Staddon, J. (2012). The Malign Hand of the Markets: The Insidious Forces on Wall Street That Are Destroying Financial Markets–and What We Can Do About It. McGraw Hill Professional.
Preface
Introduction
The malign hand appears wherever benefits are immediate and discrete for an individual/a group, while costs are delayed and/or dispersed for others (p. xxi)
Reinforcement contingencies are simply the rules by which rewards and punishments are given or withheld (p. xxii)
Seeing financial instruments as reinforcement contingencies shifts the analyses of economic behavior from the rational-irrational dichotomy to one of adaptation (p. xxvi)
Part I
Chapter 1 – The Malign Hand
Bureaucracies increase because the incentives of bureaucrats do not align with the incentives of the organization they are a part of (p. 4)
Competition is the natural antidote to the malign hand (p. 4)
Politicians divert national funds to their districts. This leads to immediate concentration of benefits to the members of the district and a delayed dispersion of costs to the larger nation as a whole. Of course, those who bear the cost have less influence than those who incur it (p. 6)
There is a tradeoff between efficiency and stability which is not too removed from the tradeoff between immediate gains and delayed benefits. As global systems become more interconnected, they will become more efficient in the short-run at the risk of instability to the system in the long-run (p. 11)
Organisms prefer positive reinforcement to negative reinforcement (p. 15)
Chapter 2 – Democracy, Fairness and the Tytler Dilemma
Alexander Tytler, a 18th-century Scot aristocrat, is attributed to saying have said that: “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy.” Staddon interprets that private good as immediate benefit from public treasury, and collective bad as public bankruptcy (p. 23)
Problems arise when benefits received by an individual/a group is not linked to the behavior of that individual/group and is paid by other (p. 26)
Chapter 3 – Value and Reason
Defining value in objective terms is referred to as the naturalistic fallacy (p. 40)
Adam Smith defined value as the work done to acquire a commodity. This is also referred to as the labor theory of value. However, oxygen is freely available to everyone and doesn’t demand much effort, while gold is scare and requires much effort to attain. Yet, one will not conclude that gold is more valuable than oxygen. Some economists then made the distinction between value in exchange (gold) and value in use (oxygen). Another way to see Adam Smith’s definition of value is to lay more emphasis on the willingness to work (a property of the decision maker), as well as the commodity’s reinforcement schedule, as opposed to the real work done to obtain the commodity. In all, value is not a property of the commodity itself. Thus, to make an assessment of relative value, both the effort, as well as the reinforcement schedule must be considered. When reinforcement schedules are similar, oxygen will be more valuable than gold (p. 41)
A decision maker has a set of different strategies (variation) and some means of comparing them (selection). If the strategy set is rich and the selection rule appropriate, the resultant behavior will be apparently ‘rational’. However, if the strategy set is limited, or the selection rule inappropriate, the behavior will appear to be biased, or based on a heuristic (p. 48)
There nothing like purely rational behavior. If the task is simple and close to something encountered in one’s history, behavior will come close to a rational optimum. However, when the situation is complex, subjects will act irrationally, or rational in the short-run (p. 49)
Behavior can be rendered rational once the currency and the constraints are salient (p. 49)
Maladaptive behavior is a consequence of recent history and feedback effect of present behavior on the future. Staddon calls this ‘leverage’ (p. 53)
There is no single rational strategy, multiple ones depending on the what is maximized and the constraints (p. 54)
Chapter 4 – Efficiency and Unpredictability
In everywhere, except economics, efficiency is usually a ratio. In economics, it is defined in as the extent to which commodities’ prices are reflective of information (p. 55)
Chapter 5 – The Housing Bubble
Frank Knight (1921) distinguished between risk, where the odds can be calculated; and, uncertainty, where the odds cannot be calculated (p. 79)
The future is like the past over a short period. The present will at some point fail to match with the past – but we don’t know when that will occur (p. 80)
Chapter 6 – Market Instability and the Myth of Comparative Statics
Greed is a constant of human nature and as a result, market bubbles cannot be solely explained by them. What is more likely is a malign schedule of reinforcement. For many brokers, individual upside outweighs personal downside. But for the financial system as a whole, the situation is reversed. Similarly, brokers have leverage because they control large amounts of money while only responsible for a fraction of it (p. 95)
Chapter 7 – Growth and the Conservation of Money
Instead of looking for the causes of boom and busts, it might be better to explore the kinds of constraints that can stabilize markets (p. 101)
Hobbes and Rousseau’s conceptualization of man ignored the role of markets and the need to for individuals to trade (p. 107)
Staddon is suspicious of any measure of economic growth reliant on money. The Incas and Aztecs probably had a higher GDP than their conquerors. Yet, their wealth made them more of an easy target. Rather, growth can be better assessed with freedom (people aren’t spending all their time looking for food or housing) and resilience (people can better adapt to change) (p. 107-8)
Chapter 8 – Debt, Inflation and the Central Bank
Inflation functions like a flat tax on both wealth and income. Thus, even when people get salary raises, their wealth remains constant. (p. 121-2)
Constantly falling price are not hazardous to the economy. The price of clothes and electronic products have declined over the years, yet their markets have not stagnated (p. 127)
Deflation is only bad for debtors since as time passes, the worth of their debts will increase. On the other hand, inflation hurts people who save money (p. 128).
The Central Bank (Feds in the US) controls interest rates by buying up short-term treasury bills. Since the Feds use cash reserves to do this, banks have more money to lend at a low interest rates. As with the law of demand and supply, the increase in supply of loans drives its price (interest rates) low (p.134).
Quantitative easing occurs when interest rates are close to zero and the economy is still in a recession. Rather than only buying short-term treasury bills, the government buys other types of securities, e.g., corporate bonds, etc. The money to do this doesn’t come from the reserves, but is simply created by the Central Bank (p. 135)
When the Central Bank buys short-term treasury bills, it is usually a sign that business will be bad in the future (p. 137)
The more complex a security or asset is, or the greater the uncertainty about its value, the more its price will be determined by other people’s behavior (p. 139)
Two cause of bubbles – herding and a new money supply. Again, since herding is human nature, the problem may be better solved by looking at the way governments supply money (p. 140)
Chapter 9 – J M Keynes and the Macroeconomy
Adaptation is the result of variation, which is endogenous; and, selection, which is determined by the environment (p. 151)
Neither the pattern of incentives, nor the market sentiment on its own can explain economic behavior – we need to understand what people are willing to try, what informs/motivates this willingness, and the consequences of people’s actions (p. 153)
The problem for the political system is how to restore confidence in the economy while harming as few innocent victims as possible, while punishing those responsible for causing economic slumps (p. 158)
If the economy is like a leaky bucket, the solution is to either reduce the leak (structural changes) or permanently increase inflow (inflation) (p. 160)
Part II
Chapter 10 – Financial Markets are Different, I: Problems and Some Solutions
Information has to be converted to action. Saying, like the Efficient Market Hypothesis, that stock price reflects all information about the underlying stock is borderline religious (p. 180)
Complexity of financial markets should be subject to some check, such as tests for comprehensibility (p. 186)
Technology in agriculture reduced agricultural employment since farmers became more efficient. The same cannot be said about financial markets where technology is used in complexifying (p. 192)
Chapter 11 – Financial Markets are Different, II: Risk and Competition
In a competitive market, injury to one firm will make others more profitable (p. 202)
Bloated profits of the financial industry come from the future. A few people’s current payouts will be suffered as debt in the future – in the form of debt defaults, higher taxes or inflation (p. 206)
Chapter 12 – Financial Markets are Different, III: Regulation by Rule
There should be a tax on financial risks – negligible tax on small risk and large taxes on large risks (p. 232)
Naturally, because of his prominent role in the struggle against inequality, MLK was subject to greater scrutiny by the powers that be.
What they found wasn’t pretty.
Behind the cool, calm and charismatic Reverend that gave the “I have a dream” speech, the FBI allegedly found a man who drank, smoked, spoke vulgar and had multiple sexual partners.
