{"id":1333,"date":"2009-06-02T00:01:21","date_gmt":"2009-06-02T04:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=1333"},"modified":"2018-08-08T23:34:25","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T03:34:25","slug":"tuesday-june-2-2009-on-holy-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=1333","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday, June 2, 2009 \u2014 On Holy Books"},"content":{"rendered":"

There should be no Holy Books. Our species would make a sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant step for\u00adward if it for\u00adsook the habit of declar\u00ading books to be sacred scrip\u00adtures. The belief that cer\u00adtain books aren\u2019t just the writ\u00adings of human beings, but direct rev\u00ade\u00adla\u00adtions from a divin\u00adi\u00adty, or that they are \u201csacred\u201d has caused no end of mis\u00adchief. But I plead my case pre\u00adcise\u00adly because I love and respect books. There is some pro\u00adfound wis\u00addom to be found, if one cares to look, in cer\u00adtain books. But there seems, in my view, to be no greater insult to a wise per\u00adson than to turn their work into a sil\u00adly mag\u00adi\u00adcal tal\u00adis\u00adman, to be mind\u00adless\u00adly chant\u00aded and rant\u00aded, rather than read and judged with reason.<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n A note\u00adwor\u00adthy fea\u00adture of holy scrip\u00adtures is that peo\u00adple sel\u00addom read them. They may run glazed eyes over them. They may fix on what\u00adev\u00ader pas\u00adsages appear to con\u00adfirm their base pas\u00adsions, their pet\u00adty hatreds, or their trib\u00adal cus\u00adtoms. They call on their author\u00adi\u00adty as a trump card, usu\u00adal\u00adly under the direc\u00adtion of some self-declared reli\u00adgious author\u00adi\u00adty. But they hard\u00adly ever actu\u00adal\u00adly read them.<\/span><\/p>\n

A sin\u00adgle read\u00ading of the Ser\u00admon on the Mount is suf\u00adfi\u00adcient to demon\u00adstrate that few peo\u00adple can actu\u00adal\u00adly have read it. North Amer\u00adi\u00adca has many tens of mil\u00adlions of peo\u00adple who claim to be \u201cChris\u00adtians\u201d. They are sup\u00adpos\u00aded\u00adly inspired by the teach\u00adings of Jesus of Nazareth. Yet the Ser\u00admon on the Mount, which is the dis\u00adtil\u00adla\u00adtion of Christ\u2019s mes\u00adsage, teach\u00ades pre\u00adcise\u00adly the oppo\u00adsite of what most of these mil\u00adlions believe, pro\u00adclaim, and prac\u00adtice. If one actu\u00adal\u00adly reads the words of Jesus Christ, it becomes per\u00adfect\u00adly obvi\u00adous that there can\u2019t be more than a few thou\u00adsand prac\u00adtic\u00ading Chris\u00adtians in the entire Unit\u00aded States, and none of those can be Repub\u00adli\u00adcans. Per\u00adhaps the per\u00adcent\u00adage is a lit\u00adtle bet\u00adter in Cana\u00adda, where the main\u00adstream church\u00ades are more in line with civ\u00adi\u00adlized val\u00adues, but I\u2019ve met many a Christ-hat\u00ading \u201cChris\u00adt\u00adian\u201d here, as well. You can\u2019t con\u00advince me that any\u00adone who oppos\u00ades gay mar\u00adriage, or any\u00adone that pro\u00admotes war and con\u00adquest, or any\u00adone who car\u00adries out the bar\u00adbar\u00adic social agen\u00adda of most of our Church\u00ades is a fol\u00adlow\u00ader of Jesus, or has read his teach\u00adings. Nor is there any rea\u00adson to accept the claims of Church\u00ades to inter\u00adpret or direct, or to pos\u00adsess the ideas of Jesus Christ. Church\u00ades are polit\u00adi\u00adcal and finan\u00adcial insti\u00adtu\u00adtions, con\u00adcerned with acquir\u00ading wealth and pow\u00ader. They are not sources or repos\u00adi\u00adto\u00adries of any wis\u00addom, and have no just claims on the minds of men. They are mere\u00adly cults, mech\u00ada\u00adnisms for fleec\u00ading and direct\u00ading suckers.<\/span><\/p>\n

