Nobody can argue this economic recession has not been painful; jobs have been lost, homes foreclosed, pensions and retirements diminished or eliminated. People are suffering and this despite the fact that most have worked hard and lived honest, decent lives. Over 10 percent of Americans now regularly take antidepressants … over 27 million people.
Conventional financial commentators and experts all seem to be focused on consumer spending, and its role in stimulating the economy. Their view is the recession won’t end until consumers begin doing just that, namely consuming. Accordingly, auto, manufacturing orders, and consumer product sales dominate their statistical analysis, and these reports are then made part of the Wall Street public-relations program, stimulating stock price increases and inducing investors to reenter the Stock Exchange gambling casino and plunk down their bets.
All this would be fine, were it not a grand delusion. Tying prosperity to notions of profit-and-loss is a foolish simplification, but our conventional economic system continues to promulgate the view this is the only way to measure success. Financial “experts” and politicians ceaselessly hawk this position does not make it true, or particularly useful. If the success of human culture was simply the by-product of profit, we would have become extinct long ago.
True prosperity is found in more enduring and less materialistic values. It begins with the earth itself, which belongs to no one despite nationalistic claims to the contrary. All prosperity springs from our relationship with earth; its air, water, plants, minerals, animals, bacteria and so forth are the literal ground of our existence.
Prosperity is also revealed in the good fortune of being human. At best, each of us has the ability to decide our actions, make choices about what and how we eat, what kind of work to do, ways to manage our body, hygiene and health, and other matters of personal preference.
Society itself embodies prosperity; the ability to cooperate and develop collective aspirations, to create a compassionate community reflecting our understanding that none of us are truly alone and that what affects others effects ourselves, and to be able to join together to overcome adversity and disaster – all this is richness.
The wealth of our natural prosperity belongs to everyone, cannot be created by another. Such wealth is something we have inherited, not earned ourselves. Nonetheless, we can squander it, and do so easily. We waste time on idle pursuits and worthless objects. We pollute the earth and lack appreciation of its natural richness. We harden our hearts to others out of fear and greed.
When we lose sight of true prosperity, we become easily frightened and attach ourselves to fantasies that others are to be blamed or looked upon as saviors. We exhibit poverty mentality and become psychological victims. We withdraw or become aggressive. In such an atmosphere the hucksters take hold of our emotions and we are tossed around like fallen leaves in a November breeze.
Solving our economic problem will not be accomplished by returning to unrestrained, thoughtless consumption of things we can do without. Despite the opinions of financial experts, who cynically view the public as simple-minded children, the experience of the past year has awakened many to the folly of their past behaviors and set them on a new course; having learned a lesson the hard way, they will never turn back.