While some of the FBI findings were released sometime in 2019, this image of MLK had been painted by his associates in books they wrote as far back as the 1980s.
If you look through the annals of history, you’d find it littered with the blood and bones of great men who may have gotten public victories but were limited by their private battles.
I’m reminded of the story of the two wolves:
‘A fight is going on inside every person. It’s a terrible fight between two wolves. One is evil and the other is good. The wolf that will win is the one that is fed”
This story is instructive.
Take care of your private battles. Do everything in your power to avoid joining the list of casualties on the road to destiny.
Overhead Aversion
In their 2014 paper, “Avoiding overhead aversion in charity”, economic researchers, Ayelet Gneezy, Elizabeth Keenan, and Uri Gneezy observed that people are usually hesitant to donate to charities that spend too much on admin costs (e.g., staff salaries, supplies, utilities, etc.). They called this phenomenon overhead aversion. But charities that don’t spend money on these overhead costs will not have the infrastructure in place to meet their goals. Thus, these researchers conducted a study to find out the contexts where overhead costs won’t prevent people from donating to charities. In their study, they sent a donation request on behalf of a charitable organization to 40000 potential donors in the US. One group of potential donors were told that the charity had already received $10,000 from a private donor; another group was told that every dollar donated up to $10000 would be matched; a third group was told that the charity had already received $10000 from a private donor that would be used specifically for overhead and administrative costs; the final group were simply asked to donate. Ayelet and her collaborators found that the third group – the one where donors were told that a private donor had covered overhead costs – made the largest donation!
Ring of Gyges
In his classical book, The Republic, Plato has his brothers, Glaucon and Adeimantus, engage Socrates in a conversation about whether it is being just, or having a reputation for being just that makes people to happy. The brothers construct their argument by invoking the mythical ring of Gyges which was supposed to make people invisible at will. The brothers hypothesized that if such a ring existed, one can tell the true nature of human beings. A person wearing the ring of Gyges will have no constraints on his actions but will be steal, kill and live wildly without any fear of negative consequences. Since there is no real ring of Gyges, Glaucon and Adeimantus argue that people only act virtuously to escape consequences in the form of damage to their reputations when they are caught.
The Beloved Sleep
For years, I read Psalms 127:2 as,
“It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep”
But the original Hebrew, in which the Old Testament was written, did not have commas and full stops; and this may have posed a challenge to the English translators.
Now, watch what would happen if you’d place a comma in the second part of that verse…
“…for so He giveth, His beloved sleep”
The Lord is doing the giving, while His beloved ones are doing the sleeping!
Pretty cool, right?
The truth is that until you receive a revelation of the love that God has for you, you’d never be able to sleep and rest in His Love.
You can only rest and sleep when you secure yourself in the fact that your Heavenly Father loves you deeply!
Just take a look at what John the Beloved called himself. Do you know that Jesus didn’t bestow John with special preferential treatments? The truth is that Christ loved all His disciples the same – even Judas Iscariot.
But what distinguished John from the other disciples?
Well, John simply secured himself with the revelation that the Mighty God in human form could actually love him. He meditated on this, and magnified the love that Jesus had for him in His heart.
The truth is that until you receive the revelation that you are God’s beloved, you cannot rest and sleep and allow Him to give His benefits to you.
Instead, you’d always want to do things to earn/merit God’s blessings, favor and all. You’d wake up early and sleep late, all in a bid to merit God’s blessings by your works!
But there’s a better way!
Receive a revelation that YOU are the Lord’s beloved. And then you can rest and sleep, as your Heavenly Father does ALL the giving, while you do the receiving!!!
In the early 1440s, German craftsman Johannes Gutenberg introduced the printing press which revolutionized the way books were produced. Prior to this invention, books were extremely expensive to produce and only available for the elite. With the printing press, that changed. Books could be produced much more quickly and at a much lower cost. This had the first-order effect of making them more widely available to people, which, in turn, led to a second-order effect – an explosion of knowledge and ideas. One of the people who was influenced by this new availability of knowledge was Martin Luther. He read a copy of the Bible for himself and had a revelation that people could connect with God through faith alone, without needing to rely on middlemen or the infrastructure of the Church. The idea that people could acquire knowledge and understanding without gatekeepers was a natural extension of this concept. With books more widely available, people could acquire their own personal copies and interpret the meaning for themselves. This also meant that people from all walks of life could access specialized information about new technologies, business strategies, and financial opportunities, which ultimately had the third-order effect of driving innovation and economic growth, first in Europe, then to the rest of the world.
Austrian Wills
Sigmund Freud, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Viktor Frankl were all prominent figures in the fields of psychology and philosophy who lived in Vienna, Austria at some point in their lives. They were all interested in human nature and wrote extensively about the motivating forces powering human drives. Freud was a proponent of the Will-to-Pleasure perspective which suggests that people are driven by the need to maximize pleasure and minimize pain in their lives. Nietzsche, on the other hand, posited Will-to-Power approach where people are driven by the need to overcome obstacles and be in control of their lives; Frankl, for his part, came from the Will-to-Meaning perspective where people are driven by the need to make meaning out of their different circumstances. Most people are driven by a combination of the three wills: Will-to-Pleasure, Will-to-Power, Will-to-Meaning
Whorf’s Hypothesis
In his now classic 1940 journal article, Science and linguistics, Benjamin Lee Whorf proposed the controversial position that the way we think about the world is influenced by our language.
As humans, we like to hold ourselves up as rational beings that have used the power of intellect to bring nature to its knees. We cite the examples of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein – the great men of science whose elegant mathematical formulas form the foundations upon which our present understanding of the physical world is built.
Yet, we take for granted the role that the language they spoke played on the way they thought.
For instance, in English, sentences take the form of actor-action. So, we say, ‘The boy is running’ or ‘Lightning is striking’. In contrast, in Hopi, a language spoken by a Native Indian tribe in North America, sentences take the form of action duration. Therefore, instead of saying ‘The boy is running’, the Hopi people will say ‘Running’, and instead of saying ‘Lightning is striking’, they will simply say ‘Lightning’.
This slight distinction in language implies that to those who speak English, an action can never occur in isolation – there must always be an actor responsible for causing the action. In contrast, the Hopi are satisfied with actions without a cause.
The same event occurring in the world evokes a reaction in the observer that is dependent on the language he/she thinks in!
Digging for Gold
Proverbs 21:5 says, “The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness, but everyone that is hasty only to want”
In the original Hebrew text, the word translated “diligent” implies the continual act of mining for gold or digging a trench.
No one digs for gold by striking the topsoil once with a shovel before giving up.
Yet, when we think, we don’t hold our thoughts and spiritual impressions long enough for them to take root.
The Bible promises that if you’re diligent with the thoughts that God impresses upon your heart in the same manner a man mining for gold continues to digs, you will lead a fulfilling life.
Consider this: Perhaps the reason you’re facing chaos in your life is because you’re too hasty in thought – refusing to consider a thought long enough before jumping into your next bout of busyness and distraction.
In the early 1900s, Oscar Hartzell made a lot of money by running a scam involving Sir Francis Drake’s supposed fortune. He called up people in Iowa with the last name “Drake” and told them he was a distant relative. He claimed that Sir Francis Drake’s estate, worth $100 billion, had never been paid to his heirs, and he promised to give everyone who invested $500 for every dollar they put in. At the height of the scam, even people outside of Iowa and without the last name Drake fell for Hartzell’s scheme. Around 1917, Hartzell went to London to meet with the supposed heir of the Drake estate, but he ended up staying there and living a luxurious lifestyle. He kept telling his investors that he was negotiating with the British government for the money and needed more donations for expenses. His agents in the Midwest collected the money, even though some of them believed in the scam. Hartzell was eventually found out and deported back to America where he stood trial in 1933. By that time, he had collected $800,000 (almost $20M in 2023 dollars) from the scam, and during the trial, his followers sent him a further $68,000 for legal fees. This is a story that demonstrates how people, with different histories, interests, passions and backgrounds can be united by a common belief, even if that belief is based on a falsehood.
