Contours of Compassionate Capitalism: Executive compensation levels

In my book KaRmasutra The Karma of Sex, I had written about the framework of Compassionate Capitalism (in Chapter 3 of the book). Some of my readers got back to me and said it is bit idealistic. Some of them said that the fuel for capitalism is greed and when we remove greed, the edifice of capitalism will crumble like a pack of cards. Others mentioned that spiritual leaders anyway strive to be poor and therefore the spiritually inclined would not want to be associated with a business anyway.

Let me start with the last argument first. I have heard a similar argument about politics. People have said that politics is a dirty game meant for the power-hungry and nice people should anyway stay away from it.  But these days, more and more people have realized that when nice people stay away from politics, the political climate in a country degrades. Even if a few decent, spiritually-grounded people enter politics, the quality of political discourse improves substantially. Voters start having a choice if they want to vote differently.

In a similar way, people without excessive greed must get into business. This is not a spiritual paradox. Those who have read the Bhagavad Gita can vouch that it does not prohibit people from doing business or trade, as long as it is done without undue attachment to money (greed). The Bible also says that the labourer is worthy of his hire. The Bible does not say that those who seek to enter the kingdom of God must not ask for remuneration. The Bible also does not say that the labourer must give away his product or labour free. However, the Bible does warn against greed and obsession with material riches.

As the book, Karmasutra The Karma of Sex (in chapter 3) explains, giving away something free is not always desirable. In fact, there are many disadvantages of giving something away free (charity).  If I stand by the side of a busy road and distribute apples free, there are many of those who will simply take this free apple although they have no need of one, thus depriving those who really need apples. Very often, things which are obtained ‘free’ are not valued and casually thrown away or discarded.  In terms of karma, when we give something for free, we put the person who has received it free from us, in karmic obligation to us. If I have given medicine to a person without accepting any remuneration, I have put the receiver in karmic obligation to me, which needs to be repaid to me in this life or the next.  Hence, for all these reasons, it is desirable to charge a reasonable, ethical price for any product.  This is the way to do ethical business and there is nothing spiritually wrong in being a businessman.

As explained in my book with several examples, negative karma accumulates when the price of the product is rapacious. When the price is unrealistically high in order that the CEOs/executives/owners of businesses make millions in bonuses and percentages of profit, then it is greed which drives the business. When a retail chain sources one dozen bananas from Columbia for the equivalent of  25 pence and then sells per banana in UK for 50 p. in their stores (in other words about £6 for the dozen), there is likely to be a profit margin of around 80 to 85 percent, even after all the expenses are deducted.  Is this a spiritually ethical profit margin?  (The example and the numbers I have quoted is not plucked out of my imagination, but one close to reality). Why can’t the poor farmer in Columbia be paid a much better price for his efforts of growing the banana, while reducing the profit margins?  Similarly, why can’t the lower level employee in the corporation be paid a better salary?

In today’s post, the focus is more on Top executive compensation levels, one aspect of the compassionate capitalism framework. In many big corporations today, the take home salary (including bonuses, perks, incentives, value of shares etc.) is more than 100-150 times the salary given to their lowest paid staff. In other words, while the receptionist or the person at the till in a shop may be making £28,000/-, the CEO takes home more than £ 2.8 million per annum. (And this is the conservative estimate. A USA today article says that in 2011 the median CEO annual pay of S&P’s companies was $ 9.6 (or around £7 million). A recent Guardian article about executive compensation levels mentions that in 2015 the top bosses of UK’s public listed companies earned an average of £5.5 million.)

Do the CEOs of corporations in UK and US need to take 100-200 times the salary of the lowest paid employee in a company/corporation?

