what exactly is scarcity?
I always find that knowing how words came to be helps me to better understand them.
And I get a sense of personal pleasure when I go down that path. So let’s see where that takes us and what it might teach us.
A noun derived from the adjective scarce, it describes not having enough (availability or quantity) of to satisfy demand, needs, or desire.
The Online Etymology Dictionary gives us the following derivations:
scarce (adj.)
c. 1300, scarse, "restricted in quantity, barely sufficient in amount or effect; few in number, rare, seldom seen," from Old North French scars* "scanty, scarce" (Old French eschars, Modern French échars), which according to OED is from Vulgar Latin *scarsus, from a presumed *escarpsus, earlier *excarpsus, past participle of *excarpere "pluck out," from classical Latin excerpere "pluck out" (see excerpt).
As an adverb, "hardly, scarcely," early 14c., from the adjective. Phrase make (oneself) scarce "go away, leave at once," is attested by 1771, noted then as a current cant phrase. Related: Scarcely. (also from c. 1300)
(*Note: I thought maybe the word scar - as in the mental or physical ones we often get - might also come from the same place but it turns out that scar is derived from a completely different root.)
and
scarcity (n.)
"insufficiency, want, dearth," c. 1300, scarsete, from a shortening of Anglo-French and Old North French escarcete (Old French escharsete), from eschars "scanty, scarce". (from c. 1300)
Here’s a bunch of synonyms to help us get a better handle on the concept:
lack, paucity, shortage, poverty, dearth, inadequacy, insufficiency, scantiness, famine, sparsity, exiguity, want and I’m sure you can come up with more.
Aha!
Synonyms like inadequacy, insufficient, lack seem to be the ones that underlie my unconscious feelings of scarcity.
Any of those type of feelings could easily lead to me wanting to do better, have more, etc.
But that still begs the question; where did those feelings come from?
I certainly did not come from a background of poverty or scarcity. I grew up in a warm home with a loving family, plenty of food to eat and I had no lack of friends, toys or things to occupy my time.
So where does my whole scarcity issue come from? Why is it such a driving force?
Another possible motivation also comes to mind; perhaps it originates from a basic biological Darwinian evolutionary force of the survival of the fittest to live, sustain, and reproduce.
I think for the time being, I’ll leave that possibility out because even if it’s the cause of my unconscious feelings of scarcity, that knowledge doesn’t offer me any way to act differently except by defying or actually countermanding it.
not having enough (availability or quantity) of to satisfy demand, needs, or desire.
Ok, back to other options and possibilities.
Let’s investigate the 3 words I bolded above, demand, needs, or desire. These are forces that drive the actions of all humans and other creatures.
Needs
We all have basic needs; enough food, enough clothing, adequate shelter, and enough money to purchase these items, and I would add, companionship of other human beings, especially loved ones.
The lack of any of these basic needs brings on feelings of scarcity and fear for one’s survival.
But, as I mentioned above, none of these were scarce during my upbringing.
If I think I have enough or an abundance of everything I need, why bother to do anything other than p/lay around and watch the world go by?!
But if I lack anything or fear a dearth may arise that I have or can obtain the resources to prevent, then I feel driven to act to make sure that scarcity doesn’t happen.
What about if that’s a feeling in the general population around me, or in the social circles I inhabit?
If a lot of people are feeling scarcity, then I think we enter into a place I’d like to call the Scare-City. A place where everyone is afraid that they will never have enough, never get ahead, whether it’s money, power, love, respect, equality, etc.
Unfortunately, that’s the path I think much of our current world is hurtling down.
When people perceive that as their life’s situation, then a whole host of other behaviours is triggered including protection, hoarding, stealing, lying, bullying and so many more antisocial behaviours.
And hey, our whole concept of modern economics is based on scarcity, whether real or perceived. Because if there’s more than enough of everything, then it’s hard to put a high price on anything. And if you can’t charge a lot for the item, then you won’t make much money and get rich and powerful.
Everyone would rather be rich than poor. Well most people, anyway!