The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Adam Smith is today known for his concept of “the invisible hand” where people, in pursuit of their selfish interests, could create products and services that other people wanted. When this happens, there is increased economic growth and prosperity for everybody. However, in his lesser-known book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith argues that people’s behavior are also influenced by another kind of “invisible hand” – the approval or disapproval of others. Although people are inherently selfish and self-centered, the approval or disapproval of others serves as feedback for the kinds of behavior that should be repeated in the future. Hence, majority of the time, most people will behave in a prosocial manner because doing so is likely to be rewarded with social approval while not doing so will be met with social disapproval.
Contexts for Cooperation
In their 2013 study titled, “Religious context and prosociality: An experimental study from Valparaíso, Chile“, researchers Ali Ahmed and Osvaldo Salas wanted to find out whether being in a religious environment could make people act more cooperative. To find out, they conducted an experiment called a one-shot public goods game. In this game, people in a group are given some money or tokens and have to decide whether to keep it for themselves or put it in a shared pool. Whatever money or tokens put in the shared pool is then multiplied by some factor and divided equally among everyone in the group. Because the tokens are multiplied, everyone benefits if they put everything they have into the pool. However, if one person holds back while others contribute, he can get extra money or tokens while others lose out. In Ahmed and Salas’ study, some groups of people played the public goods game in a church building while others played in a regular lecture hall. They found that people who played in the chapel had a higher expectation of cooperation from other players compared to those who played in the classrooms. Interestingly, how religious someone said they were didn’t affect the results of this study.
Wellsprings of Counsel
Proverbs 20:5 says, ‘Counsel in the heart of a man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out’
As you are seated there, quietly poring over the letters of this mail, you have counsel bubbling up within you.
But there is no way you would be able to draw out counsel out of your heart if you do not take a pause from the noise that you would encounter in your life.
The term ‘noise’ isn’t limited to external disturbances to the sound waves in our immediate environment. Noise also includes all forms of mental clutter that fill our minds throughout the day.
When you find yourself constantly and continuously anxious about what you would eat or what you’d wear or what people say or think about you, you are unwittingly filling your mind with mental clutter.
When you are filled with doubt, uncertainty, negative self-talk, personal prejudices influenced by your cultural background, upbringing, and so on, you are unwittingly giving in to these mental noises.
Read this carefully: If you are in a quiet, noiseless environment, far away from the rumbles of the city, but your mind is in a state of clutter, you’d still be unable to tap from the wellsprings of counsel available within you!
You’re only going to be able to discern and draw out what you’ve got within you if you are able to still your mind from the noises from everyday living and negative self-talk.
Sometime in the 1950s, former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gave a speech denouncing the crimes of his predecessor Joseph Stalin. During the speech, a heckler interrupted Khrushchev and asked why he did not stop Stalin. Khrushchev did not see the heckler, and asked “Who said that?” When no one responded, Khrushchev replied, “Now you know why I didn’t stop him.”
Khrushchev did not use rhetoric and rationality argue his position. All he had to do was replicate the visceral feeling of fear in the mind of his heckler. That was more convincing than any argument he could have made.
The Parable of the Mad Man
In his book, The Gay Science, German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, tells the story of tells the story of a man who ran into a marketplace yelling that he seeks God. The people begin mocking him instead of helping him. In response, the madman then proclaims that they have killed God, and that everyone is responsible for his murder. Although Nietzsche was an atheist, he used the parable to highlight what happens in a society that pushes God out of its consciousness in the name of scientific innovations and technological breakthroughs. A society that has ejected God has no foundation upon which it can erect its morality and ethics. For people living in such a society, everything else loses its meaning and value – leaving people feeling lost and uncertain without a sense of identity and purpose.
Subtractive Changes
In their paper titled, People systematically overlook subtractive changes, Adams and colleagues conduct a series of experiments where participants were asked to improve various designs, such as recipes, golf course layouts, travel itineraries, and Lego bridges. Despite scenarios where subtracting was the better strategy for improvement, participants overwhelmingly kept on adding to the designs. This tendency is likely due to the fact that people simply did not consider subtraction as a possibility and instead instinctively defaulted to adding. This may explain why individuals often find themselves adding more to their already busy schedules, or why some interventions cause more harm when they are introduced into a system.
Identity-Based Excellence
Daniel 1:8 says, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.”
To manifest excellence, you must have a God-inspired identity. Daniel’s example illustrates this point. He was determined and uncompromising about his convictions, but at the root of his convictions was his identity as an Israelite Jew. Daniel saw himself as a member of a nation chosen to be in covenant with God, and this sense of identity governed every aspect of his life.
In the same way, you need to find your identity in God’s Words and who He says you are. The devil will try to shake your sense of identity by tempting you to shift our sense of worth away from who God says you are. But it is only when your identity is centered in God’s Word that you can manifest excellence in everything you lay your hands to do.
Carl Jacobi was a renowned 19th-century German mathematician who made profound contributions to the field of differential equations. One aspect that set Jacobi apart was his unique problem-solving approach. Jacobi believed that when one inverts known facts in a particular discipline, additional knowledge can be revealed that was previously unknown. He always encouraged his graduate students to invert the known confines of the field and examine what they found there.
Jacobi’s approach, known as “inversion,” involves thinking in a contrarian way and challenging assumptions. By asking questions that invert a problem, such as “What would happen if we did the opposite?” or “How can we make the problem worse?”, one can identify the things that are preventing them from achieving their goals and find new solutions and insights that they may have missed otherwise. Inversion is now considered an analytic strategy fundamental to scientific and mathematical thinking, and it can be applied to many other areas of life, such as business, personal relationships, and self-improvement.
Inversion is not just about thinking differently but also about challenging one’s assumptions. By questioning preconceived ideas and beliefs, one can identify the things that are preventing them from achieving their goals. Inversion can thus help people to break free from the constraints of conventional thinking and achieve success in many areas of life.
Teleology
Aristotle’s conceptualization of the universe was based on the idea of teleology, that is, everything had a purpose or a final end point – which is rest. Thus, a ball’s final resting place is the ground and when it is thrown up, it moves towards that final resting place on the floor. Thanks to Newton’s first law of motion, Aristotle’s idea no longer relevant in a scientific context. However, I think it still has a metaphorical extension that is still applicable in a psychological and spiritual sense. This metaphor suggests that the human soul has a natural tendency to strive towards a higher purpose or state of being, which can be seen as the final resting place of the human spirit.
However, negative emotions and actions can act as weights that draw the soul towards a state of unrest, which can be seen as the depths of hell. This metaphorical extension of Aristotle’s universe has implications for how we live our lives. It suggests that we should strive towards a higher purpose or state of being, and avoid negative emotions and actions that can weigh us down. By doing so, we can achieve a state of spiritual rest and fulfillment. The metaphor of the soul as a traveler on a journey towards a final resting place can help us understand the importance of living a purposeful and virtuous life.
Lindy Effect
In a paper titled, “Implications of the Copernican principle for our future prospects”, astrophysicist J. Richard Gott III describes how in 1969, he visited the Stonehenge (which was estimated to be over 3000 years old) and the Berlin Wall (8 years at the time). Gott then wondered which of the two structures will outlast the other. As you probably know, the Berlin Wall was destroyed in 1991, while Stonehenge continues to exist to this day. Gott then mathematically proposed an argument that the longer a thing exists, the more likely it will continue to exist. This has been popularly called the Lindy Effect. This principle also applies to other areas of life, such as literature and medicine. Older books, which have stood the test of time, often contain more wisdom and practical knowledge than newer books, which may be trendy but lack staying power. The same is true of medicine, where herbal remedies that have been used for centuries are often more effective than newer drugs, which may have side effects or other problems. Using the Lindy Effect as a guide, we can focus on systems and structures that have been vetted by time, rather than always chasing the latest fad or trend. This can help us to make better decisions and achieve more lasting success.