What is the karmically ethical compensation level of the CEO?  Instead of making vague exhortations, in my opinion, the time has come to have a more actionable model. I would go with the idea that every layer of hierarchy should restrict itself to a maximum of 10 % higher remuneration than the previous level, with the lowest level employee’s salary being the base level in a company. This, in my opinion, is the karmically ethical course of action. Hence, if the person at the till in the supermarket is the lowest employee level and he/she has a take home annual salary of £ 20,000/- , then the next layer of hierarchy - the supervisor,  should take home an annual salary of £22,000/- per annum and no more.  Even if the company has 15 levels in its hierarchy, the man sitting at the top will not take home more than £75,000/- per annum (including bonuses/incentives etc.).

There are various advantages to this system. Firstly, it reduces the pay gap between different hierarchy levels and creates a more empathy-driven company. The CEO does not live in a fully-owned 12 bedroom mansion while his employee five layers down in the hierarchy rents a studio apartment. This lower income gap empowers employees, encourages them to participate more, intimidates them less and brings closeness.

The second advantage to this system is that if the top executives want to increase their own compensations, they will have to increase the base salary of the lowest paid employee.  In other words, the system will not cap the CEO compensation level, but only cap the percentage difference in compensation between successive hierarchy levels to 10 %.  If the top guy in the company wants to take home a cool £ 1 million yearly compensation, no one stops him/her, but the lowest level employee must be paid a cool £ 264,000 per annum (assuming a 15 level hierarchy).

In my opinion, this is a reasonable system for businesses which want to operate ethically.  If CEOs/top executives are paid substantially more than this calculation, in my opinion, the company has moved into the bandwidth of greed. We are creating ego-driven CEOs, who think of themselves as demi-gods separated from the ‘common’ employees by millions. This also creates the obsession in some of the others to reach this ‘top executive’ level by hook or crook.

People who have indecently large amount of compensation are no more buying things which they necessarily need, but buying things to show off and build their ego.   Too much money often leads to humongous amounts of wastes being generated and too much food being eaten, generated or wasted. At the cost of global environment, billions worth of products are being produced to maintain the health and well-being of those who have indecent levels of compensations, entertain these people and their relatives during increasing amounts of leisure time that they find themselves with and stuff their houses with gadgets they often use infrequently or not at all.  As happens often with the scions of oil-rich Arab sheikhs, extreme wealth often leads to extreme boredom and sometimes motivates people to search for the next ‘high’ in goods, drugs and other ‘experiences’, many of which may not be positive.

This greed-driven capitalism has to stop, or at least reduce. Otherwise, more and more parts of the earth will become unliveable in the next few decades due to be bad impact of our rapacious consumption, generation of wastes etc. on earth’s climate. Perhaps, human race might look to colonise other planets and move there en masse, but the root of the problem will still remain.

How do we turn this new leaf in executive compensations? I think government making laws might not be the only answer. This drive for values must come from the very top of companies which claim to follow business ethics. The CEOs of companies have to start applying this to their own compensations voluntarily and publicly. The entire organisation must adopt the maximum 10 % hike in salaries between different successive levels of hierarchy principle. This is the first step in compassionate capitalism.  (As an aside, I do believe that even the CEOs of Charitable organisations have the right to take karmically ethical salaries. In fact, attempts should be made to reduce the gap between the compensations in Charitable organisations, government organisations and other companies at similar hierarchy levels.)

The second step is to use part of these savings from reduced compensations to bring down prices of products and services even when there are customers willing to (often due to limited options) pay high prices, especially if the products are staple products such as food, basic transportation services, and so on. Another part of the amount saved by reduced compensation levels can be paid to governments in return for their firm commitments on certain welfare or benefit schemes. For example, free libraries can be built, bridges linking far flung areas can be made, more police recruitments can be made, roads can be widened and more needy people can be given slightly higher benefit amounts.

Of course, in the long-run we need to mould and show the way to our society. We need to train our children in this model of capitalism without greed. We need to train entrepreneurs not only the principles and practices of good businesses but how to practice compassionate capitalism.

There could be some questions about the model proposed here. What if the salesman makes more money than his boss because he sells more and earns direct selling commission/incentives?  What if a certain middle level of hierarchy earns more than 10% difference due to overtime work?  Does the model require further tweaking in case of relatively flat companies? These nuances would perhaps need to be addressed in another post, without compromising the ethical outlook of the entire model.

