A living system is always in flux. There is competition among its components. Competition pushes to develop qualities and select the most efficient division of labour.
Competition between people gives energy: people seek challenge and this makes games and sports fun.
Too much competition creates its own limits:
- Exhaustion: The struggle to win makes short-sighted. Resources are depleted.
- Adaptability declines: Those who want to win have to specialise, but can no longer move with it when circumstances change.
- Opposing forces are rising: Anything excluded becomes a counterforce.
In nature, competition is often a matter of eat or be eaten. As humans, if we want to build a level of complexity and beauty in which competition plays a healthy role, this requires the awareness that winning in the sense of dominating and excluding does not contribute to it.
Consequence: Make sure competition remains healthy. Challenging each other fosters trust (“We can apparently disagree with each other too”) and a better division of labour. Avoid exclusion and domination. Healthy competition serves complementarity.