The total\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan polit\u00adi\u00adcal move\u00adments that claim to be \u201cIslam\u00adic\u201d or \u201cIslamist\u201d are sim\u00adi\u00adlar\u00adly mis\u00adnamed. I don\u2019t agree with every\u00adthing that Mohamed said, but he was an inter\u00adest\u00ading man, and the Qur\u2019an con\u00adtains some worth\u00adwhile wis\u00addom. But the var\u00adi\u00adous polit\u00adi\u00adcal move\u00adments now pro\u00adclaim\u00ading them\u00adselves \u201cIslam\u00adic\u201d have no more to do with the Qur\u2019an than Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive \u201cChris\u00adtians\u201d have to do with Christ. I don\u2019t recall any sura of the Qur\u2019an instruct\u00ading the faith\u00adful to strap explo\u00adsives on their bod\u00adies and mur\u00adder chil\u00addren. Nowhere in the book does it teach the abuse of women. There is noth\u00ading Islam\u00adic about the hate\u00adful non\u00adsense ped\u00addled by thou\u00adsands of \u201cfun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal\u00adist\u201d mul\u00adlahs and noth\u00ading of Allah\u2019s will in the fat\u00adwas that serve their greed and ambition.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Holy Scrip\u00adtures\u201d remain unread to the degree to which they are per\u00adceived as \u201choly\u201d. The pious and fanat\u00adi\u00adcal use their scrip\u00adtures in rough\u00adly the same way that a chim\u00adpanzee might use a book: tear out some ran\u00addom pages, smear feces on them, and throw them at people.<\/span><\/p>\n

No one who tru\u00adly respects wis\u00addom should allow a wise book to be turned into a mag\u00adi\u00adcal fetish.<\/span><\/p>\n

The ten\u00adden\u00adcy to do this is not con\u00adfined to reli\u00adgion. Per\u00adhaps because the work\u00adings of economies are as unfath\u00adomable to us as the mys\u00adter\u00adies of life and death, the study of eco\u00adnom\u00adics tends to gen\u00ader\u00adate \u201choly scriptures\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve just reread two works which share with the Bible and the Qur\u2019an a ten\u00adden\u00adcy to be quot\u00aded, pro\u00adnounced upon, and cit\u00aded as holy writ, by peo\u00adple who can\u2019t pos\u00adsi\u00adbly have read them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Adam Smith\u2019s An Inquiry into the Nature and Caus\u00ades of the Wealth of Nations<\/em> is one of the two. The more I hear Smith referred to, either with devout rap\u00adture or smarmy con\u00adtempt, the more I\u2019m con\u00advinced that all the mil\u00adlions of copies of the work in print must gath\u00ader dust on shelves, unread. The non\u00adsense that is said about Smith\u2019s work \u2014 some\u00adtimes by emi\u00adnent schol\u00adars \u2014 can\u00adnot be the result of peo\u00adple read\u00ading it. Take, for exam\u00adple, the \u201cinvis\u00adi\u00adble hand\u201d. Men\u00adtion The Wealth of Nations to some\u00adone, and the \u201cinvis\u00adi\u00adble hand\u201d is the first thing that will pop out of their mouth. Most peo\u00adple seem to be under the impres\u00adsion that the work is dri\u00adven by the image of the \u201cinvis\u00adi\u00adble hand\u201d, with Smith sup\u00adpos\u00aded\u00adly argu\u00ading that the Mar\u00adket needs no \u201creg\u00adu\u00adlat\u00ading\u201d because it \u201creg\u00adu\u00adlates itself\u201d. This is the purest non\u00adsense. Adam Smith nev\u00ader said or believed any such thing. Any\u00adbody who claims that he did can\u00adnot have read the book.<\/span><\/p>\n

The phrase \u201cinvis\u00adi\u00adble hand\u201d occurs only once in the book, and the con\u00adtext in which it occurs has absolute\u00adly noth\u00ading to do with the reg\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion, or non-reg\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion, of mar\u00adkets. One has to read 485 pages into the book (in my copy) before even encoun\u00adter\u00ading the phrase. In a dis\u00adcus\u00adsion of the pro\u00admo\u00adtion of domes\u00adtic indus\u00adtry over for\u00adeign imports (which Smith approves of), he points out that many who are mere\u00adly seek\u00ading to advance their own gain are \u201cled by an invis\u00adi\u00adble hand<\/em> to pro\u00admote an end which was no part of [their] inten\u00adtion.\u201d He means that the pur\u00adsuit of self-inter\u00adest some\u00adtimes more reli\u00adably assures this par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar pub\u00adlic end. At the same time, he points out, those who pro\u00adclaim that their finan\u00adcial activ\u00adi\u00adties are moti\u00advat\u00aded by a regard for the pub\u00adlic good are to be dis\u00adtrust\u00aded [\u201cI have nev\u00ader known much good done by those who affect\u00aded to trade for the pub\u00adlic good.\u201d] The whole dis\u00adcus\u00adsion has no rela\u00adtion to the issue of mar\u00adket reg\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion, whatsoever.<\/span><\/p>\n

