In his Sermon on the Mount lecture, Richard Rohr highlighted some of the differences between the society of biblical times, and our society today. In particular, he referenced a scholar who noted that societies tend to be organized according to religion, politics, or economics. The litmus test is which paths lead you to accrue prestige.
What I found interesting was how hard it was to imagine life in such a different system. It was humbling to consider just how blind I might be to other, perfectly valid ways of running a society. For your average person, does happiness depend on being born into a prosperous, technologically advanced, democratic society? Are people happier in the US today than they would be if they had been born into another society? Are they more satisfied?
As I struggled to comprehend these other ways of life, a door opened. I can’t know what life would really be like back in Ancient Rome, but I can guess at some of the unconscious trade-offs that we seem to have made.
We have life so comfortable here. We mostly spend our days indoors (with heat and A/C), we sleep on soft mattresses, and our labor is so light that most of us have weaker bodies than our ancestors (I am reminded of this fact when I shake hands with a farmer or tradesman). We also work for less of our lives than most people who came before us, especially since most of us weren’t doing hard labor at the age of 6. Life today seems to be about working shorter hours, for fewer years, and with more vacation. What could be better?
On a statistical level, those other societies had harder lives, with more disease and premature death, as well as higher risk of violent death. There was less social mobility; people were born into roles that they were expected to fulfill for their entire lifetime.
But on a day-to-day basis, I wonder if they had some things we did not. We are lonelier and less satisfied than our wealth would suggest. In fact, loneliness and material comfort are our biggest killers. Given that we die later in life, this is perhaps an acceptable trade-off, as opposed to dying in childbirth or starvation. But in fleeing from those problems of insufficiency, I think we have run to an unhealthy extreme.
Our pursuit and worship of economic success have consumed other areas of our lives which might have made us happier. We spend less time together as a family (on top of which, we have fewer kids to spend that time with and fewer years with children at home). We’re more apt to be single or divorced. Getting divorced can be a good decision (mine was), but high rates of divorce at a societal level probably mean that we aren’t doing marriage particularly well. We have fewer friends, and less community too.
For all the problems of serfdom, I would think you’re less apt to be lonely when you’re sharing a cottage with 16 other people and 6 cows. Too, if that’s what “normal” looks like to you, without an Instagram feed stuffed with images of private jets, in-ground swimming pools, and trips to Italy, you don’t miss what you don’t have. Meanwhile, I have a 1000 square foot home, all to myself, but I still find myself wishing for more. What am I doing wrong?
For one, maybe I have allowed myself to be so blinded by this money-centric cultural lens that I misunderstand what “more” means. When money is all, or most, of what matters for success, “more” just means “more money.” But that ignores all the other aspects of life where, “more” might actually change your life. What about more connection? More free time? More fun? More honesty? More purpose? More creativity?
The problem, I think, isn’t with “more.” The problem is with how narrowly we tend to define “more.” There’s nothing wrong with an expansive life, personal growth, and becoming more of who you were meant to be. In fact, I think that’s what we are here to do. Instead, when we run into problems with “more,” the issue is actually that we are becoming “less” of ourselves. Less of who we were meant to be. The cold, dull pang we feel is not a call for more money, but an unanswered summons of the soul. It is the universe letting us know that we aren’t getting it right.
Part of the problem is that we have simply misallocated our wealth. We keep buying extra comfort and status when we should be buying back our time. There are a million good reasons to become wealthy. It can enhance your life, help you become more of who you are, and allow you to be of greater service to others. However, money itself is not the highest good. And we suffer when we forget that. It is foolish, and morally wrong, to pursue money while forsaking our souls.
Your soul is not just something to prepare for the after-life, but to tend to in this life. It is the deepest, truest part of you, and it is not to be ignored. It is why we are here. Why would the universe give us life, if not for us to obey that summons of the soul? What could give greater delight to the universe, than playfully guiding us towards that end? If I were an infinite, timeless mystery animating the whole of existence, that’s what I’d do.
Where do we go from here?
The answer is not to return to feudalism, serfdom, and peasantry. We can be so much more of ourselves today than they could back then. Widespread literacy, easy access to knowledge, and a free market economy give us an amazing wealth of options. Too, we need money, and it is good to be self-sufficient. I am too deeply steeped in our American culture not to think that way.
But I think we also know that it is not enough to have options, even if that means having a lot of money. What matters more is how we use our energy and our talents, even if that means having less money than we might have otherwise. Life is for living, not just for earning.
Consider your other needs, and how well you are meeting them.
Are you getting enough rest?
Do you spend enough time with friends? Is it quality time, or are you less present than you could be?
Are there activities you enjoy just for the fun of it?
Do you feel a healthy connection with your work? Does it make you feel more alive, or less?
Is your physical health as good as it could be?
How about your spiritual health? Do you make time for prayer, meditation, contemplation, reading, listening, and strengthening your connection with the infinite?
If any of these areas feel like weak points, is there something you could do this week that to feel slightly better about your life? Could you schedule a time with a friend, or set a reminder to meditate for 10 minutes? I wouldn’t suggest making wholesale changes to your life, such as quitting your job and moving to Africa as a missionary. At least not right away. But I imagine there are some small adjustments you could make today that would lead you towards better harmony with your truest, highest self.
After all, we found our way into this predicament through one small, semi-conscious, seemingly-unimportant-decision after another. What’s to say that we can’t find our way out through a series of more conscious, but equally small, good decisions?