nathan on poverty
nathan schneider on poverty via bsky [https://bsky.app/profile/ntnsndr.social.coop.ap.brid.gy/post/3li47q7jl5d52]:
“The goal for Christians should be not the elimination of poverty—Jesus said that is futile, anyway—but actually to encourage more of it.”
My latest in America Magazine: https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2025/02/13/christian-poverty-dignity-249696
notes/quotes from article feb 2025 article:
Poverty should not make a good life impossible
One way of measuring the health of a society is the quality of life people can have with little wealth.
garden-enough ness.. graeber stop at enough law.. because no missing pieces
This is a metric that should be of particular interest to Christians. If we are not ourselves poor, it is our job to care about those who are. And since we are called to imitate Jesus, who lived in poverty, we should always be asking the awkward question of how we might become more poor.
The goal for Christians should be not the elimination of poverty—Jesus said that is futile, anyway—but actually to encourage more of it. *Through poverty, we become less attached to our own power and pride. We learn to depend more on God and each other. A Christian society should want to **ensure that poverty is a viable option.
*or rather.. less cancerous distractions.. poverty alone won’t keep us from khan filling the gaps law et al.. we need a means to org around legit needs
**rather.. to me.. that poverty is irrelevant s.. once all have been restored to their missing pieces
The trouble is, while American society is especially good among wealthy countries at producing poverty, it is especially bad at making the lives of the poor tolerable. More and more of society’s basic functions have come to depend on the accumulation of private wealth, while instilling fear that a good life is otherwise impossible. The wealthy feel they need to amass more than they actually need, just to be sure, and the poor are sent away empty. *Just for being poor, people risk exposure to the elements, lack of health care, criminalization and the inability to participate in cultural life.
*don’t even have to be ‘poor’ for that.. hari present in society law.. utopia of rules maintaining structural violence.. spiritual violence.. since forever..
For my parents’ generation, it was possible to attend a public university at almost negligible cost. Graduates could aim for a job with a pension; and if nothing else, they had Social Security to look forward to. Housing was plentiful and comparatively affordable. Luxuries of many kinds were more expensive than they are in today’s age of globalized manufacturing, but basics were cheaper. It is common to hear people who grew up in mid-20th-century America say, “We didn’t even know that we were poor.”
that’s great.. but do we really want to just keep cycling around in same song.. if we don’t focus-on/org-around legit needs.. will just keep on perpetuating the whac-a-mole-ing ness of sea world
*Since then, American society has veered in a different direction. Because of growing reliance on student debt to fund education and private savings to fund retirement, a cultured life is much harder to reach without piling up worldly wealth. (Don’t get me started on health care.) Fear of losing out completely compels us to accumulate rapaciously.
*actually.. same direction.. same song.. as long as any form of measuring, accounting, people telling other people what to do
I feel this fear every day—that I will fail to provide adequately for my family’s future, that without too much we won’t have enough. It makes being generous harder. Voluntary poverty would mean not just giving up some luxuries, it would mean sacrificing my children’s future.
which we’ve been doing since forever.. ie: maté parenting law et al.. obsession with building future ness based on non legit needs..
Members of religious orders, and to some extent of the military, know a different condition. They inhabit systems designed to support modest living through collective provisioning. Jesuits take a vow of poverty, but they rarely live in fear; their housing, health care and other basic needs are taken care of. They can be freer to live simply and pursue their spiritual callings as a result. The military provides similar systems for health care and education, too, and these make a life of service more possible.
but these are actually cancerous distractions..
we do need though.. a sabbatical ish transition.. so that no one has to ‘worry’ about sea world worries/drama for long enough to see the dance dance..
A good society should be concerned not just with getting people out of poverty but enabling them to inhabit it with dignity. And dignity does not mean having to navigate degrading, means-tested programs that demand we prove our deservingness. Dignity begins with sharing wealth in common, as the apostles did after Pentecost. Similarly, medieval societies often ensured that even the poorest people had access to wood from the forest and leftovers in the fields. These were the “commons” that were available to anyone.
everything needs (and could be) that way.. but need 1st/most: means to undo our hierarchical listening to self/others/nature as global detox/re\set.. so we can org around legit needs
findings from on the ground ness:
1\ undisturbed ecosystem (common\ing) can happen
2\ if we create a way to facil the seeming chaos of 8b legit free people
Poverty as we know it today is not just a matter of lacking money; it is the consequence of a society where you need money to do anything at all.
again.. rather.. any form of measuring, accounting, people telling other people what to do
While waiting for our ship of state to somehow reverse course, we can reorient how we judge our situation. We can ask: How healthy is our society from the perspective of the poor?
This is not just a question for the sake of the “less fortunate.” For Christians seeking to deepen our discipleship, we should ask for our own sake: Is our society well organized for the poverty to which we are called?
yeah.. i think if you’re focusing on that.. you’re already at the symptom level.. meaning.. i don’t think that’s our legit ‘calling’
we need a means to hear the itch-in-the-soul.. to hear what is already on each heart.. and then.. to trust that..
we haven’t tried/seen anything to date that gets to the root of problem
legit freedom will only happen if it’s all of us.. and in order to be all of us.. has to be sans any form of measuring, accounting, people telling other people what to do
how we gather in a space is huge.. need to try spaces of permission where people have nothing to prove to facil curiosity over decision making.. because the finite set of choices of decision making is unmooring us.. keeping us from us..
ie: imagine if we listened to the itch-in-8b-souls 1st thing everyday & used that data to connect us (tech as it could be.. ai as augmenting interconnectedness)
the thing we’ve not yet tried/seen: the unconditional part of left to own devices ness
[‘in an undisturbed ecosystem ..the individual left to its own devices.. serves the whole’ –dana meadows]
there’s a legit use of tech (nonjudgmental exponential labeling) to facil the seeming chaos of a global detox leap/dance.. the unconditional part of left-to-own-devices ness.. for (blank)’s sake.. and we’re missing it
ie: whatever for a year.. a legit sabbatical ish transition
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be you. 