Length of Days
Proverbs 3:1-2 says, ‘My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.’ The text encourages us to keep God’s commandments, and promises that doing so will result in “length of days” and “long life.” While these two concepts may seem similar, there is a subtle difference between them.
“Long life” refers to growing to a full, old age before expiring. This is a concept that most people are familiar with. However, “length of days” refers to the ability to make the most of each day. This means being able to accomplish more in a day than others can in a month or a year.
This idea may not be intuitive to everyone, but it is a powerful concept that can transform one’s productivity. Time is a property that is bound to the physical realm, but God is spirit and transcends the physical. This implies that when you partner with God, you unlock the potential for greater productivity and efficiency. By tapping into God’s wisdom, guidance, and strength, we can achieve more than we ever could on our own.
Franz Mesmer was an 18th century Viennese doctor and scientist who was a pioneer in animal magnetism – the idea that people have magnetic matter within them that can be harnessed by specialists for healing purposes. Mesmer’s work faced opposition in his hometown of Vienna and he was forced to move to Paris in 1788 where his theories were met with more enthusiasm.
In Paris, Mesmer adapted his approach to suit the love for theater and spectacle among the French. He added elements like incense and harp music to his treatments and started treating patients in groups, which allowed for the belief of one person to infect others and ultimately overcome any disbelief in his methods.
Despite being discredited in his day, Franz Mesmer’s legacy lives on today. He is remembered as the patron saint of charlatans, cult leaders, and snake oil salesmen. In fact, the word “mesmerize” was derived from his name and means to hold someone’s attention with a captivating and alluring display.
Ergodic Systems
Ergodicity is the idea that the outcome for a group aligns with the lifetime outcome of each individual within the group. A simple coin toss is an example of an ergodic system – the results will always tend towards 50% heads and 50% tails, regardless of whether one person flips the coin 100 times, or 100 people flip the coin once. However, when it comes to decision making, it’s human nature to assume that everything is ergodic. But in reality, most human systems are non-ergodic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, that the average number of ICU beds in a country were above some threshold did not mean that all hospitals could handle a local outbreak. In many cases, local health professionals were overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases because public health administrators had assumed ergodicity where it did not exist.
Mere Exposure Effect
In his 1968 paper, “Attitudinal effects of mere exposure.”, Robert Zajonc asked participants to rate their liking for various things such as geometric shapes, Japanese pictograms, Chinese characters, and nonsense words in a made-up language. To his surprise, he found that the mere frequency of exposure to these items, even if it was only for a fraction of a second, greatly influenced people’s liking for them. This phenomenon, known as the mere exposure effect, has been exploited by the advertising industry to shape public desire and drive consumer behavior.
Sacrifice
2 Kings 3 tells the story of Mesha, king of Moab who had rebelled against the king of Israel, ceasing his yearly tributes. In response, the King of Israel solicited help from the king of Judah and the king of Edom to reclaim Moab. But as the battle raged on, King Mesha realizes he is losing. In a desperate move, he sacrifices his own crown prince to his idol, Chemosh. What happens next is remarkable. 2 Kings 3:27 says that there was a great indignation against Israel and the allied armies withdrew their troops! Why was there an indignation against Israel even though it had been Mesha who offered his son as a sacrifice? It appears that the dynamics of the spiritual realm are sensitive to sacrifice. When we choose to give up something we hold dear, whether it’s certainty or immediate gratification, we open up opportunities for the spiritual realm to influence human activity. The question now is what will you sacrifice?
In 1894, a French military officer, Alfred Dreyfus, was wrongly accused of passing secrets to the Imperial German Army. With Anti-Semitic tendencies rampant in French society, Dreyfus’ Jewish heritage made him an easy target.
When Dreyfus stood before the jury, his calm but colorless tone was interpreted as guilt. Despite his innocence, Dreyfus was condemned to life imprisonment and publicly dishonorably discharged from the military. Even during the discharge ceremony, onlookers interpreted Dreyfus’ stoic demeanor as further proof of his guilt.
The truth soon emerged and Dreyfus’ innocence was proven, but not until after he spent three grueling years in exile. The lesson of the Dreyfus Affair? People will take the slightest emotional cues – tone of voice, for instance – and use that information jump to conclusions that support their preconceived notions.
The Narcissism of Small Differences
In a society where everyone has equal rights, such as in a democracy or on the internet, the gap between a person and the model(s) they want to imitate can shrink, leading to an increase in the potential for rivalry.
This is because in a world where everyone is equal, the smallest differences between individuals become magnified. People’s self-identity becomes shaped by the differences they have with others and hatred towards the “other” becomes a crucial component in defining themselves. People become alike in their desire not to be alike.
This phenomenon is even more relevant in contemporary times as traditional social structures that once imposed physical or metaphysical distance, such as the family, church, and monarchies, are no longer present to prevent or channel conflicts. The result is a world where the smallest differences between individuals can escalate into intense rivalries and potentially violent confrontations.
Descartes’ Error
In his book, Descartes’ Error, neuroscientist Antonio Damasio explored the role of emotions in the decision-making process. In a study comprising of patients with damage to their ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), Damasio found out that even though these individuals were emotionally unexpressive when presented with either pictures with gruesome images or those with joyous one. Despite having normal IQ scores, these individuals struggled to make even basic decisions in their personal and professional lives.
Through his research, Damasio discovered that the vmPFC integrates emotions into rational deliberations, highlighting the fact that emotions are not just disturbances that prevent us from living a full life, but are actually essential for rational decision-making. Without emotions, decisions would be based solely on weighing the pros and cons of the physical attributes of different options, which can easily become overwhelming.
A Tale of Two Brothers
In Luke 15:11-32, Jesus tells the parable of the Prodigal Son. The traditional interpretation is that there are two types of people – the wild and the responsible. But there’s so much more to this story than just that. Jesus was actually uncovering a fundamental truth about human nature in this parable.
We all have a part of us that’s impulsive, short-sighted, and driven by instant gratification – just like the Prodigal Son. But we all also have the personality of the Older Brother, who is calculated, rational, and judgmental. Both sides of human nature are united by a common thread of pathological self-centeredness.
But, there’s one constant in this story that shines through – the love of God. It’s this love that remains ever-present, no matter how far we stray or how much we judge ourselves and others.
Hall, C. S., & Nordby, V. J. (1973). A primer of Jungian psychology. Penguin.
Chapter 1 – Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961)
Jung uses his autobiography ‘Memories, Dreams, Reflections’ (MDR) to analyze and describe his life through the subjective world of dreams, visions and spiritual experiences
Schopenhauer influenced Jung with his philosophy of suffering, confusion, passion and evil
Jung developed the word-association tests, where patients were asked to give a verbal response to a word prompt. If they hesitated or expressed an emotion before answer, it indicated the presence of a complex
Jung spent more time learning new things, rather than systematizing his concepts
Chapter 2 – The Structure of the Personality
Understanding personality entails 3 levels of enquiry:
Structural: What are the components of the personality?
Dynamic: How are the components of personality activated?
Developmental: How does personality develop and change over time?
The Psyche
This embodies feelings, thoughts, behavior and adaptation to the physical and social environment
The psyche of an individual is a whole, not an assemblage of parts built from experience
Man does not strive for wholeness. He already has it and must develop to his psyche to attain and maintain this wholeness.
