Blog #5: Economy of Communion Project

Text 1: "Over the years, what emerged from their lifestyle was not only a more equal distribution of goods, but also a profound cultural intuition - that the essence of human experience is to be 'in communion.' When I read this quote I thought of the radical nature of this idea. Big business today is not even concerned with an equal distribution of goods, but rather the unequal distribution of profit that favors men over women and CEO's over staff. I believe this quote summarizes the entire reading. How is it that back in the time of World War II in Italy this radical idea was proven and still today we cannot achieve it in the modern day business world?

Response 1: This idea is so radical because it is a change from within. A building or headquarters or business is an objective entity with no capacity to reason or feel or express human emotion. The problem in today's economy is that the employers of a business fall subject to emulating the building they work in. Rather than de-humanize employees into people who cannot feel human emotion other than the joy they receive from achieving a higher profit, this idea suggests to change from within. With a change from within, each employee starts displaying affection towards their neighbor, which in turn can make the business have a reputation of equality and compassion. It is our duty to get the business to emulate our human selves rather than get assimilate the objectified nature of the business into its human employees.

Text 2: The idea of public happiness intrigues me. Public happiness describes the reciprocal nature of happiness. The text cites an example that "I can be rich myself, but to be happy I need others." This is crucial because again it provides a radical idea. Public happiness acts as an end goal that can be achieved by the means of the economy of communion.

Response 2: Public happiness is so radical because it eliminates the singularity of wealth. For so many people, money buys happiness. The mere accumulation of wealth directly relates to the amount of happiness that a hedonistic personality maintains. Public happiness is the evolution of happiness from a singular sensation to a duality between the initial, transitory happiness wealth brings, and the resulting substantial sensation that is only achieved through being in communion with others. This is public happiness.

More blog posts in this category Common

• The Wound & the Blessing/The Economy of Communion Project Post
• The Crest- Jewel of Wisdom & Work as a Spiritual Practice Post
• "What Money Can't Buy" Blog Post
• Blog Post Ni: FTRN Booklet & Arithmetic of Passion
• Work as a Spiritual Practice (The Transformation of Work)