It's not just about saving the environment and saving the planet. It's about saving ourselves. Ecology-Economy-Community -Faith! All of these. These are fundamental pillars of our human lives. We have to keep them all in balance. Yes we have to protect the environment if we want to have a safe, clean, healthy place to live. We do also need to have a working economy, though in our current society we have placed far too much emphasis on this pillar. It has gotten all out of balance as a result. It has impacted and even threatens to overwhelm and destroy the other three pillars. If this happens it will also destroy us. How can we find the balance? Ironically, it may begin with our economic activities. These behaviors seem to permeate and impact all the other areas of our lives. If we wonder why our society is so sick, why community seems to be collapsing and faith waning, we may need to take a long hard look at our economic activities. Then we need to start asking ourselves some important questions before we flex our economic muscles.
Before you make a purchase, think about how much life energy it is going to cost you, and ask yourself if it's going to be worth it. Then ask yourself "if I ask myself the same question tomorrow, will I give the same answer?" Next ask yourself how this purchase impacts the environment you live in and also how it impacts the environment of others. Ask yourself how it impacts the economic, social and faith aspects of not only your life, but the lives of the people and the place where it was produced. Often our purchases are controlled more by our current emotional state than by our real needs and in fact even our real wants and goals. At times they are even contrary to our long term wants and goals. Let's live intentionally. Let's keep our long term goals in our minds. Let's ask ourselves the important questions before we make purchases.