When the psyche lacks wholeness, it leads to a deformed personality. Hence, the goal of psychoanalysis is psychosynthesis
Three levels of the psyche are
Conscious
Personal unconscious
Collective unconscious
Consciousness
This is the part of the psyche know directly by the individual
Conscious awareness has 4 mental functions
Thinking
Feeling
Sensing
Intuiting
The most dominant mental function determines how character vary from person to person
Two attitudes determine the orientation of the conscious mind
Extraversion which orients towards the objective world
Introversion which orients towards the subjective world
A person’s consciousness becomes separated from other people through individuation. This is vital for psychological development
The goal of individuation is complete self-consciousness
Ego
Ego refers to the organization of the conscious mind. It is comprised of conscious perceptions, memories, thoughts and feelings (collectively called psychic material)
Unless the ego acknowledges a psychic material, the individual is not aware of it
By selecting and eliminating psychic materials, ego provides a sense of identity and continuity that can be called the individual personality
Selection or elimination of psychic material depends on:
The dominant mental function (thinking, feeling, sensing, intuiting)
Degree of anxiety that the psychic material elicits. If high, it is eliminated
The level of individuation (separation from the other; self-consciousness) that the individual has already attained
Intensity of an experience. Strong experiences can force their way into acceptance by the ego
The personal unconscious
Experiences and psychic material not selected by the ego are stored in the personal unconscious
The personal unconscious contains psychic materials not selected by the ego, as well as psychic activities that were once conscious but have been either repressed because of the pain they cause, or ignored by the conscious because of their irrelevance
Material in the personal unconscious can be recalled as the need arises, as well as during dreams
Complexes
Groups of psychic material in the personal unconscious may clump together to form a complex
Jung elicited complexes through the word-association tests
He found that psychic material in the personal unconscious act like separate autonomous personalities within an individual’s personality. They can also control an individual by driving behavior towards another direction that might be separate from the ego
An aim of psychoanalysis is to dissolve complexes so that the person may be individuated fully
Complexes are not always bad. They can be drawn upon for drive and motivation as the need arises
Strong complexes can motivate an individual towards high quality behaviors, while a weak complex has the opposite effect
The collective unconscious
The content of the individual’s mind is linked not only to his personal history, but to also his evolutionary history
The collective unconscious possesses psychic material not acquired through personal history
The psychic material of the collective unconscious is comprised of primordial images inherited from man’s ancestral history
These psychic materials predispose the individual to act and respond to the world in a manner similar to how his ancestors might have done
The more experiences a person has, the more chances he has to dislodge contents in the collective unconscious which can play a role in facilitating individuation. One way to get these experiences is through an environment with opportunities for learning.
Archetypes
These are the contents of the collective unconscious
The contents of an archetype are only known when they are brought to the conscious
Although separate in the collective unconscious, the archetypes can form combinations
Archetypes are universal. Everyone inherits the same types of archetypes
Archetypes can only be brought into conscious behavior only after combining with complexes containing the relevant psychic materials and experiences
4 Archetypes relevant to everyone’s personality include:
The persona
This helps the individual portray a character that is not necessarily his own
This is a person’s public appearance that enables social acceptance
It is also called the conformity archetype
People often lead dual lives – one dominated by the persona, and the other dominated by activities that satisfy the psychic needs
When a person becomes too involved with the persona, the ego begins to identify solely with it at the expense of other aspects of the personality. This results in inflation, whereby the persona is overdeveloped and other aspects of the personality is underdeveloped
Parents often try to project their personas onto their children. Society and groups do the same through customs and laws
A person with inflation might also feel inferiority when he’s unable to meet up with the standards of the persona
The Anima & the Animus
This is the feminine side of the masculine, and the masculine side of the feminine
A man who only exhibits masculine traits will have feminine traits that remain underdeveloped. Consequently, the unconscious become weakened.
This is typified in the externally macho man who is weak and submissive on the inside
A man’s first projection of the anima is his mother; a woman’s first projection of the animus is her father
In Western culture, the anima and animus are often deflated because society frowns upon expressions of femininity in men and masculinity in women. A consequence of this is overcompensation whereby the man becomes more feminine than masculine – even to the extent of gender reassignment surgery
The shadow
This deals with man’s most basic animal instincts
To be a part of a community, it is necessary for a man to tame his shadow by suppressing its contents. The effect of this is a civilized man with no Nietzschean ‘Will to Power’
Even when tamed, the shadow may express itself in the consciousness when a person is faced with the appropriate environmental situation, such as a crisis or difficult life event. When the ego is stunned into inaction, the shadow can step into the situation and deal with it adequately if it has been allowed to be individuated. If not, the shadow has no response and the individual is overwhelmed and helpless in the situation
The self
The self is the organizing principle of the personality
It harmonizes the archetypes, their manifestations in the complexes and the consciousness
When the self archetype is developed, the person feels in harmony. If not, the person feels out-of-sorts
The self archetype is not evident until self-consciousness and full individuation has occurred
Knowledge of the self archetype is possible through dream analyses, as well as ritualistic practices of certain religions
By making contents of his unconscious conscious, man is able to live in harmony with his nature
A person unaware of his unconscious self projects the repressed elements of his unconscious unto others
The self archetype is inward facing in contrast to the ego which is outward facing
Interactions among the structures of the personality
If extraversion is the dominant attitude of the conscious mind, the unconscious mind compensates by developing the repressed introversion. The unconscious always compensates for weaknesses in the personality
There is always conflict between the parts of the personality. When conflict leads to shattering of the personality, neuroses develop. If the conflicts are tolerated, they provide the energy, drive and motivation for achievement
Chapter 3 – Dynamics of Personality
The Psyche: A relatively closed system
What happens with the energy added to the psyche from external sources is determined by the kind of energy already within the psyche
Energy from external sources is derived from the senses
The slightest addition of energy to an unstable psyche can lead to large effects on behavior, e.g., an innocent comment leading to a transfer of aggression
At certain points in time, new experiences may overcrowd the psyche leading to a disruption in balance. At points like this, meditation and withdrawal might be needed to help the individual rebalance. Conversely, a person’s life might be too boring such that novelty and new experiences will reactive the psyche into a state of vigor
A completely open psyche is chaotic; a completely closed psyche is stagnant; a healthy psyche is somewhere in the middle
Psychic energy
Psychic energy (also called libido) is the energy by which the work of the personality is done. It is manifested through appetite, striving, desiring and willing.
Psychic energy expresses itself as either actual or potential drive to perform psychological work
Experiences are consumed by the psyche and converted into psychic energy
The psyche is always active – even in sleep
Psychic energy can be converted to physical energy and vice versa, but they are not the same.
Psychic values
A value is the psychic energy committed to a psychic element. When high, the psychic element exerts a high force on one’s behavior
Although the absolute value of an element cannot be determined, its value relative others can be determined by simply observe how much time, energy and choice is devoted to various activities
A conscious value that disappears without expression in overt behavior is kept in the unconscious
Power of complexes to attract values discarded from the conscious can be accessed indirectly through the following methods:
Direct observation and deduction from circumstantial evidence and dreams
Complex indicators such as exaggerated emotional reactions
Emotional reactions
Intuition whereby people perceive the slightest emotional disturbance in others
The Principle of Equivalence
Psychodynamics deals with the transfer and distribution of psychic energy throughout the psychic structures
The principle of equivalence states that energy is never lost in the psyche, but transferred from one position to the other
When sums of psychic energy seem to have disappeared, it implies that they have been transferred from the conscious to the unconscious
When a personality system has finite amount of energy at one point in time, there is competition between the psychic structures for this energy
During the transfer of energy from one structure to the other, some of characteristics of the previous structure are also transferred to the next. For instance, psychic energy drawn from the ego to the persona leaves the individual striving less to be himself and more to meet expectations of others
The Principle of Entropy
This states that if two values are of unequal strength, psychic energy will pass from the stronger value to the weaker one until balance is reached. This balance, though, is never reached in practice, otherwise, energy flow will stop indefinitely
Intrapsychic conflict shares a lot in common with interpersonal conflict because, most times, the latter is a projection of the conflicts going on within our personality
When people close their minds to new experiences, they are able to approach a state of balance
New experiences are often not as upsetting for older people as they are for younger people. This is because new experiences hold less psychic energy for older people in comparison to younger people
When a psychic structure becomes highly developed within the personality, it outcompetes other structures in getting access to psychic energy within and entering the psyche. A strong complex will attract more experiences to it
Progression and regression
Progression refers to the daily experiences of the individual that advances his psychological adaptation
For proper psychological development, progression must not be one-sided, but must flow towards a psychic function and its opposite
Regression refers to the loss of psychic energy on account of collision and interactions between the psychic structures
Progression adds energy, while regression subtracts energy
Man can adapt to the world only when he’s in harmony with himself; man can only be in harmony with himself when he’s adapted to the world. In Western civilization, emphasis is placed on adaptation to the world at the expense of inner harmony
Periods of withdrawal from the world during retreats and sleep are essential for renewing one’s energies from the reservoirs of the unconscious. Modern man does not do enough of this
Progression shouldn’t be confused with development. The former deals with energy flow into the psyche, while the latter deals with individuation/ self-consciousness
Canalization of Energy
Psychical energy can be channeled, converted and transformed
The instincts (shadow? id? reptilian brain? motivating operations? appetites?) is the source of natural energy. It needs to be diverted to other channels for work to be done
Natural man, unlike civilized man, is guided solely by his instincts. Hence, he has no culture, symbolic forms, social organizations and so on.