The point that Smith made was part and par\u00adcel of a larg\u00ader dis\u00adcus\u00adsion of moral\u00adi\u00adty. Smith was, pri\u00admar\u00adi\u00adly, a moral philoso\u00adpher, and the eco\u00adnom\u00adic issues in Wealth of Nations<\/em> are a spe\u00adcial sub\u00adset of his larg\u00ader eth\u00adi\u00adcal views. Smith\u2019s ethics was the cul\u00admi\u00adna\u00adtion of Enlight\u00aden\u00adment thought, which was in the process of over\u00adturn\u00ading the tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal assump\u00adtions of Chris\u00adt\u00adian ethics. Among those assump\u00adtions was the belief that good\u00adness was suf\u00adfer\u00ading. For cen\u00adturies, the Church\u00ades had taught that suf\u00adfer\u00ading was good, and that virtue con\u00adsist\u00aded of self-abne\u00adga\u00adtion and self-destruc\u00adtion. The poor were \u201cblessed\u201d because they suf\u00adfered. One did not demon\u00adstrate virtue by, say, reliev\u00ading the suf\u00adfer\u00ading of the poor, or doing some\u00adthing to end pover\u00adty. One demon\u00adstrat\u00aded virtue by wear\u00ading a hair shirt, or flog\u00adging one\u00adself with barbed whips, or allow\u00ading one\u00adself to be infest\u00aded with lice. Enlight\u00aden\u00adment intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adals tried to rea\u00adson their way out of this absurd notion. The Good, they argued, was more effec\u00adtive\u00adly achieved by equi\u00adty and fair\u00adness. Where equi\u00adty and fair\u00adness pre\u00advailed, under just laws, then the Good emerged from the ratio\u00adnal self-inter\u00adest of human beings more con\u00adsis\u00adtent\u00adly than from sac\u00adri\u00adfice or self-inflict\u00aded suf\u00adfer\u00ading. Smith took up this dis\u00adcus\u00adsion from pre\u00advi\u00adous Enlight\u00aden\u00adment thinkers, chiefly John Man\u00addev\u00adille, and applied it to eco\u00adnom\u00adic thought. Trade \u2014 hon\u00adest, equi\u00adtable trade \u2014 was the epit\u00ado\u00adme of ratio\u00adnal\u00adly-pro\u00adduced good\u00adness. The bak\u00ader and the butch\u00ader, Smith explained, did not trade their bread and meat with each oth\u00ader out of self-sac\u00adri\u00adfice, but from a desire to bet\u00adter feed them\u00adselves and their chil\u00addren. The result was the achieve\u00adment of a greater good for both, and the exis\u00adtence of all such equi\u00adtable trade con\u00adsti\u00adtut\u00aded a greater good for soci\u00adety as a whole. Just laws could secure that greater good. Laws that rigged the game, that vio\u00adlat\u00aded equi\u00adty, that were designed to fur\u00adther enrich the rich, or pre\u00adserve monop\u00adoly and priv\u00adi\u00adlege, erod\u00aded or destroyed the greater good.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can tell that enthu\u00adsi\u00adasts of glob\u00adal cor\u00adpo\u00adratism, who often refer to the book in scrip\u00adtur\u00adal terms, have not read it. Smith despised cor\u00adpo\u00adra\u00adtions, and has noth\u00ading good to say about them. He gen\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly con\u00adsid\u00adered them threats to lib\u00ader\u00adty, drags on progress, and inher\u00adent\u00adly cor\u00adrupt. He com\u00adpared the pros\u00adper\u00adi\u00adty and progress of the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan colonies, under the secu\u00adri\u00adty of Com\u00admon Law, to the exploita\u00adtion, oppres\u00adsion and famine of India at the hands of an all-pow\u00ader\u00adful mer\u00adcan\u00adtile cor\u00adpo\u00adra\u00adtion. Nor would enthu\u00adsi\u00adasts for \u201cdereg\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion\u201d find much com\u00adfort if they actu\u00adal\u00adly read Adam Smith. Those who wish to engage in fraud\u00adu\u00adlent or exploita\u00adtive eco\u00adnom\u00adic activ\u00adi\u00adties are in the habit of refer\u00adring to law as \u201creg\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion\u201d, because the word sounds pet\u00adty and arbi\u00adtrary, a mere annoy\u00ading inter\u00adfer\u00adence; but what they are real\u00adly talk\u00ading about is exemp\u00adtion from the rule of law. An \u201cunreg\u00adu\u00adlat\u00aded mar\u00adket\u201d is a mar\u00adket with\u00adout law. Adam Smith cer\u00adtain\u00adly nev\u00ader thought it a good idea for busi\u00adness to oper\u00adate with\u00adout laws, or exempt\u00aded from the rule of law. Such an idea would have hor\u00adri\u00adfied, sick\u00adened, and infu\u00adri\u00adat\u00aded him. An \u201cunreg\u00adu\u00adlat\u00aded mar\u00adket\u201d is pre\u00adcise\u00adly the kind of arbi\u00adtrary priv\u00adi\u00adlege and cor\u00adrup\u00adtion that the whole of The Wealth of Nations was intend\u00aded to denounce!<\/span><\/p>\n

