It is necessary to repeat again and again that in the background of all our lives there exists a fundamental and dominating lie. It is that material success counts more than anything else – indeed, that nothing else counts but material success.
People are not simply, or even principally, thinking machines. Most people absorb much more information from sense impressions and emotions than they do from abstract symbols. The world is not only, or even most importantly, material. Scientific reason can never be more than part of the story. Human beings are concerned most of their thinking lives with values whereas scientific reason, cannot cope with questions of value at all, as Ludwig Wittgenstein, that most exacting of philosophers, kept ramming home to anyone who would listen.
We are continually brainwashed nowadays into believing that economic growth is the main measure of success. This is a deadly miscalculation of what to be human really means. In every country, GNP is the official index of a nation’s well-being. But this is an obvious absurdity. For instance, if a natural disaster strikes, bringing untold misery, the immediate impact leads to growth in GNP as industry reacts to repair to physical damage. On the other hand, a woman will work in her garden for years, creating an oasis of peace, order and beauty – no GNP measures that. And a couple – or, indeed, a single parent – will raise children to lead lives of honest endeavour and public service – GNP does not measure that devotion. GNP is not and never can be a measure of success or contentment. It is merely a measure of activity, good or bad. A high level of GNP can contain immense evil. A low level of GNP can contain incalculable good. Take one obvious example: many American cities ravaged by crime, drug-taking, and a complete break down in family life are considerably “richer” than much “poorer” places elsewhere in the world where there is substantially more stability and everyday satisfaction.
And when national success is measured in materialistic terms, is it any wonder that individuals take their lead from that and become accustomed to measuring their own success in similar terms? Making more money, accumulating material goods, these become the leading, and even the only good in life. Who are we to doubt the judgement of the State which says that economic gain is the ultimate objective? Over and over again our political masters – in Government and Opposition – as they debate the fate of the nation reach for economic indices to indicate how brilliantly well or disastrously badly the nation is doing. And matching them in private so do we judge our own affairs – our wealth or poverty seen only in money or material terms.
How do you measure the contribution which intangible virtues make in any society: integrity, tolerance, courtesy, the concept of duty owed to others, magnanimity, goodwill and forbearance, regard for the aged, concern for the disadvantaged, gentleness with children, love of freedom, intellectual passion, truth and openness in all relationships not least in business, respect for high standards in all we try to do, an instinct to preserve the earth unsullied? Perhaps it is because such virtues are incalculable that they are not counted in the sums that dominate the lives of nations and our own lives nowadays. The fundamental mistake will ruin the world. Such virtues are the very definition of humanity at its best and when a society mocks or neglects them it will in the end most certainly fail.
There is a huge difference between price and value. A famous debate once took place between Senator Robert Kennedy and a group of American economists who were preaching the hard-nosed philosophy that a country’s achievement could only be measured in material terms. They were very articulate, very convincing, very ruthless in their technical arguments. Robert Kennedy, soon to be assassinated while campaigning for the Presidency, had the last word: “The gross national product”, he said, “does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile”.
In a famous essay the great 19th Century interpreter and connoisseur of art and architecture, John Ruskin, wrote “There is no wealth but life”. Increasing wealth is important. But any society organised around the principle that increasing wealth is more important than improving life is deeply flawed. Very few people, here or anywhere, are permitted to believe that.