Work, according to Jung, is the conversion of instinctual energy to cultural and symbolic channels. Imitation and analogy-making is the process by which instinctual energy is diverted to cultural and symbolic channels
Rituals and ceremonies are a means through which a person can be psychologically prepared for a task at hand
Civilized/Modern man depends more on his will than on ceremonies and rituals. However, these “acts of will” form analogies/conversions of the original instincts
Libido (instinctual energy) can be converted via an ‘act of will’ only when there is a strong symbol to divert the energy to it
Excess libidinal energy helped man transform from being solely instinctual to subduing nature through science, technology and art
Chapter 4 – The development of personality
Problems of the first half of life are those of instinctual adaptations (channeling of libido); problems of second half of life are those of adaptation to being
Individuation
The individual begins life in a state of undifferentiated wholeness. Development goes in the direction of self-consciousness
Development occurs not only when the person is differentiated from the other, but also when the intrapsychic systems are differentiated from each other. For instance, the underdeveloped ego can only express itself in a limited amount of overt behaviors. The developed ego has more responses in its repertoire
The better the symbols a man seeks, the closer he is towards attaining individuation
Although individuation is an autonomous process, the personality needs proper experiences and education for healthy individuation to occur. All aspects of the personality must be given the appropriate experience for a well-rounded development
Individuation can only occur when the person is conscious. The goal of education is to make the unconscious conscious
Transcendence and Integration
The transcendence function unites all opposing ends in the personality towards attaining the goal of wholeness. The unity of self occurs during transcendence
Transcendence is a synthesis of opposing ends in the personality such the whole is greater than the sum of the parts
Factors responsible for hindering personality development include:
The role of the parents
In the first years of life, the child’s psyche is a reflection of that of the parents. Psychic disturbances in the parents are likely to be reflected in the child
At school, the child’s identification with the parents weaken. Some parents respond by being overprotective and preventing the child from experiencing a wide range of experiences. Others also try to overcompensate their weaknesses by encouraging the child to overdevelop areas in his personality that are really the parents’ weakness
A boy child’s relationship with the mother determines how the anima is developed; relationship with the father determines how the shadow is developed. The reverse holds true for girls
Education
Skilled teachers make the unconscious conscious and also provides a wealth of experiences that attracts energy away from the instincts
Other influences from the larger society such as culture and religion
Regression
Progression implies that the conscious ego is harmonizing the environment with the needs of the psyche
Regression refers to the flow of psychic energy from the environment to the unconscious
Regression into the unconscious, during retreats, meditations and sleep, can provide information on impediments to development, as well as how to overcome them. People in modern times do not pay attention to these – particularly dreams. Instead, they resort to drinking, sensuality, etc., which is not as informative
Stages of Life
Childhood
Birth to sexual maturity
No problems because of the absence of a conscious ego
Psychic life is governed by the instincts until the ego starts to form
Youth and young adulthood
Puberty
Psyche is burdened by problems and adaptations to social life
Problems of youth arise from clinging to a childhood level of consciousness
Goal of this stage is external values to make one’s place in the world
Middle age
35 – 40
Person is adapted to external values
Goal of this stage is to form a new set of values. These values are spiritual
Old age
Similar to childhood; absence of a conscious ego to an extent. Sinking into the unconscious
Chapter 5 – Psychological Types
The Attitudes
In extraversion, libido is channeled towards the objective, external world; in introversion, libido flows towards the intrapsychic structures
The presence of an attitude in the conscious means that the mutually exclusive opposite attitude manifests itself in the unconscious. Although in the unconscious, the opposite attitude can influence behavior indirectly when the individual behaves in an unusual manner
The Functions
Thinking involves connecting ideas to arrive at a concept or solution; Feeling involves rejecting or accepting an idea based on the pleasant or unpleasant emotions they arouse; Sensation refers to the perception of experiences through the senses; Intuition refers to the perception of experiences through sources exclusive of the senses (extrasensory perception)
Thinking and Feeling are rational functions; sensation and intuition are irrational functions
Combination of attitudes and functions + Types of individuals
Extraverted thinking: Events in the external world activate thinking (inductive thinking)
Learns as much as possible about the external world
More pragmatic
Perceived as impersonal or cold
Represses feelings which may leave thoughts sterile
Introverted thinking: Events in the inner mental world activate thinking (deductive thinking)
Loves ideas, especially the ideas of being
Ideas might bear little relevance to reality
Doesn’t value people
May be stubborn and inconsiderate
Extraverted feeling: Feeling is governed by external/traditional criteria
Conservative and conventional
Feelings change as situations change
Emotional, gushy moody
Form attachments with people, but can lose them easily
Introverted feeling: Feeling is governed by subjective criteria
original, creative, unusual, bizarre
Keep their feelings to themselves
Silent, inaccessible, indifferent
Melancholic, depressed
Appearance of inner harmony
Extraverted sensation: Sensation determined by objective reality
Sensation governed by facts
Realistic, practical, hard-headed
Not concerned with the meaning of things
Sensual, pleasure-loving
Introverted sensation: Sensation determined by subjective reality at a particular time
Sensation governed by psychic state
Considers the world banal and uninteresting compared to the inner world of the mind
Expresses self with difficulty – except by the arts
May appear calm but in reality is uninteresting because of a lack of thought and feeling
Extraverted intuition: Intuition governed by possibilities of objective situations
Intuition moves from object to object
Restless, always looking for new worlds to conquer
Deficient in thought and they cannot pursue intuitions for long
They can promote new enterprises but cannot sustain interest for long
Routine bore them
Introverted sensation: Intuition governed by possibilities of mental phenomena
Intuition moves from image to image
Enigma to friends, misunderstood genius by self
Cannot communicate effectively with others
Isolated from others
May have brilliant intuitions which others may help develop
Practical Considerations
Role of parents is to respect the child’s rights to develop his inner nature and offer the child every opportunity to do so
Best friendships and marriages are achieved between fully individuated persons
Chapter 6 – Symbols and Dreams
Symbols are outward manifestations of the archetype
Archetypes are only expressed via symbols, since they are buried in the collective unconscious. Only by interpreting symbols, dreams, visions, myths and art can one access the contents of the collective unconscious
Amplification
The goal of amplification is to understand the symbolic significance of a dream, fantasy, painting or any human product
Symbols
Purposes of a symbol
Attempt to satisfy an instinctual impulse that has been frustrated
Transformations of libidinal energy into cultural or spiritual values, e.g., sex is transformed to dance; aggression is transformed to competitive games
Man’s history is a record of his search for better symbols that individuate the archetypes
Modern symbols (machines, tech, corporations, political systems) are expressions of the shadow and the persona at the expense of other aspects of the psyche
Knowledge in the symbols must be amplificated before the message is known
Two aspects of a symbol
Retrospective which exposes the instinctual basis of a symbol
Causal
Prospective which reveals man’s yearnings for harmony
Teleological, finalistic
This has been neglected
Dreams
Dreams are the clearest expression of the unconscious mind
Big dreams, which are remote from the day’s preoccupations, are disturbances in the unconscious due to ego’s failure to deal with the external world. They are messages to be read, and guides to be followed
Dreams try to compensate for the neglected, undifferentiated parts of the psyche
Dream series
Look within the psyche for answers to your relationships with other people, since we project our psychic states on them
Conflicts are also caused by disharmony within the personality
Chapter 7 – Jung’s Place in Psychology
Jung’s scientific orientation also included teleology/finalism, whereby man’s present behavior is determined by his future goals
Synchronicity – When events occur together in time but are not the cause of one another
There are generally two approaches to the study of human behavior: One involves the study of mental processes such as affect, cognition and motivation, while the other involves the study of people’s actions.
