The World is Too Much With Us

A powerful meditation on consumerism and what is (or should be) really important in our lives.

From The Spirit's Sword

I just had a zoom meeting with a nice group of guys, one of whom, a teacher, told the story of another teacher he knew. 

Some years ago, he was asked to mentor a new teacher coming into the school. The 'new' teacher was actually considerably older than his mentor, in his 50's, and this was about his third career. So the mentor starts showing him the ropes, going over the reality of being a teacher, and, inevitably, he asks his apprentice what was his story and what lead him to being a teacher.

As it turned out, the man didn't need to be a teacher, or to hold down any other job. He was set for life. He had been some sort of executive at the old Christie's factory that used to be near the old Seahorse motel. He and some other execs decided they wanted to make their own cake, and started a business doing just that. The new business caught the eye of Sara Lee, and Sara Lee bought them out. They were now worth millions.

The man spent the next few years travelling the world and playing all the significant golf courses, living out perhaps his fondest daydream from his days in an office. Then, one day, on the fourth hole at Augusta or Pebble Beach, while walking down the fairway smoking his $200 cigar, he thought to himself 'So, is this it?' Was this all there was to be with his life? Where was the impact, where was the difference he was to make? What was his legacy?

And so he decided to take the most impactful job he could think of, and became a teacher.

I thought of several things, (for instance, Luke 12:13-21) of how so few these days seem to be aware of the folly of the restless acquisition of things- those hundred things purchased before did not bring lasting peace or joy, perhaps the hundred and first will. As always, whatever I think or have to say, I inevitably find that someone else thought it first, and said it better. In this case, C.S. Lewis and the Screwtape Letters.

In one of those- I can't remember which one off the top of my head and I'm too lazy to look it up- Screwtape berates his nephew for allowing his 'patient' (for those unfamiliar, Screwtape is a demon writing to his nephew explaining to him how to properly tempt a human) to read a book that he liked, and to go and enjoy a cup of tea at a place he was fond of. What are you playing at? demanded Screwtape. The patient was only supposed to read the 'right' sort of books, not because he would enjoy them (because no one in their right mind could enjoy those books) but so he could make clever remarks about it to his friends- who are to be the 'right' sort of friends, who hang out at the 'right' sort of places. Allowing him to read a book he liked because he liked it and to go to a pub that he enjoyed because he enjoyed it were real and undeniable pleasures and would only show him how drab dreary and shallow these fake pleasures the demons were foisting upon him really were. He would be immune to that sort of worldly temptation thereafter.

Perhaps a trifle melodramatic, but the point hits home for me. I have fallen into the trap of thinking 'If only I had this' or 'If only I did this' and some such, then everything would be wonderful. Tried it, didn't work, and spent a lot of energy trying to tell myself it did.