Capitalism is, among other things, a way of immortality-seeking involving acquisition, expansion and accumulation. The insatiable and compulsive heart of Capitalism is a function of our Fear of Death and our Desire for Immortality.
Our compulsion to acquire and accumulate — the cause of so much conflict, inequality and misery in the world — is a result of our half-crazed efforts to escape the clutches of immortality.
In their hearts of hearts, capitalist tycoons — and to a lesser extent all faithful consumers — believe that the fruit of life will be awarded to those who grab the most.
There are no more Christians in the United States; only worshippers of the cult of Mammon. Americans long ago rejected Jesus. They worship the all-powerful, all-pervasive, all-knowing Market. They have rejected Jesus’ command to “Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor script, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece.” (Luke 9:3)
But money always fails us.
Why Filthy Lucre Cannot Satisfy
Because no matter how much we hoard, no matter how many mansions and cars and office towers we acquire, we still grow old and die. In our sober moments, we know this all too well. This is why there is quiet and not-so-quiet desperation among the rich.
Money cannot make us happy until The Immortalist World is ushered in. Only then will we not burden it with a function it can never achieve — that of procuring for us immortality.
Only then will money have a rational basis in our lives — that of buying the goods we really need, that of increasing our quality of life, not merely our “standard of living.” Only then will we be freed of the Mortalist compulsion to waste our lives hoarding riches which rust.
Excerpt from chapter on “Mortalist Capitalism and Its Discontents” pp 151-152 in Cure Disease, Old Age & Death: The ImmorTalist Manifesto (Hardcover 2010) by Elixxir.