How Much Is Enough?

 I have been writing some reflections for the master classes I have been taking this summer.  Seems such a shame to waste all my thoughts on an e-mail to an instructor, so I've decided to post a few here. :D

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             Alan Durning poses the question “When does consumption cease to add appreciable to human satisfaction?”  (Schut p. 91) Yet the question begs to be asked, does consumption every really add to true satisfaction?  It does add to personal comfort and at the most basic levels sustains life.  Perhaps, though, the answer of how much is enough can be found not by looking at amounts of “stuff,” but by considering the true source of satisfaction.

            We have become so hung up on consumption that we do not even know how to consider life outside of these terms.  “Traditional measure of success … [have been] gradually supplanted by a simple, universally recognized indicator of achievement-money.” (Schut p. 91-92)  We selfishly judge our success by those who are under us and those who are ahead of us.  “Cars today are almost the exact equivalent of the great Gothic cathedrals…” (Schut p. 93)

            Durning even suggests that while Moses could count the ethical rules, now they are innumerable.  (Schut, p. 97)  Though, if we went back to counting by ten we would find the solutions as natural outcomes of our principled choices.  Matt 22:37-39  “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the lord they God with all they heart, and with all they soul, and with all they mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself.”  These verses sum up the Ten Commandments found in Ex 20. 

If we are searching and following these Ten Commandments we will find the answers to the question: “How much is enough?”  As we follow the commandments we will become less and less inwardly, selfishly focused and more outwardly, selflessly focused.  Selflessness, compassion, and putting Christ first and foremost will answer the questions that quantifying never can.