Forum Post: Business And Practicality As GOD

"Man does not live by bread alone."

This quote sums up clearly, a great division in human thinking. There are some who believe business and practicality are the most important things in life; that we live in a purely material world where business and science are the most valued of human endeavors.

There is a real element of truth in this. We are creatures of blood, and flesh, and bone, and without the means to sustain ourselves we will rapidly succomb to hunger, thirst, and the assault of the elements. And so the practical aspects of life are important.

But there is more to the sum of us than this. Achieving the means to sustain human life, alone, is not the pinacle of life but only its foundation.

For many years, we in America have been tied to a view that business and science are the most important human achievements, and for some time this has been born out by great advances in both of these areas. Much has been accomplished to free us from want, and from the fear of want, and yet ultimately as the basis for a world-view, this remains very much open to question.

Materialism is a means to survival, but it is not an answer to the meaning of life. The great advances, particularly in science, over the last several hundred years have diverted us from this ancient understanding that "man does not live by beaed alone," and If we continue to accept life in such starkly materialistic terms, we will never find happiness.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

These words are inseperable from a recognition of human spirit, a recognition that we are first and foremost spiritual beings.

Materialism, whether it be capitalism, communism, or socialism; or any other purely material philosophy, will never lead to happiness.

Ever more efficient means of attaining wealth as the end of human life is a false panacea. We are more than blood and flesh and bone; we are spirits, and our spirits will never find happiness as long as we are joined to the deadening paradigm of pure pragmatism as an end to human existance.

I hope at the heart of this movement we recognize this, as the framers of our democracy did. Liberty cannot be defended upon purely practical grounds. We need to see that "We are spirits in the material world," in order to defend our rights to "Life, liberty and the persuit of happiness."