The modern economy is propelled by a frenzy of greed and indulges in an orgy of envy, and these are not accidental features but the very causes of its expansionist success. . . If human vices such as greed and envy are systematically cultivated, the inevitable result is nothing less than a collapse of intelligence.
(E. F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful)
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One of the books that has had a great impact on my thinking is the late E. F. Schumacher’s collection of essays entitled Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered. Schumacher was a British economist who was head of planning for the British Coal Board and who helped to put Europe back together after World War II. He also was very interested in spirituality, Christianity, and Buddhism. Influenced by Gandhi and nonviolence, he became a powerful ecological voice in a world that seemed determined to destroy as much of nature as it could in order to maintain a lifestyle our planet could not support. The insights and influence of Schumacher continue in our day through the Schumacher Center for a New Economics.
Experts have discovered that the best way to increase profits is through a seduction that creates envy and greed within the population.
In the above quote, Schumacher wrote about greed and envy being systematically cultivated. Advertising today demonstrates part of this cultivation. As I have said elsewhere in this blog, the purpose of most advertising is to make us miserable with who we are and what we have so that we will buy products that advertisers claim will make us happy, the envy of our neighbors, sexy, impressive, etc. Advertisers know their products will never bring about these results. In fact, they are betting on these products failing so they can sell us the “new, improved products.” Of course, making money is the ultimate purpose behind every business and advertising effort, but experts have discovered that the best way to increase profits is through a seduction that creates envy and greed within the population.
Schumacher offered an alternative economics in his book of essays, and some current economists have refined, corrected, and expanded his insights. I am not an economist, but I do understand the appalling consequences of the ubiquitous greed and envy in our culture. And I am also aware of the warnings of the vast majority of scientists who tell us that we cannot continue consuming the world’s resources and polluting our planet without dooming ourselves and our descendants to a catastrophic future.
People addicted to things and who are propelled by greed and envy are not willing even to consider the cost of saving the planet and human dignity.
The present form of capitalism in American depends on this wasteful continuation of greed and envy. We have built an economy which is not only unsustainable—it is also spiritually destructive. Schumacher warned in the quote above that the cultivation of envy and greed will lead to “a collapse of intelligence.” I would argue that the US already suffers from such a collapse. We have built an economy which can be compared to a runaway train. The train is headed toward a tragic abyss, but there is no way to slow down and reverse the train without a lot of effort and sacrifice. And people addicted to things and who are propelled by greed and envy are not willing even to consider the cost of saving the planet and human dignity.
I have written elsewhere in this blog regarding the need to “repent” from our unsustainable ways of life. In this article I want to focus on another facet of this tragedy. The great Rabbi Abraham Heschel said that if we “forfeit our sense of awe, the universe becomes a market place.” There is no place for awe in a society driven by greed and envy and which views creation as raw material to satisfy our insatiable appetites. Awe requires wisdom, surrender, sensitivity, humility, and gratitude. Wisdom looks beyond today and tomorrow into a future peopled by generations we shall never meet. Surrender requires trust in a Presence that cannot be bought and sold; it can only be experienced by attentive souls. Sensitivity occurs as we are willing to let go of the ego and become aware of the connectedness we have with every part of this creation. Humility demands a deep cognizance of one’s place in a mysterious and wondrous universe which reaches back in time for billions of years and stretches out into space for trillions of lightyears. And gratitude involves an experience and acceptance of grace. Grace is all about getting something we don’t deserve—or not getting something we do deserve. Our form of capitalism knows nothing of this kind of grace because it’s all about looking out for number one.
Years ago, a friend who was a successful businessman told me “Ron, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” My response was, “You get a ‘free lunch’ every Sunday at the communion table.” Grace is not about counting, calculating, hoarding, judging, punishing the unworthy, or rewarding the worthy. Grace is a gift that keeps on giving as we share the grace we have no right to claim and which cannot be bought or sold. American capitalism knows nothing of grace and, therefore, knows nothing of compassion, solidarity, liberty and justice for all, or those things which make for peace. Its sole concern is making a profit. When that becomes the primary goal of a society, then that society loses its soul.
The world’s dwindling natural resources, the future (and inevitable) conflicts between the haves and the have-nots, the soul-destroying effects of greed and envy, and the accompanying suspicion and scapegoating which always plague humanity during times of crisis do not bode well for the future.
Our “runaway train” economy is destined to crash eventually. (We are witnessing how fragile and contingent our economy is during this Coronavirus.) The world’s dwindling natural resources, the future (and inevitable) conflicts between the haves and the have-nots, the soul-destroying effects of greed and envy, and the accompanying suspicion and scapegoating which always plague humanity during times of crisis do not bode well for the future. To reverse the course of our culture will require too much sacrifice and pain, and those who are driven by quarterly profits, greed, and envy are not willing to pay the price of such a needed reversal. But the price of that reversal will be infinitesimal compared to the final consequences of inaction, stubborn blindness, and selfishness. Evil always in time self-destructs.
However, if we ever grow in wisdom and compassion and if we ever choose to pursue an economics as if people (all people) AND THE EARTH (the whole earth) matter, we will discover the blessings of awe, grace, gratitude, and solidarity—as well as a life worth living, a society worth cherishing, and an earth more precious and mysterious than we have ever imagined.
[If you have any interest in Schumacher or economics as if people and the earth matter, here is the website that continues Schumacher’s legacy: https://centerforneweconomics.org/people/e-f-schumacher/ Schumacher was not opposed to all capitalism. He proposed a way to maintain certain aspects of capitalism without forgetting the prime importance of people and the earth.]