This is just a sounding board for thoughts and ideas, a starting point for debate. The model and system proposed here can be tweaked and modified, but somewhere we must start the discussion on the contours of compassionate capitalism, executive/CEO compensation level being just one area of focus.

We owe this to our future on this planet. 

©Staju Jacob, 2016.

Staju Jacob is the author of path-breaking book Karmasutra The Karma of Sex, which deals with the karmic spirituality of consensual sexual actions. This book is available globally on various Amazon sites in Paperback , Kindle, Sony Kobo, Google books, Iphone Ibook etc.  He can be contacted on Twitter @KaRmasutraTKOS

The Nature of Evil

When we hear about groups like ISIS, which practice extreme violence such as beheading and daily rapes of young innocent women, we are filled with revulsion and wonder whether the perpetrators are human. We often hear the words ‘evil’, but we are not clear about the nature of the evil. Is evil something which is controlled and sourced out of a strong entity such as the devil or demon, as envisioned in Christianity?  Or,  is the root of all evil a spiritual entity referred to as Saitan in the Quran?  In Hinduism, perpetrator of irrational evil deeds and violence have often been categorised as rakshasas. Are they the same as demons or saitan? 

To give a better understanding of this nature of evil is the subject of this blog.  

From my understanding and interactions with diverse spiritual leaders and from reading of books on this subject, my opinion is that evil or forces of darkness can indeed exist in potent forms.  Although the first part of what I am going to say might strike as dramatic or irrational, I request the readers to persist till the end of this reading to get a comprehensive idea of the nature of evil.  Those who only read the first part of the post will leave with an over-dramatised idea of what is ‘evil’.

One version of evil that we see is the much dramatised version that we saw in the movie ‘The exorcist’. This can indeed happen. A human can be completely possessed by a demonic /darker force and used to serve the purpose of showing the power and reach of the demonic force.  Although this is by far rarer than our popular movie genres would like us to believe, it can happen. There are well-known books written by people in this field such as Malachi Martin  and  Gabriele Amorth which talks about this.  In Hinduism, although the focus is not on a personality like Satan, there are exorcisms done by skilled occult practitioners and tantrics to get rid of evil forces which may possess some humans under certain conditions. Again, it is a rare occurrence and the reality remains that most of these ‘possessions’ are actually manifestations of psychiatric problems.  The important thing to remember however is that rare is not equal to zero.  Possession is an important event in a person’s life and as many books confirm, this event is decided often before the birth of a person. There also needs a conducive environment for the invading dark force to enter.

The second version of this evil is to have a birth as a direct incarnation. We all love to believe that every human being is a divine creation. Although this is true, my conclusion is that there are darker forces which are also permitted to send their own incarnations to certain wombs in order to achieve important goals within the time-space rules of the universe.  In the Mahabharata, Kunti uses certain mantras to invite the incarnations of special gods into her womb as a result of which the pandavas are born.  In a similar way,  it is also possible to invite or create conditions suitable for incarnations of certain darker entities to be thus created in the womb.  When we hear about individuals like Idi Amin, Hitler and Baghdadi (from ISIS) and hear the barbaric atrocities they perpetrate upon innocent humans, we have reasonable grounds to believe that they were incarnations of certain dark forces.

