The Price of Civilization_ Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity - Jeffrey D. Sachs [66]
Despite great American affluence, our decisions as consumers of goods, services, and bytes are not delivering the well-being and peace of mind we crave. Americans urgently need to regain our footing. The starting point is that we must recognize the snares that the economy has set for our own psyches. We must begin by reclaiming our balance as individuals, consumers, citizens, and members of society. Let us begin on that task in the next chapter.
PART II
The Path to Prosperity
CHAPTER 9.
The Mindful Society
This chapter and the ones that follow propose some workable steps toward a new American economy, a healthier society, and a more ethical basis for the study and practice of economics itself. These steps start from a simple premise: that the problems of America begin at home, with the choices we are making as individuals. Through clearer thinking, we can become more effective both as individuals and as citizens, reclaiming power from the corporations. The American economy itself continues to be productive and technologically dynamic. The problem is not the breakdown of productivity but the way we are living with that productivity. The relentless drumbeat of consumerism into every corner of our lives has led to extreme shortsightedness, consumer addictions, and the shriveling of compassion. When we are distracted, we allow the lobbyists to run away with power that rightfully belongs to the citizenry. As individuals, we need to regain the balance of our own lives between work and leisure, saving and consumption, self-interest and compassion, individualism and citizenship. As a society, we need to establish the right relationship of markets, politics, and civil society to address the complex challenges of the twenty-first century.
The future belongs not to the Tea Party but to America’s youth, who are the most progressive and diverse part of American society today. The change will start mainly with the so-called Millennial Generation, those between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine in 2010, who are socially connected, Internet-savvy, and searching for a new mode of social involvement and political engagement. Obama was to be their man, but unless he dramatically alters course, he seems more likely to be a transitional figure than a transformative one.
We need deeper changes than those on offer today, changes that restore our personal balance and the foundations of our trust in society. We need a mindful society, in which we once again take seriously our own well-being, our relations with others, and the operation of our politics.
The Middle Path
Two of the greatest ethicists in human history, Buddha in the East and Aristotle in the West, hit upon a remarkably similar prescription for the long-term happiness of humanity. “The Middle Path,” said Buddha in the fifth century B.C., would keep humanity balanced between the false allures of asceticism on the one side and pleasure seeking on the other. Two centuries later and half a world away, Aristotle gave his fellow Greeks a similar message, that “moderation in all things” was the key to eudemonia, or human fulfillment. Aristotle, like Buddha, sought a path between two more extreme views of his day: the Stoics on one side and the Epicureans on the other.
The essential teaching of both Buddha and Aristotle is that the path of moderation is the key to fulfillment but is hard won and must be pursued through lifelong diligence, training, and reflection. There is nothing simple about moderation: the snares and distractions that lead us to extremes are everywhere. It is easy to become addicted to hyperconsumerism, the search for sensory pleasures, and the indulgence of self-interest, leading to a brief high but long-term unhappiness. It is easy to adopt a self-defeating philosophy of disregard for