Seven Deadly Sins and Economy

Our economy is based on the seven deadly sins: lust, gluttony, greed, lazyness, wrath, envy and pride. Each one of these sins sponsors and supports a branch of industry. We have many allegorical pictures of these deadly sins from the past, for example the famous painting by Hieronymus Bosch: http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/hieronymus-bosch/the-seven-deadly-sins-and-the-four-last-things-1485#supersized-artistPaintings-195443
Nowadays we could illustrate the deadly sins and their power over our economy with ads, e.g. an ad of fashionable clothing is a good illustration of what is called pride, an ad of an action game is a good illustration of what is called wrath, an ad of sweets or chips points to the sin of gluttony, etc. The main sin of our civilization is probably gluttony, the desire of getting more and more, an insatiable desire that is both satisfied and stimulated by the machinery of modern economy. We want this machinery to work more efficiently, to give us more and more things, more and more pleasure. If it slows a bit, we see this as a disaster. Now, Estonian economy doesn't grow any more, we are in a slump. perhaps it means we are not yet sinful enough. A virtuous person, an ideal Christian is an economic criminal: he consumes little, produces little, and gives things away without asking for pay.

An Old Poem

About forty years ago I wrote a poem. After the big changes in Europe after the collapse of the USSR I thought it had lost its actuality. Now I feel it hasn't. Plus cela change, plus cela reste la même chose




I READ YET ANOTHER POEM
describing how the end will come
with the nuclear holocaust. Suddenly
I felt very sure nothing such
will ever happen. There will be no big bang,
only some tiny ones perhaps. But surely
a long big whimper: Big powers
insulting one another, serious crises,
disarmament conferences in Geneva,
drug addicts in Washington, dissidents in Moscow,
hunger in Sahel, terrorism in the Middle East,
new cars, fashions and hits,
breakthroughs in computing and space technology,
more handicapped children and mentally disturbed people,
more revolutionary and ecological movements,
fewer trees, fewer birds and less time
to be aware of the high midsummer sky turning slowly
above you and around you and of the mild night breeze
touching gently your hair and stirring up
some strange feelings and childhood memories.