The third more common occurrence, in my view, is when evil forces swim like a strong, powerful yet invisible cloud over a given population and geographical area for certain pre-determined duration, as permitted between the interaction agreement between   divine and dark forces.  During this period, normal humans are influenced heavily by negative emotions of fear, anger and hatred. Rules of sensible, compassionate thinking seem completely suspended. In this scenario, while there may be a few leaders who are heavily influenced by evil, darker forces, it is the entire atmosphere of that area (to use a commonly used phrase) of that region that is vitiated and which is infected by the evil. For example, during Rwandan genocide in Africa, for several days and weeks, some groups of  Hutus set up road blocks to stop travelling Tutsis and calmly killed everyone identified as a Tutsi, including women and small children. The cold-blooded killers were often those with whom these Tutsis had lived earlier, in harmony, just a few months back. But sanity and clear thinking seemed absent during these days of genocide. The mental make of humans seemed to have completely lost their moral compass.  This is a scenario which has come up again and again during riots and unusual situations. If we look at the horrendous genocide of Jews in Germany, simple, normal German officials and employees of the Hitler regime calmly sent millions of innocent Jews to their death in gas chambers without feeling anything unusual about it.  In the 1984 riots in North India, many Hindus who were neighbours and acquaintances of Sikhs did not feel any remorse at ganging up and brutally murdering their Sikh brethren, burning them alive and/or raping their women.  It is very easy to discern the advent of this period of evil influence. When otherwise sensible people start talking the language of fear, hatred or anger, then it is time to perceive the increasing influence of the forces of darkness.

Of course even in the second version,  when a powerful incarnation of dark forces rules an area, the entire area becomes the playground for dark forces (as in the third version scenario). This is because there are conditions of fear, anger and hatred which are ripe for the evil to exist.  In some ways it can be considered similar to conducive conditions of soil, moisture and temperature which can lead to growth of certain plants or weeds. In fact, when a particular community or population in a given geographical area emits large negative vibrations of fear, suspicion, anger and hatred, it is like a beacon for evil forces to concentrate on that area.  In ancient Hindu texts too, the rakshasas too are often depicted as skilled in the art of maya and powerful magic. In a disturbed area, darker forces often employ rumours and seeds of negative ideas which can be easily picked up by human intuition capabilities and translated into actions. For example, during the India-Pakistan riots, some of the  murderous Muslim rioters came across possible Hindu men who claimed to be Muslims. These killers then hit upon the idea of verifying whether these are ‘real’ Muslims by asking them to drop their pants and seeing whether they are circumcised. These kind of evil execution ideas are often available because the evil forces present in the environment seed the atmosphere with these ideas which can be picked up easily by those attuned to the evil.

What then,  is to be done by those who exist in a zone where the evil is powerful? The answer is similar to ‘what is to be done’ when it is very cold? Simple – Keep yourself warm.  One can sit near a fire or keep the body warm using clothes etc. and try to light a small fire to provide heat in a small area. Similarly, if in pitch darkness, a similar answer applies – light a candle to provide some light at least in the surrounding area.  Similarly, when we are in the presence of powerful evil in a zone, we need to keep ourselves connected to cosmic divinity, through meditation if possible. Those who are not comfortable with meditation or not trained in it, can take refuge in praying to cosmic entities who are divine.  In other words, keep our heads low and let the time pass. These measures will also definitely keep us protected from evil, unless our karmic destinies have written otherwise. And lastly, if it is possible, in our own small ways, we can try and light the candles. For example, as depicted in the movie, Schindler’s list, Oskar Schindler saves the lives of hundreds of Jews, taking grave risk, in an environment where there is all-pervading and powerful presence of evil.  However, although we all aspire to be, we know that everyone cannot be Schindler.  In such circumstances, it is more than sufficient to be connected to divine forces of goodness, so that we remain protected. 

Despite all this, I have noticed many great spiritual masters such as Buddha not dwell on the nature of evil or dark forces. This has often puzzled me and made me continue to search for consistent answers. Great masters like Buddha often focused on meditation and attaining nirvana, that is,  freedom from the cycle of births and deaths. These Eastern masters and Yogis did not give much importance to God or Satan,  unlike what we see in the Bible where Jesus often casts out evil spirits and at one point even castigates Satan for trying to tempt him. 

After much thinking and analysis of the causes for this so-called discrepancy and trying to find logically consistent explanations, my end conclusion was this.  Above a certain spiritual level, evil does not exist, what exists is only ignorance. Before I sound completely inconsistent, as if I am negating everything I have just written just a few paragraphs back, let me explain it in detail.