Although there is some utility in studying mental processes, treating them as an end in themselves provides an incomplete picture of human behavior. Your emotions, thoughts and drives are not simply hovering around in your mind. Rather, they are embodied, that is, they are contained in your body and expressed in your behavior. For instance, when a person is excited or depressed, you can usually tell how the person is feeling by observing their behavior. Even in people who are not emotionally expressive, when you spend enough time with them, their patterns of behavior provide a window into their internal mental states. This goes to say that a person’s actions can give you more behavioral information than a person’s internal state.
This same logic can be extended to people’s choice behavior.
Suppose a person has to choose between eating fish and eating chicken for lunch. In that moment, if the person goes with fish, it means that he values fish higher than meat. It doesn’t matter whether he had always eaten meat in the past, or he said he had a craving for meat, or he had told the people nearby that he was going to eat meat. As long as he chose fish, the implication is that fish occupies a higher position on his hierarchy of values than meat.
Generally speaking, if presented with the opportunity to choose between two options, “A” or “B”, according to economic thinking, whatever the decision maker chooses is what he values more.
A person who picks the $50 shoe over the $300 shoe values the former more than the latter. Similarly, regardless of what she might say or even feel, the spouse who continually chooses to work extra shifts rather than spending quality time with her significant other has made her hierarchy of values clear.
The Kingdom of God also has the same understanding implicit in its operations.
For instance, take a look at Apostle Paul’s analysis of the Esau and Jacob situation:
“(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.” (Romans 9: 11-14)
“Love” and “hate” are powerful words with certain implications in contemporary times. We have learned to associate them with waves of liquid emotions coursing through our veins. To most people, loving someone is the feeling of butterflies fluttering in our bellies, while hatred feels like a pressure pot about to explode. That is why we look at the statement, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated”, and cannot help but wonder why God had the urge to destroy a still unborn Esau. Students of the Bible, however, will acknowledge that the man Esau lived to be a very materially blessed man – even more blessed than Jacob his brother (Genesis 33). God blessed Esau materially – a move that does not fit within the contemporary usage of the word “hate”.
So, what does “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” mean?
As it has been established, emotions, thoughts and drives are just a subset of behavior. Actions, in the form of choice behavior, reveals a person’s hierarchy of values. To the human, “love” and “hate” are primarily internal states that may or may not influence behavior; in the Economics of the Kingdom, however, “love” and “hate” are preferences which must be revealed in choice behavior.
Whatever is valued more is chosen; whatever is chosen is loved. When compared with Esau, Jacob occupied a higher level on God’s spiritual hierarchy of values. Hence, Jacob was chosen and by implication, loved.
As another example, consider the following words of Jesus:
‘If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.’ (Luke 14:26)
A surface understanding of Jesus’ statement could lead one to walk away with the wrong conclusions that becoming a follower of Christ is contingent upon you being antisocial.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Jesus is not asking you to keep malice with your family, friends and associates; neither is He asking you to indulge in self-immolation. Rather, what Jesus is saying, in essence, is this: Unless He’s at the pinnacle of your hierarchy of values, you are not fit to be educated or discipled in the ways of the Kingdom. Just as God has His hierarchy of values, subjects in His Kingdom must also have their hierarchy of values with God and the things of God occupying the highest rung.
In secular Economics, your choices reveal your preferences; in the Economics of the Kingdom, your choices reveal your values (that is, what you value most). In this paradigm, the act of sinning is simply choosing yourself over God, while repentance involves changing the way you think, such that your hierarchy of values align with that of the Kingdom of God. And when your hierarchy of values match that of the Kingdom, a whole new set of possibilities become available to you.
II. Substitutes and Complements
Suppose you went to a store to get new shoes, it is inevitable that after you find a shoe design you like and you pay, you would always walk out of the store with a pair of shoes – one right, one left. It is virtually impossible to buy just one shoe; you have to buy them in pairs. In secular economics, a pair of shoes – one right, one left – is what you’d call complements. To maximize the satisfaction you get from buying a pair of shoes, the bundle has to be one right and one left. A pair containing either two left shoes or two right shoes would be upsetting, rather than satisfying.
Conversely, there are certain goods that can satisfactorily take the place of another. For instance, if you happen to be on a long-distance drive, at some point, you will be low on fuel and would need to buy some. As your car’s fuel gauge approaches the “Empty” mark, it would not matter whether the next fuel station was Total, or Shell, or Mobil. As long as the filling station has fuel, and you are able to fill up your car, your happiness is guaranteed. In secular economics, the different filling stations you encounter on your long-distance drive are called substitutes because they can all satisfy your need for fuel in the same way.
The concept of substitutes and complements also exist in the Economics of the Kingdom.
As an example of complements, consider Paul’s admonishment in Galatians 5:16,
“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”
Here we see two phenomena of spiritual significance offered as a complementary bundle – “Walking in the Spirit” and “Not fulfilling the lust of the flesh”. In the same way you cannot go to a shoe store just to buy a single right shoe, you cannot just “Walk in the Spirit” or “Not fulfil the lust of the flesh”. Yet, much of the religious teachings propagated today go contrary to this Economic Principle of the Kingdom. What is commonly accepted as inspired doctrine is a focus on just one aspect of what was designed to be a complementary bundle. That is why a lot of Christians expend tremendous amounts of effort and willpower in not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh so as to be able to finally walk in the Spirit. Usually, this ends in burnout, a seething frustration with righteous living, and, the inevitable return to old habits and patterns of behavior.
A person operating with a paradigm inspired by the Economics of the Kingdom will see “Walking in the Spirit” and “Not fulfilling the lust of the flesh” as a single bundle. By walking in the Spirit, this individual is confident that he has also received the enablement to not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. This leads to the experience of an abundant life overflowing into one’s actions, thoughts, emotions and overall behavior – even from this side of eternity!
The idea of complements also applies when you talk about the pursuit and fulfilment of purpose.
“As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them” (Acts 13:2)
Notice how the Holy Spirit described Barnabas and Paul as a single complementary bundle, as far as their Kingdom assignments were concerned. In the same vein, as you enter different stages and phases in your life, you will begin to realize that God has assigned certain people to complement you on your journey through life fulfilling His purpose. Subjects of the Kingdom are often oblivious to the Economics of the Kingdom. They tend to underestimate the idea of complements in the Kingdom and are consequently biased towards toxic individualism. As a result, there is a lid on their lives that limits them from attaining the potential that God has embedded within them.
Moving on, 2 Corinthians 5:21 gives an excellent instance of the substitution principle in the Economics of the Kingdom,
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
The idea presented here is deceptively simple; Jesus took our sins, and we took His righteousness. But why is that important?
In the analogy of the long-distance driver running low on fuel, the only thing that will bring him satisfaction is getting fuel – regardless of the filling station. In the same vein, since the very Nature of God is just and pure, the only thing that will satisfy Him is that the demands of both justice and purity are satisfied – regardless of who meets that demand. Since no man could meet God’s extremely high standards of justice and purity, the flawless embodiment of perfection Himself offered to take the form of mortal, morally-inept mankind to satisfy the demands of both God’s justice and righteousness. Christianity is founded on this very premise: Anyone who believes in the act of substitution is both relieved of the need to settle the debts owed God on account of sin, while simultaneously having righteousness credited to his account in one fell swoop.
