"The social affections," says the economist, "are accidental and disturbing elements in human nature; but avarice and the desire of progress are constant elements. Let us eliminate the inconstants, and, considering the human being merely as a covetous machine, examine by what laws of labour, purchase, and sale, the greatest accumulative result in wealth [and wellbeing] is obtainable". Out of an essay by John Ruskin, The Roots of Honour.
I read this quote and yup, I thought, these are the assumptions I work with on a daily basis. "Keeping the bastards honest" is my job. Keeping the system tolerably humane is my political ambition.
Still, while I'm not ready to let go of my cynicism about human nature, I clearly need a new set of assumptions to balance these out! C.S. Lewis refused to write a sequel to The Screwtape Letters because he did not want to inhabit the hellish atmosphere of selfish calculation that he had investigated in order to write that book. He wanted to dwell in another set of assumptions and he thought that writing a sequel to Screwtape would be counterproductive. He wanted to try to share the ambience of the Kingdom with his readers, not the ambience of hell. And he also recognised that this was a lot more difficult to do.
So let's not dismiss those among us who try to dwell in Christ's vision. We need more, not less, people who are "turning away from mammonism and letting [their] hearts be moved by the atmosphere of the kingdom of God" (J. Heinrich Arnold). For Arnold, tuning in to this atmosphere, not "feeling bad", is the the true essence of repentance.
Please God, let us tune in to the atmosphere of your Kingdom more often. Please!
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