Greg: Wealth & Happiness

Prof. Chism,

First of all, do you prefer that I call you Professor Chism or Jack or something else?  I'm in this awkward stage with my former professors and never know how to address them.

You ask me if I am ready to go.  I have never stopped.  I realize that we haven't had a correspondence for quite some time now, but I have been busy reading, thinking, writing and reflecting on the issues we discussed eight or so years ago.  I still hear your voice in my head very often and am thankful for the impact you've had on my intellectual development.

You claim that I am guilty of the straw man fallacy in my blog.  Perhaps you're right, but if so it was unintentional on my part.  Those two objections may not be the strongest ones, but they are ones that I hear quite often in conversations.  But I certainly wasn't claiming to be comprehensive.  And that is why I am e-mailing you… I want to hear better objections from an intelligent source.  Unlike some liberals (and some conservatives), I have not given up on thinking and critiquing ideas.  

Now to your questions.  But first I must say that economics is not my primary discipline as it is yours; I am a student of theology.  So forgive me if my answers aren't as nuanced as you would like.  My understanding of wealth is that it is generated through human ingenuity and effort.  Humans apply their abilities to a task at hand -- physical and intellectual abilities -- to create something new or improve on something already made.  I realize that's broad, but off the top of my head, I suppose that will suffice.

As for happiness, I would argue that it is found in unity and harmony in relationship -- specifically, four relationships:  self to God, self to others, self to creation, and self to self.  This notion of happiness is rooted in my understanding of God and what we are created for.  It is the "chief end of man" as they say in the Westminster Confession.

That will get things started.  

One more note, thanks for your word of caution about my example of the poor of India.  It never occurred to me that someone might actually use that line of thinking to justify their poverty.  I, of course, don't condone that.  I was using it as an illustration of the fact that wealth does not necessarily lead to happiness and nor is it even a prerequisite for happiness (except for a bare subsistence level as you pointed out).

Grace and Peace,

Greg