Buyers and Sellers

DIVINE PRINCIPLE, COMMERCE, VALUES

I grew up with the idea that the various aspects of my life were synergistically and compatibly linked to each other.  I held to the wish and the illusion that the various aspects of my life comprised a harmonious, human whole, that would work together for good, for my well-being, progress, and prosperity.  I had values, good values, that I believed must necessarily result in the accomplishment of good things and a full life.  Spiritual sense, work ethic, and artistic expression were the pillars of my personal, human value system.  I embraced the spiritual vision of mankind and the universe in relation to Divine Principle, and endeavored to conform my thought and behavior to this model.  This science of being has been a deeply satisfying way of life for me.  It feels like the right way to live in a very confusing, challenging world.  I have not achieved all that I would have liked to do in life, but I have navigated my way through many difficulties to arrive at acceptable personal solutions.  My progress through life has not been as rapid or distinguished as I had hoped, but I have managed to plod along, support myself, and do a little good for others.

Individual, personal values don't always comport with collective, worldly values.  Commerce is about compatible value systems.  The exchange of goods and services for mutual benefit presumes a compatibility of values between buyers and sellers.  The seller promotes goods and services that he expects buyers will want.  The buyer depends on the entrepreneurial instinct of sellers to deliver the things he wants and needs to live a good life.  Disagreement between buyers and sellers as to the value of goods and services results in business failure and a poor quality of life.  The synergy between supply and demand makes life better for everyone.

Americans tend to assume an equivalence between personal passion and commercial success.  "Follow your bliss!"  "Build it and they will come."  Part of the American prosperity gospel is the idea that single-minded pursuit of one's own passion will elicit a sympathetic response from the world.  Sometimes it works.  It may even have worked for a lot of people.  But, it is not a universal law of nature.  Sometimes, commerce requires the entrepreneur to sublimate his own passions in order to give consumers what they want.  Who cares what the entrepreneur's passions are, if he doesn't deliver things that people want to buy?  The achievement of commercial success demands more than personal passion.  It requires a canny instinct for what it is that other people want, coupled with the intellect, skill, and capital needed to deliver the goods.

We have been trained to ask, What am I passionate about, and how can I get others to buy into it?  We ought to ask, What do consumers want that I have the power to provide them with?  We waste too much time trying to get the world to buy into our wish list for life.  It is good to acquire interests and to pursue them passionately.  Our passions make life worth living.  However, it is the nature of things that a man must earn his living.  Passionate or not, life's journey is not free.  I want to pursue my passions with the integrity, comfort, and security of commercial success.  Unless you experience the happy coincidence of personal passion and commercial success, you will want to learn the laws of entrepreneurship and apply them early to your life.  By so doing, you will establish the foundation of a full and passionate life.