The fundamentals of the whole economic condition are divine in nature
and are associated with the world of the heart and spirit. This is fully
explained in the Baha'i teaching, and without knowledge of its principles no
improvement in the economic state can be realized…When the love of God is
established, everything else will be realized. This is the true foundation of
all economics.
(‘Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 238)
In this book I mean
economics in its Aristotelian sense of “household” relations between family
members. But I mean these relations,
which I name the moral economy, to refer to exchanges of values that spiritually
bind together the members of the family of man: the household of humanity. These are the actions that you and I can do
for each other when we meet on the street or at work, or get together in our
homes, parks, malls, and neighborhoods.
As the material economy generates more material wealth, so the moral
economy increases society’s moral wealth, which I call riches.
The moral economy appears
and comes into view at this interpersonal level that operates in-between the
individual and the institutional. As I
see it, it works through three core principles: sharing, service, and
self-sacrifice. That is, individuals sharing
their material wealth, serving others, and sacrificing their personal interests
for a common or collective good. Now,
all economies have a moral dimension to them.
But the moral economy of any materialist society is built on values
opposed to the moral economy of this essay.
The moral economy of materialism, especially its modern consumerist
form, is composed of values and principles that promote actions and attitudes
that are selfish, self-serving and self-centered. This is supposed to generate wealth, security
and well-being, and for a time it does, but over time it does just the
opposite. If one wants wealth, security,
and well-being one must follow the principle of Jesus: “For whosoever will save
his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find
it.” (The Book of Matthew 16:25)
To build a real moral
economy means, then, to return to our sacred origins, not historically but
essentially, not to the past but to the roots of our being, for the moral
economy is part of a larger economy, what Shoghi Effendi called the Divine
Economy, “that social code”, (The World
Order of Baha'u'llah: 60) which is human collective relations mediated and
enhanced through institutions and laws that regulate the global household on
divine principles, a relationship captured in the Christian prayer, “on earth
as it is in heaven”. Exploring the
nature and structure of that Divine Economy is another work. (A concise but comprehensive outline of the
workings of such a system was given by ‘Abdu’l-Baha early last century. It can be found as Appendix One at the end of
the book.)
In a rapidly globalizing
world, a true moral economy can only be founded upon the principle and ideal of
the oneness of humanity, and the moral virtues of economic life must express,
support and reinforce that ideal. The oneness of humanity appears and operates
within economic life when sharing spirit, not material gain, is the goal of
human exchange, though, again, a proper material gain for everyone involved is
needed. The moral economy works best when
we spend material wealth for the common good, along with our inner spiritual riches,
such as love, trust, and justice, which are as the different denominations of a
spiritual currency. What are primarily
exchanged through currency and labor in the material economy are goods and
services. What is primarily exchanged through values in the moral economy is
our noble humanity. In the first each
values his personal profit, in the second each values the other.
Being victims of an
improper education we must ask: What is a proper one? It cannot be simply a matter of wringing new
information from an old and dry paradigm of understanding of human nature and
the world. One comprehensive model of a
proper education is found in my book, Renewing
the Sacred, and the statements on education woven throughout this essay are
in a very real sense supplemental to Renewing
the Sacred. This education is, at
this point, idealistic of course, but short-sighted pragmatism, whether as
educational philosophy or philosophy of action and purpose, has failed to
inspire and give any clear direction. It
merely careens from one crisis to the next with no vision of how to develop
human society let alone stabilize itself.
There is another kind of
practicality. ‘Abdu’l-Baha was once
rightly praised for walking the mystical path with practical feet. For the practical-minded, the following pages
may seem an example of walking the practical path with mystical feet. But this higher path of practicality is not a
Neverland of impossibly rosy wishes and Peter Pan happy thoughts. Just because something is not practiced does
not necessarily mean it is not practical.
Regarding the other practicality, the Universal House of Justice
wrote: “There are spiritual principles,
or what some call human values, by which solutions can be found for every
social problem. Any well-intentioned group can in a general sense devise
practical solutions to its problems, but good intentions and practical
knowledge are usually not enough. The essential merit of spiritual principle is
that it not only presents a perspective which harmonizes with that which is
immanent in human nature, it also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an
aspiration, which facilitate the discovery and implementation of practical
measures. Leaders of governments and all in authority would be well served in
their efforts to solve problems if they would first seek to identify the
principles involved and then be guided by them.” (Universal House of Justice, The Promise World Peace: 3)
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