“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world,
and lose his own soul?”
-- Mark 8:36, King James Version
What is the value of your
soul? For those who believe, the value of the soul is measured by its
eternal quality. It will never die. Your soul – your spirit –
will live forever. It is that part of you that has understanding and
wisdom. Its worth is truly immeasurable as are its returns on
investment. The value of a soul is grounded in faith.
For nonbelievers, the soul
is finite. Thus, most nonbelievers' understanding of “profit” is the
accumulation of worldly goods they amass until their ultimate demise.
Then, wills and other legal declarations transfer the monetary estate
to others, be they family, friends, or charities. The worth is
measurable – either in life or in death – and its value is purely
economic in nature.
Nonetheless, if economics
is a science, it must accept the principles of morality taught by the
sciences of philosophy and theology. However, many economists prefer
to sidestep the moral issue: they see the pursuit of profit as a
substitute for morality. Enter unbridled greed and the overwhelming
desire for personal acquisition at any cost.
Applied to conservative
politics, this yields a hierarchy with the wealthy citizens on the
top and the poor – those assumed to be weak by those above them –
on the bottom. In the eyes of the wealthy, the bottom dwellers can
earn redemption only by suffering and thus, supposedly, getting an
incentive to do better. In the meantime, they are doomed to live in
scorn without privilege.
Taken to the extreme, some
would eliminate any consideration of the needs of the public
altogether in order to monopolize their own profit and gain. In other
words, economics
and moral concerns do not neatly align. Christians and nonbelievers
alike struggle with their beliefs and their opposing actions. Money
is such a powerful force.
Economics
cannot define “good” nor determine the intrinsic value of a moral
act. It is easy to believe in the hierarchy of charity that ought to
be among people, but in the midst of acquiring wealth and status,
people often lose this belief – and their souls – by loving money
over mankind. Hence the teaching of Scripture, "Do no set your
heart on riches, even when they increase."
“The
life of money-making is one undertaken under compulsion, and wealth
is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and
for
the sake
of something else.”
Aristotle,
Nicomachean Ethics
The Economic Policy
Institue found that from 2009 to 2015, the average income of the top
1% grew by 33.9%, more than triple the 10.3% income growth among the
remaining 99%. In the years since the Great Recession, the bottom 90%
saw annual wage growth of just 5.4%; by contrast, the wages of the
top 0.1% grew 29.8%. To be among the top 1% of U.S. earners, a family
needs an income of $421,926, a new report from the Economic Policy
Institute finds.
Greed – avarice, lust,
want, covetousness – is not exclusive to the rich. The selfish,
excessive desire for more of something affects people of all incomes.
Greed stems from a basic fear of life. To be exact, greed is driven
by a fundamental sense of deprivation, a need for something that is
lacking or unavailable. Greed, unchecked, destroys your family,
friendships and relationships, resulting in unhappiness. It creates
tunnel vision while making you reckless, arrogant, and lazy.
Money, profit, soul – no
one doubts that riches make the acquisition of pleasure on earth much
easier. What must be questioned is the need for excess money at the
expense of the common good. When working people struggle because they
cannot afford decent housing, food, and healthcare, you must do some
soul searching … that is, if you even believe you have a soul.
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