Spiritual Guide for Economic Bailout-Last Best Opportunity For Sustainable/Ethically Coherent World

[kpete]

February 26, 2009 at 14:39:46

A Spiritual Guide for Economic Bailout

by Rabbi Michael Lerner

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People have to get to the point where they no longer believe that their personal success is measured by how many new material gadgets, electronic devices, automobiles, apartments or houses, home furnishings, and exotic vacations they have.

Spiritual progressives believe it is time to bring into the democratic process a discussion of the kinds of consumption that are worth fostering and the kinds that actually contribute to the further erosion of our planet's life support system.

To some the conception of democratic control of an economy is going to be dismissed as nothing more than a slippery slope toward a "command economy" that failed when tried by the communists. Yet market fundamentalism is no longer an unchallengeable element of American faith, and the values of a New Bottom Line resonate not only with those of us whose spiritual consciousness already predisposes us to question the ultimacy of material accumulation but also to millions of Americans who can no longer believe that the planet can survive based on profligate consumption of its raw materials. Thinking through the details of building a society based on shared values and committed to treating the planet as more than a bottomless cookie jar-from which we can extract whatever we wish without fear of consequences-will not be easy, and will require the fostering of a new spiritual awareness. Too many liberals and progressives, lacking a spiritual and ethical foundation for making such choices, have simply embraced the notion that any kind of spending will get us out of the current crisis.

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Unless our economic recovery is directed by a larger spiritual vision, rather than a return to the profligate consumption of the past, we will have missed what may well be the last best opportunity to create a sustainable and ethically coherent world.

more at:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/A-Spiritual-Guide-for-Econ-by-Rabbi-Michael-Lern-090225-111.html

[villager]

1. thanks for posting!

n/t

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. We could have a re-definition of the word "rich"

In Sufi terms, the person who cares not for wealth but who uses what he/she has to help others is truly wealthy. Those who covet more and more are poor.

An old Sufi story tells of a dervish in a town who was offered a gold coin by a wealthy merchant. "Before I take this coin, I must ask you--do you have more coins at home?" the dervish asked.

"Of course, much more," the merchant replied.

"And do you wish you had more?" the dervish asked.

"Yes. I'd like to have ten times the amount of gold I have now."

"Then I am sorry, I cannot take your coin," the dervish said. "It is not right to take money from a poor person."

[I Have A Dream]

3. Great article! Thanks for posting it. (K&R) nt

[OneBlueSky]

4. "By having a year in which these goods are distributed equally and for free . . .

may be the necessary first step toward making it possible for people on the planet to imagine a world in which money is no longer the arbiter of essential goods and services." . . .

interesting concept . . . as is this one . . .

"In practical terms, a global strategy of Generosity would translate into a Domestic and Global Marshall Plan, in which the advanced industrial societies dedicate 1-5 percent of their gross domestic product each year of the next 20 years to finally eradicate global poverty, homelessness and hunger, provide all with adequate education and health care, and systematically repair the global environment while ending the production of unnecessary and wasteful forms of production. While a market mechanism should remain a central part of this process, global planning, democratically controlled, must become a major priority for the human race. Otherwise, government spending to increase consumption may simply accelerate the production of environmentally destructive consumption."