Consider this/ Einfach zum Nachdenken

But even though very few people, scholars and non-scholars alike, would contest this finding, our Western economies still function as if the opposite were true. Have you ever seen an advertisement urging you to not buy a luxury car or not to go on a particular holiday, because they do not hold what they promise? Can you imagine turning on the TV and being urged to reduce your spending by 10%, since that might actually make you happier? Such ads only begin to appear when the negative effects of our consumption become blatantly evident: anti-smoking campaigns, drives to eat less junk food or ads encouraging us to use less energy in order to curb greenhouse effects are such examples. But they are rare, and late in coming.

Today is the half-way point of what Christians call the season of Lent. For roughly six weeks believers all over the world devote themselves to “fasting, prayer and almsgiving”. Many think that this amounts to a corporate act of dieting, where we all decide to come off cigarettes, sweets or alcohol, since we know they are bad for us anyway. But that misses the point. Fasting is in fact an act of giving up food or other good things, simply in order to express that ultimately these things don’t satisfy. Lent is to remind us where the source of our life and happiness is, namely in God. This is why fasting is always accompanied by prayer- spending time with God- and acts of kindness. As we give up things we also release resources to bless others.

Why have Christians insisted on keeping such a yearly season? The Bible speaks of a different and even more serious global warming: it is called sin. Christians believe that, if left unchecked, humans very quickly give into selfishness, greed and complaining. We need to regularly review our lives and see how we live. At least once year a spiritual spring cleaning is in order. That is when we consider what is really important, what we really need, and where we have accumulated ballast which keeps us from living as free men and women.

Let us not wait for a government health warning before we address toxic patterns in our lives. Instead maybe this season might help us also to re-discover a spirit of gratitude and contentment, like our African friends. As St. Paul says in his first letter to Timothy:“for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world; but if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content”. How would that look as the text for the next major advertising campaign?

# posted by tino @ Sunday, March 18, 2007