I am very overdue for a blog entry here, so today it was time, and I was inspired in light of all the weekend's events.
America has always been the land of opportunity, a place where hard work, in theory, is supposed to result in a good life for everyone. What many are starting to realize is that opportunity has actually been shrinking and income inequality has dramatically increased since the late 1970s. In the late 70s, the top 1% of Americans earned about 10% of the income nationally. Currently, they earn 30% of the income and control about 40% of the total wealth of America.
This increase is pretty staggering when you think about it. It is also staggering when you factor in the fact that Americans are more in debt than ever and struggling to meet their daily needs. The top 1% have seen their incomes rise almost 20% over the past decade, and middle class families have seen their incomes fall. In other words, all the economic gains of the last 30 or so years have exclusively gone to the top 1% of people.
So what does this have to do with work in the spiritual realm, you ask? Well, it has a lot to do with EVERY ONE and EVERY THING around us. People who are not in the coveted "1%" are living beyond their means. Trickle-down economics might be an outdated cliche, but trickle-down BEHAVIORISM is very, very real. While the 1% have become increasingly more materialistic, this has also flowed down to the regular folk like you and me. Materialism and consumerism are huge parts of our culture now, and having lots of "stuff" is coveted. Remember Gordon Gekko in the film "Wall Street" exclaiming, "Greed is good!" ? Unfortunately the 99% have also decided that "greed is good" too and are willing to go heavily into debt to get the stuff they want.
This has resulted in a new kind of selfishness, a new kind of "me-ism"-- a new kind of narcissism -- that is becoming a cancer in our society. When you have crooks on Wall Street and in our nation's banks robbing us blind, that energy is bound to "trickle down" and send the message to everyone else that you should grab what you can, when you can, regardless of need or ethics. In extreme cases this is even resulting in violence. This energy in our culture results in less compassion, less empathy, less caring for our fellow human beings. This does not just apply to the pursuit of material goods, either. This is also an emotional narcissism that is very destructive to individuals, families and our society as a whole. Try to think about this, and be aware of this, because it affects all of us. We feel this energy-- this "trickle-down" of selfishness, of entitlement, of greed. We all see things in the media, in politics, and with our friends and family that project onto us as well.