That is the reality of the Economics of the Kingdom.
Just like the case of complementary bundles in the fulfillment of purpose, there are also substitutes.
“…Wot ye not what the scripture saith of [Elijah]? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.” (Romans 11:2-4)
Note how God did not coddle Elijah after hearing the latter’s complaint about being the only one in Israel with any semblance of passion for God. On the contrary, God made Elijah understand two things: First, that Elijah could count himself blessed and highly-favored to be chosen by God – that is, Elijah was ranked high on God’s hierarchy of values and was therefore loved; and secondly, according to the Economics of the Kingdom, God had an abundance of substitutes who could slot into Elijah’s role satisfactorily and still bring God’s agenda into fruition!
This is instructive for every person who is a subject of God’s Kingdom. In His loving kindness, God has ordained complementary bundles comprising of you and certain people you will meet on your life’s path. However, if you drag your feet out of fear, or you deliberately choose to live in disobedience, such that you are unable to play your part in the continuously unfolding story of creation, God will not hesitate to substitute you. He swapped Saul out for David and He can do the same with you. Don’t tempt Him!.
III. Price
There is a cost attached to the attainment of anything desired.
Take the simple act of going to the grocery store to get bread. For simplicity’s sake, let’s suppose you have a budget of $5.
If you decide to spend your entire budget purchasing $5 worth of bread, your preference for bread has cost you $5. However, that is just one aspect of the cost you have incurred. Your choice to buy bread means that you are not able to buy other things such as milk, cereal, cookies, fruits, and so on. In secular economics, all the other things you could have purchased with your $5 are referred to as opportunity costs.
You also incur costs in the form of the physical effort it took to leave your house for the grocery store. You could have used that physical effort in the attainment of some other goals, like doing the dishes, or doing your laundry. In addition, there is the cost in the form of time. As with effort costs, there are numerous other things you sacrificed in order to spend your time at the grocery store. You could have used that time to call your loved ones, or to start working on that project you had been procrastinating for a long time.
The point is that there is a price that you must pay to get the things you have a preference for.
The same thing plays out in the Economics of the Kingdom.
Consider the following analogy given by Jesus in Luke 14:28-33,
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.”
Let’s pick apart the tower analogy.
A tower is not the only kind of building a landowner can construct. On the same piece of land, among the other options available to him, the landowner could also have chosen to build a tent or a bungalow. The fact that the landowner has settled with the idea of erecting a tower implies that on his hierarchy of values, the tower occupies the highest rung. That is, the landowner loves the tower and hates the other uses of the land.
As we have already established, preference expressed in words, emotions or thoughts and not in choice behavior is incomplete. Merely liking the idea of building a tower literally doesn’t mean a thing in the world if that idea does not translate into the act of building and finishing that tower. And here’s where costs come in. For instance, a regular house has a low center of gravity, which means that the highest point on its structure is closer to the ground and is therefore more stable. On the other hand, towers are built to be tall, which means that they have a higher center of gravity and are therefore likely to be more unstable than low-rising buildings. To counter this, the foundations of a tower are built to be both deeper and stronger than that of a regular-sized house. All these translate into costs. There are costs incurred first in constructing a foundation with enough depth, even as the landowner starts bracing himself for the costs necessary for erecting a building that is taller than others in the vicinity – more effort, more time, more money, more labor and more resources.
So, what does this first analogy mean to the subject of the Kingdom?
In addition to aesthetics and beauty, a completed tower provides at least two other things: Security (Proverbs 18:10, for example) and an elevated perception (Habakkuk 2:1, for example). Not every kind of building can adequately serve these additional purposes. But at the same time, not every building will suck up the same costs.
This is instructive: There are subjects in the Kingdom whose lives are like towers. They are the real-world exemplars of ‘a city set on the hill that cannot be hidden.’ Outsiders look at the lives of these models and covet the operations of God’s grace that are expressed through their lives. However, what we fail to consider are the costs these exemplars had to pay.
We overlook the effort and time costs involved in engaging in spiritual exercises such as prayer, fasting and meditations on the Word.
We ignore the intellectual costs involved in searching, researching and synthesizing classic compendiums of transgenerational wisdom and insight.
We commonize the costs these trailblazers had to pay in order to move from merely talking about their preferences to expressing them in their actions and choice behavior.
That’s why there is so much wisdom in the aphorism: Never criticize the size of a hunter’s bounty until you know how many traps he had set.
The second analogy in Jesus’ parable is similar to the first.
Historically speaking, a king who wages war against another kingdom does not do so merely because of the thrills. He has jesters and court entertainers for that.
Rather, wars are typically the result of one kingdom desiring to expand its territory into the jurisdiction of another for strategic, political or economical reasons. And as Jesus pointed out, a wise king on the offensive will only proceed to battle if he’s confident of his capabilities to bear the costs of fighting. If not, he must look for alternative ways to attain his goal.
In the same vein, subjects in the Kingdom can expand their territories and spheres of influence spiritually, intellectually, financially, and so on. Just like the landowner, a subject of the Kingdom who wants to expand his territory must be willing to pay the price for that expansion – otherwise, his preference for an expanded territory will merely remain in the domain of good ideas.
It’s not personal; it’s the operations of the Economics of the Kingdom.
IV. Efficiency
In theory, if not in practice, secular economics is set up to avoid waste by ensuring that resources are used maximally. By using logic and mathematical dexterity, secular economists are able to deduce the exact quantity of goods an economic decision-maker should produce (in the case of a firm) or consume (in the case of a consumer) to maximize profits (in the case of the firm) or satisfaction (in the case of a consumer) while minimizing costs. Production or consumption above or below this exact quantity of goods leads to inefficiencies and wastages which economists actively try to avoid.
In the real, practical world, however, economic decision-makers do not always act with the intention to minimize wastages and inefficiencies. For instance, a firm might have the resources to produce 1000 units of a good everyday. However, if the firm is the only one producing the goods in its region, it might choose to only produce 10 goods per day while increasing the unit price of each good. Economically speaking, this is an inefficiency, as the firm is “wasting” the resources it could have used to produce the remaining 990 units of goods. Yet, this is exactly what plays out in a monopoly.
Just like in secular economics, there is a bias against wastage in the Economics of the Kingdom. However, unlike secular economics where efficiencies are usually a theoretical ideal to aspire for, efficiencies are, for all intents and purposes, wired into the operations of the Kingdom.
Consider Jesus’ miracle involving the feeding of the five thousand,
“And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes.” (Mark 6:41-43)
After the miraculous multiplication of food to feed the multitude, we find the disciples picking up the leftovers to ensure that nothing got wasted. There is no record of Jesus preventing them from doing so. Rather, although the Bible is silent about it, we can assume that the disciples gathered the food fragments because of Jesus’ instruction. To my human mind, anyone who can multiply food at the snap of the finger should not have to worry about preserving leftovers. Yet, in His position as the visible expression of the Unseen God, Jesus aligned the operations of His Ministry with the economics of the Kingdom and would not waste anything.
Another example that comes to mind is God’s approach to the creation process as described in Genesis 1:11-12,
‘And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.’
If Jesus had the capacity to multiply food whenever the need arose during His earthly Ministry, we can also believe that the Almighty God could have spent time and expended effort creating every new plant or herb on earth. Yet, God did not do that because that would be an inefficient use of His creative energies which would be a violation of the Economics of the Kingdom. Instead, He instituted the system of reproduction which would ensure the continued propagation of plant life on earth.
The same thing plays out in Genesis 1:28,
“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
If He wanted to, God could have individually molded each and every human being on earth today – just like He did with Adam. And as with the creation of plants, doing so would have been an inefficient use of God’s resources. Consequently, God created a system that gave mankind the capabilities to reproduce.
The records of God’s creative process serves at least two functions: First, to initiate us to the Economics of the Kingdom; second, to serve as a model for us to imitate even as we serve as stewards of God-given resources in the form of time, effort, finances, and so on.
