The Human Drift

Like a ship without a captain or a plane without a pilot, mankind is wondering aimlessly throughout life. We are all enslaved to the capitalist system in Gillette’s eyes. He states that “under our present system the wealthy are just as much slaves to circumstances as the poorest beggars.” No one can escape this reality. We are all bound to the same end due to the current system and all the negative aspects of it. We are forced to Gillette compares this wandering to ships lost at sea. In his book he includes a drawing of the human drift. In the “Sea of Competition for Material Wealth,” there are many ships wandering aimlessly about fueled by “Selfishness.” Along the banks of the sea, fighting, antagonism, chaos, injustice, poverty, and crime run rampant. However, through the “Channel of Adversity” lies the “Sea of Progress.” Those who are brave enough to go through the Channel will find the freedom from wandering. Here the ships are powered by united intelligence, and where “individuals embark on the craft where inclination leads him and combines his intelligence with others to urge the ship forward.” It is on the banks of the “Sea of Progress” where material equality, combined intelligence, justice, order, virtue, and happiness flourish. In his example, Gillette illustrates the current capitalist system as the “Sea of Competition for Material Wealth.” By stating that the ships in this sea are powered by selfishness, he shows that the selfish engine that steers these ships is not the correct way to go. He asks the question: “Do ambition and progress depend on competition between individuals for material wealth?” To this, Gillette responds, “I do not believe they do.” Because the essential idea behind capitalism is the selfish pursuit of capital, the end of this selfish pursuit would result in the end of capitalism. Gillette feels that selfishness is the cause of the problems of humankind. As most utopians, Gillette advocates unity and reform. With this view in mind, his reforms consist of the end of selfish competition and thereby the end of the capitalist system itself. Only when individuals are willing to venture out and change, will they experience the progress that comes through intelligence and equality. In theory, Gillette’s idea seems to work. When you eliminate the selfish pursuit of material wealth through competition and work towards a goal by means of equality for each individual, there is progress. Gillette feels that those who believe progress lies within the competitive system are mislead. He writes that “the assertion can be made, and logically maintained, that the great incentive to progress lies in the inherent progressiveness of the mind.” If it is possible to harness and direct this progressiveness, Gillette argues that we will then experience real progress. He establishes his case by saying: “The germ of this ambition to acquire knowledge and progress is in every mind, but in most instances in the latent state, on account of the unfavorable condition of environment.” Because our minds are so asleep to the reality around us, it is as if we are drifting in the world with no clear direction.