The oth\u00ader book I reread is John May\u00adnard Keynes\u2019 Gen\u00ader\u00adal The\u00ado\u00adry of Employ\u00adment, Inter\u00adest, and Mon\u00adey<\/em>. This is anoth\u00ader \u201choly book\u201d that you are bound to hear about from peo\u00adple who haven\u2019t read it. Those who are eager to ride the band\u00adwag\u00adon of \u201cstim\u00adu\u00adlus\u201d will tell you that this par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar holy scrip\u00adture is about the lim\u00adit\u00adless abil\u00adi\u00adty of gov\u00adern\u00adment spend\u00ading to cre\u00adate wealth. It isn\u2019t. That\u2019s not what Keynes says. Nor does Keynes advo\u00adcate state own\u00ader\u00adship of pro\u00adduc\u00adtion \u2014 in fact, he vig\u00ador\u00adous\u00adly denounces it. Far from being an antithe\u00adsis to Clas\u00adsi\u00adcal Eco\u00adnom\u00adics, the book is main\u00adly pre\u00adoc\u00adcu\u00adpied with demon\u00adstrat\u00ading that most of the \u201cClas\u00adsi\u00adcal\u201d econ\u00ado\u00admists of his day con\u00adtra\u00addict\u00aded their own premis\u00ades, and failed to apply Clas\u00adsi\u00adcal prin\u00adci\u00adples con\u00adsis\u00adtent\u00adly, chiefly through not grasp\u00ading that eco\u00adnom\u00adic process\u00ades take place in time. Keynes\u2019 main con\u00adcern was to pre\u00adserve the integri\u00adty of free mar\u00adket insti\u00adtu\u00adtions. His pro\u00adpos\u00adals to do this most explic\u00adit\u00adly did not include pump\u00ading tax-pay\u00aders\u2019 mon\u00adey into fail\u00ading cor\u00adpo\u00adra\u00adtions (some\u00adthing which would have hor\u00adri\u00adfied him) or \u201cstim\u00adu\u00adlat\u00ading\u201d the econ\u00ado\u00admy with boon\u00addog\u00adgles and cor\u00adpo\u00adrate wel\u00adfare. But you can be sure that those who want to do those things today will invoke his name to jus\u00adti\u00adfy it. They will do so safe\u00adly, because, as anoth\u00ader holy scrip\u00adture, nobody will actu\u00adal\u00adly read the Gen\u00ader\u00adal The\u00ado\u00adry<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The coda<\/em> to this piece is da capo<\/em>: there should be no Holy Books.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There should be no Holy Books. Our species would make a sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant step for\u00adward if it for\u00adsook the habit of declar\u00ading books to be sacred scrip\u00adtures. The belief that cer\u00adtain books aren\u2019t just the writ\u00adings of human beings, but direct \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,9,946,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-ar-blog-2009","category-b-reading","category-br-reading-2009"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1333"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8001,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1333\/revisions\/8001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}