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Consumption fails to bring real joy
By Greg Cusack |
February 6, 2013, Wednesday
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DEAR Wang Yong:
I read with appreciation your article entitled "We Need Poets, Not Economists," which appeared in the Shanghai Daily of February 2.
In my opinion, the best "economic theory" is that which most truly explains human behavior and which makes explicit the values underlying, and consequences of, varied behavior.
As you are well aware, in the United States these days various economic "theories" or "principles" are cited to reinforce justification for desired outcomes.
These are overwhelmingly driven and guided by the wealthy elite which, for all practical purposes, controls American politics at both the federal and state level.
Citing such economic arguments provides a convenient veneer which serves to mask their operative, but much baser, motives spurred by greed and privilege.
It is no accident that the share of national wealth going to the merest sliver of the wealthiest of Americans has occurred during the same period when the availability - and desirability - of traditional liberal arts education has greatly diminished.
Instead of intentionally aiding young people to become more exposed to the arts, various cultures, and to many different ways of successfully perceiving and dealing with complex issues facing humanity in common - all of which would help make them more well rounded people and better world citizens - the emphasis has for some time been on narrower professional "training" so that they will be more "employer-friendly" upon graduation.
I have long wished that Thomas Jefferson, in his famous declaration of human beings' right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" had substituted joy for happiness. Especially in a capitalist culture, which constantly promotes ever-more consumption for steadily diminishing degrees of "happiness," joy would re-introduce a more profound, spiritual dimension.
?Womb-love'
Whatever else happiness may be, it is neither deep nor lasting. However, joy is closer to "hesed," which means "womb-love" in Hebrew and figures in some of the loveliest passages of the Old Testament, and really mirrors something which is enduring.
Love for one's land, nature, friends, and spouse brings joy even though more fleeting happiness may sometimes be lacking. Above all, we need to return to an ethos which always places my "needs and wants" in the context of others' similar concerns.
If we truly wished to be "scientists" of economics - and, remember, that word derives from the Latin scio - we would embrace theory and practice which enhanced life and opportunities for growth and joy for all of our people, within and among nations.
In that sense, even the military and political professions need many more poets, for it is only those whose vision includes other people and generations yet to come who can possibly lead us to a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world.
The author has been a college teacher of American history and political science, the director of the US National Catholic Rural Life Conference; he served as a member of the Iowa State House of Representatives, and retired from public service in the Iowa executive branch in 2004. Shanghai Daily condensed article.
I read with appreciation your article entitled "We Need Poets, Not Economists," which appeared in the Shanghai Daily of February 2.
In my opinion, the best "economic theory" is that which most truly explains human behavior and which makes explicit the values underlying, and consequences of, varied behavior.
As you are well aware, in the United States these days various economic "theories" or "principles" are cited to reinforce justification for desired outcomes.
These are overwhelmingly driven and guided by the wealthy elite which, for all practical purposes, controls American politics at both the federal and state level.
Citing such economic arguments provides a convenient veneer which serves to mask their operative, but much baser, motives spurred by greed and privilege.
It is no accident that the share of national wealth going to the merest sliver of the wealthiest of Americans has occurred during the same period when the availability - and desirability - of traditional liberal arts education has greatly diminished.
Instead of intentionally aiding young people to become more exposed to the arts, various cultures, and to many different ways of successfully perceiving and dealing with complex issues facing humanity in common - all of which would help make them more well rounded people and better world citizens - the emphasis has for some time been on narrower professional "training" so that they will be more "employer-friendly" upon graduation.
I have long wished that Thomas Jefferson, in his famous declaration of human beings' right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" had substituted joy for happiness. Especially in a capitalist culture, which constantly promotes ever-more consumption for steadily diminishing degrees of "happiness," joy would re-introduce a more profound, spiritual dimension.
?Womb-love'
Whatever else happiness may be, it is neither deep nor lasting. However, joy is closer to "hesed," which means "womb-love" in Hebrew and figures in some of the loveliest passages of the Old Testament, and really mirrors something which is enduring.
Love for one's land, nature, friends, and spouse brings joy even though more fleeting happiness may sometimes be lacking. Above all, we need to return to an ethos which always places my "needs and wants" in the context of others' similar concerns.
If we truly wished to be "scientists" of economics - and, remember, that word derives from the Latin scio - we would embrace theory and practice which enhanced life and opportunities for growth and joy for all of our people, within and among nations.
In that sense, even the military and political professions need many more poets, for it is only those whose vision includes other people and generations yet to come who can possibly lead us to a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world.
The author has been a college teacher of American history and political science, the director of the US National Catholic Rural Life Conference; he served as a member of the Iowa State House of Representatives, and retired from public service in the Iowa executive branch in 2004. Shanghai Daily condensed article.
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