by Ross Bishop
Imagine every culture as composed of two spheres. In the West, there are the financial-capitalist sphere and the spiritual sphere. They aren’t distinct; they merge all over the place, but for the sake of our discussion, let’s treat them as separate.
Each sphere has its core set of values. America has a vast capitalist sphere centered on money, power, success, and greed. At its core are the values of the wealthy: money, influence, yachts, private jets and homes in the Hamptons. At its core, it rejects anything spiritual or emotional. Its go-to response to almost any problem is “Get a job.” Being a millionaire used to be a big deal; now the threshold starts at a billion.
Using The Beatitudes to illustrate the difference between the two philosophies:
Jesus said to the sick, "You better have insurance. . .”
To the stranger He said, "Are you here legally?"
To the hungry He said, "My taxes better not be paying for this bread and fish!"
To the poor He said, "This is your own damn fault!"
Alongside the corporate sphere, the spiritual sphere is much smaller. Its core values are heart-based, such as caring, compassion, and community. While the corporate sphere celebrates individuality, the spiritual sphere emphasizes consensus and inner peace. Adherents of spirituality are largely forced to look outside the culture - to heart-based cultures like Buddhism or shamanism - for spiritual sustenance and guidance.
The two realms are not mutually exclusive; they intermingle yet ultimately compete for the soul of the culture, occasionally clashing. The spiritual realm in America used to be much larger than today, but since the end of WWII, the corporate class has become dominant, controlling nearly every aspect of society. For example, the Christian church, once a mainstay of the culture, is now only a shadow of its former self. Congress, once the voice of the people, has become subordinate to corporate manipulation and influence.
Interestingly, socialism can most easily flourish in societies where capitalism is highly developed. Mature capitalist systems, such as those in Europe, naturally evolved as the productive forces, political forms and ideological resources needed to build socialism emerge within advanced capitalism. These social democracies blend capitalist economies with socialist goals, guided by democratic means. Their political systems prioritize public services such as education and free healthcare, along with social welfare and equal political access, without sacrificing individual freedom or private ownership.
This means that capitalism in America will inevitably be negated and transcended. No matter how long capitalism endures, it will ultimately be a fragment of human history. Even if capitalism can make internal improvements as circumstances evolve, it will not be an eternal system because of its inherent contradictions. After fulfilling its historical mission, capitalism cannot avoid being relegated to the dustbin of history.
China may be showing the way to the future. The Chinese have done an extraordinary job of transforming one of the planet’s largest and poorest nations into an economic powerhouse almost overnight. Their reliance on central planning and government control is anathema to Western capitalists, yet it may show us that Marx was right after all.
China could outpace the U.S. on many fronts, including the search for a cure for cancer. China produces 70% of the world’s drones, electric vehicle batteries, and solar cells and deploys more robots than the rest of the world combined. It has surpassed the U.S. in the number of registered clinical drug trials. China’s shipbuilding capacity is 200 times that of the U.S. Rush Doshi, a China specialist at Georgetown, says that if the U.S. loses the next wave of industries — AI, biotech and robotics — as it did with solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles, "it would irreversibly change the balance of power.” A think tank at Renmin University of China in Beijing published a report titled "Thank Trump," which argues that the President’s tariffs, attacks on allies and immigration policies have hastened the "twilight of an empire.”
Now, having said all that, I want to shift your focus from material concerns to the reason you have come to Earth. It’s not about stock prices, power, money or political influence. You are here to learn about and develop your spiritual core. That tends to get lost in our struggle to survive and make a living, and in the interfering noise from the capitalist quarter.
And truthfully, it is not something we welcome because it requires significantly shifting our perspective on ourselves - letting go of our fears and anxieties and what we have come to believe, shaping it for something we are not sure we are worthy of.
And when you have problems, you need to recognize that each one of them exists because you are not on the spiritual path. And I am sorry, Wall Street and other capitalist guys, you can’t get there from where you are. At its core, capitalism has no heart or compassion, and that won’t fly in the realm of spirit, which is where we are all headed. You’re going to have to undergo a spiritual transformation, and from where many of you sit today, that isn’t going to be easy. But, fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, you don’t have any choice. The destination has been determined. The only issue is how much grief your resistance will cause you along the way.
copyright@Blue Lotus Press 2026
