Economics and Spirituality

Note: I began this essay on June 25, 2008. A few short weeks later, the Great Recession began, sending the nation into a tailspin, and the consumerism against which I was railing died almost immediately for most of the world. Now, in retrospect, perhaps the sentiment of this unfinished piece can serve as a warning that we should not allow such greed to overwhelm our ethics.

by Mónica Hutchens Tipton

Somehow during the last few decades, maybe longer, economics and spirituality became intertwined to such an extent that the morés and customs of western society have been changed. For most modern denizens of first-world nations, consumption is valued more highly than conservation; spending is preferable to saving; possessing more satisfying than participating. The work we do and the tasks we must perform to complete that work are much less physically demanding than ever, yet we find ourselves working longer days during longer weeks to gain, attain, and retain the material possessions that mark our status in the hierarchy of this First Church of Acquisition. We have come to believe that we must have all of “it” in order to have it all.

This is not a diatribe against a free-market economy. No conspiracy by some social terrorist group is implied in these words, nor is any entity being condemned for being an active practitioner. After all, competition is motivational, creativity is inspirational, and comfort is, well, comfortable. The correct balance of these three elements can result in great deeds, inventions, and works of art. Indeed, the downfall of society has already been said to be caused by television, movies, authors, lawyers, doctors, farmers, educators, politicians, union members, the very rich, the very poor, Democrats, Republicans, beatniks, hippies, the military, the civilians, the despots, the masses, all of mankind, and/or angry deities. When the human mind exhausts all options, it reverts to faith. The faith that was once associated with spiritual and familial connections has been transferred from who we are to what we have.

We are surrounded by images of what we must attain. All types of media encourage us to buy a bigger house, better cars, more minutes for our cell phones, indeed more cell phones so that every member of the family can stay connected while they are in one of the new cars away from the bigger house that sits empty much of the time because everyone is busy doing that which is necessary to acquire the next larger house, even better car, even smaller cell phone with even cooler ring tones.

Fewer and fewer of us refer to the transaction that avails us of shelter as “establishing a home”; more often it is called “buying” or “investing” in a house. Some are simply “flipping a property.” Industries have developed based on the belief that for each stage of living there is the necessity for a different form of shelter.