The mirage of a life without limits
Only through self-restraint and sharing can we save the Earth
Satisfaction fell upon me as I ran down the wooded trails of Edmonton’s river valley, the fallen leaves crunching beneath my feet. Few activities have as much splendour as a jog down the trails of autumn, the sun hanging low in the sky, colours resplendent upon the hills and the heart pounding with exertion.
I thought such times would never end. Running would be my passion until I dropped. God promises those who wait for the Lord “shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40.31).
As I near 70, I am down to the walk and not faint part. The running stopped 20 years ago when my knees cried out for relief. A few months later, I broke my leg. The surgeon said forget about running. I had passed my limit.
When Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations in 1776, he too believed the good times were without limit. Prior to Smith, insatiable desire was seen as a source of unhappiness and social instability. But he sanctified desire by anointing it the driving force of the economy. The more people desired material goods, the more the economy would grow. The more the economy grew, the more wealth would expand. And on it would go.
Yet, instead of creating happiness, newfound wealth magnified desire. Humans lost the ability to be satisfied with what we have. Virtues, such as thrift and self-denial, were obliterated.
Financial debt further stoked the fires of growth. Technology grew and grew, increasing comfort but also gobbling up the earth’s resources. The dream of plenty for all dissipated. Powerful nations and people grabbed massive amounts of wealth for themselves.
For a long time, it mattered not. At least, not to the mighty. Nor to the middle classes consumed by the pursuit of frivolity. The good times rolled, and their reign seemed endless.
But in recent decades, the situation changed. Jobs went overseas, the soil’s fertility was depleted, individuals and governments staggered under the weight of debt. Even the climate changed.
Pope John Paul II was one who saw the effects of extravagance. He described how modernity assaulted human dignity through the degradation of work, the chipping away at moral virtue, the widening gulf between the wealthy and the dispossessed, and the erosion of esteem for human life and the family. Humanity had come to believe that it is god, that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a private matter.
Society’s wise ones began to tout sustainability as a new economic goal. But that goal received only fleeting lip service. Political parties continued to put their stock in the rate of economic growth.
We continue to see technology as a panacea. Our lifestyle need not change. We will thirst for a thousand forms of amusement. The economy must continue to grow.
It is past time to reject all that. Just as my knees wore out from excessive pounding, our planet is also wearing out. Economic equality can only be achieved through sharing, not expansion. We must eliminate the slavery of debt. We are obliged to halt the exploitation of non-renewable resources. We will have to douse those desires which fire up the economy. Self-denial must become our watchword. If not, either our planet will burn up or an authoritarian strongman will impose limits on us.
The future lies in respecting limits – moral limits, financial limits and limits to destruction of the natural environment. If we don’t, hard lessons are on the way.
Yet, hope exists. Concern for others is the only thing that has ever worked. It exists in abundance today even if we fail to notice it. Self-restraint and sharing underlie a sustainable social order. Our love is never perfect, which is why we need laws. But if we look within ourselves, we can increase that love.
Sustainability requires us to share more and restrain our impulses. Enlightened self-interest may start us down that path. But without faith, enlightenment will fade. We need a higher purpose, one beyond the detection of our physical senses.
What is our destiny? The fulfillment of the human person is not happiness but sanctity. The pursuit of sanctity only makes sense if we have faith in a saviour whose self-giving love is without limit. A saviour who both shares our plight and transcends it. The only serious candidate for such a saviour is Jesus. To secure our planet’s future, we know where to turn.
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