And even worse, if there’s enough of something that everyone needs but you hoard and guard it so no one can get any unless you give it to them, then everyone else has to “ask you” for some and you get to set a “steep” price for them to obtain it.
We call that capitalism.
Pretty much, it sucks most of the time.
It sets some people up to get a whole lot and everyone else to get barely what they need, if they can even afford it. And if people can’t afford what they need, then they’re stuck either asking family to help,or begging, or going on a governmental social dole, or engaging in illegal activities to get what they need.
Welcome to Scare-City.
Here’s a great data presentation video that shows exactly how that’s playing out in the USA these days when we look at how wealth is distributed. I love really good succinct visuals like this! Helps me to really wrap my mind around the facts.
So yeah, I’m definitely nowheres near even the fringes of where the rich category starts and making ends meet is definitely becoming harder every year.
Like a lot of people, I definitely live in Scare-City these days when it comes to basic needs.
And you?
Ok, how about demands?
Demands
What about scarcity in terms of demand(s)?
That’s another interesting concept for me because I’ve never thought of envisioning my feelings of scarcity in terms of demands. Or even thinking in terms of demands. Yet I do have demands. Lots of them. Just ask my partner!
Some of my demands include time alone, neatness and organizing of certain areas of our living space, enough money to cover my expenses, access to medical care when I need it, care for the environment to ensure the planet is healthy enough to sustain future generations, acceptance of different peoples cultures and ways of life, respect for contractual agreements and treaties and the list goes on.
So, yeah, I definitely have a long list of demands. If any of these demands are not met it unconciously brings up my scarcity mindset and the re/actions that come out of that.
Desires
As a Buddhist, I know desire is “born of my body, mouth and thought” as we chant for our Purification during a service.
When I examine desire in the context of scarcity, what I realize again is that this is just another way of manifesting my basic needs. If I only desire enough to satisfy those basic needs, everything is ok.
However, this is not the culture and mindset that our governmental and economic systems have adopted. Because if everyone just stopped when they had enough, there would be no progress of any kind, except maybe to devise ways to make it easier to get to that level of sufficiency.
And returning to concepts like power, if I desire power how much is enough to satiate that desire?
Any desire that seeks to obtain more than enough could be termed greed.
That means that our whole economic system is based on greedy desires. To become wealthy and powerful you need to be greedy. You don’t create a business to stop selling products when everyone has enough!
So am I greedy?
Sure, I have some desires for things of which I never seem to get enough; fair trade chocolate, universal medical care without long wait times, more money just in case I don’t have enough (and how much is enough?!) and again, the list goes on.
And we haven’t even looked at combinations of needs, demands and desires.
So much to do, so little time!
We could go on and on but by no means am I a philosopher trying to write a book about scarcity. I just want to know if there are ways I can use that feeling to support my life in a good way.
Putting it all together
Alright, where does this leave us?
Can we use scarcity in good ways that help us and others to have better lives?
If you want to use scarcity to travel down a good road I think you need to do several things:
recognize what triggers your feelings of scarcity
acknowledge when you’re feeling scarcity or any of the negative feelings associated with it; unnecessary greed, desire, or demands
Find or devise actions that relieve your feeling of scarcity that don’t cause harm to our planet and all the creatures that live on it
Congratulate yourself every time you’re able to do any of the above 3 actions!
Look, ultimately it’s really about spreading the love because there’s never enough of that going around - the scarcity of love - and when you can do that, that’s a good thing.
That’s definitely a place where I need to up my game!
In fact, this post is one of the ways I devised to do just that!
So with that, let’s give ourselves little loving pats on the back for acknowledging and owning our feelings of scarcity, and see if we can spread a bit more love as we go on our merry ways.
I’ll leave you with one more thought from one of my favourite teachers, Brene Brown.
“For me, the opposite of scarcity is not abundance. It’s enough. I’m enough. My kids are enough.”
And that’s enough for this post 🥰
Until next time,
Rich
Great educational session, Rich. Thanks for writing it. Good to find you here.