Let me use the analogy of fire and ice.  Both are extremes. Fire is very hot. Ice is very cold. We cannot put our hands into a fire. Neither can we hold a block of ice in our bare hands for too long. Fire can be an instrument of torture and so can be ice.  Fuel, heat and oxygen are the chief ingredients of fire. Water and cold are the chief ingredients of ice.

Yet when we look deeply,  there is a big difference. The difference, as all basic students of physics would know, is that unlike heat, there is nothing like cold.  Cold is merely the absence of heat.  You can supply heat, you cannot supply cold.  Cold is only created by the mere absence of heat.  The same is the situation with light and darkness. There is nothing tangible called darkness. Darkness is merely the absence of light.  Just like increased cold is the mere withdrawal of heat, increased darkness is merely the greater absence of light. When we refer to something as pitch dark, it only means there is no shred of light, not even from a small crevice.

Therefore,  the forces of darkness or evil as we call it, are nothing but entities which exist in the absence of the powerful light of spiritual wisdom. When the spiritual light of wisdom shines through, creating a powerful, introspective and discriminating mind, the forces of darkness melt away. It is not without reason that the ancient mantra from Upanishad states ‘Asato Ma Sad Gamaya, Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya’  (lead us from untruth/ignorance to the truth and from darkness to light....). This phrase does not talk about devils, rakshasas or gods. Hence,  ignorance and darkness are the real definitions of evil at the macro spiritual level.

Now, yet, when I insist that evil exists at the higher levels merely as the absence of light and the absence of ignorance, how do I logically explain the various scenarios/versions of evil which I have outlined in the earlier part of the blog. Am I not contradicting myself?  

Here is where the nuances of the nature of evil come in. 

Let me continue with the analogy of the cold. Although we all know that cold does not exist, but is merely the absence of heat, yet the effect of cold is tangible. For example, severe frost bite can cause people to lose their organs and can lead to severe health consequences.  Similarly, hypothermia can lead to loss of reasoning, slurred speech, impaired logic and so on. Therefore, although cold is the mere absence of heat, its impact is very tangible. The person who feels cold, especially a chilly breeze feels it as if it is a tangible force. The snow that hits a person’s face is tangible. The glacier that falls on a person and kills him is also tangible. Similarly, although dark forces exist merely as absence of light and divinity, the mischief they can cause in a tangible way is very real.

That is where the initial part of this blog needs to be read alongside this part.

However, in my opinion, the Christian and Islamic version of a powerful Satan or Saitan against the powerful God or Allah is somewhat over-dramatised. This is very typical of the Western binary outlook on many things.  Even the Hollywood movies have a clear good guy and bad guy. Hence, you have the all-good God and all evil-Satan and his demons. However, we know that in real life, almost all humans and many situations exist in varying shades of grey.

Hence, in my opinion, the treatment of evil forces under Hinduism as misguided creations, lost from light and steeped in ignorance is far more realistic and humane. This paradigm treats even rakshasas as capable of higher thinking and divine merits. The rakshasa king Ravana was often called a great skilled meditator who sought and obtained many boons from Shiva.  This also shows the fairness of the cosmic system where everyone can play by the rules and obtain certain merits/boons.

What is clear is that indeed there is a path of improvement, albeit perhaps a smaller one, for even those spirits/entities which are allied with darker forces. Based on perception of light and the removal of veils of ignorance, these spiritual entities can also proceed on the path of goodness and divinity. As the ancient Hindu mantra goes, ‘Lokah Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu’  (May all beings, everywhere in the universe,  be happy), the scope and promise of happiness, improvement and welfare is not excluded to even the vilest of those who are classified within ‘dark forces’.

©Staju Jacob, 2016.

Staju Jacob is the author of path-breaking book Karmasutra The Karma of Sex, which deals with the karmic spirituality of consensual sexual actions. This book is available globally on various Amazon sites in Paperback , Kindle, Sony Kobo, Google books, Iphone Ibook etc.  He can be contacted on Twitter @KaRmasutraTKOS