But it’s as if a rational response to the suggestion that we buy less stuff can be: “Then how will we be able to buy more stuff?” The whole point of degrowth is that it isn’t growth. Because only by consuming more, apparently, can we create more jobs, raise wages and collect more tax.
It’s as if it’s the enemy of all that is essentially Conservative.
Right-wing commentators go berserk over degrowth. You might think that this would have raised the currency of degrowth economics. Truss somewhat devalued the idea of the pursuit of growth. In her efforts to achieve this, she crashed the financial markets, made mortgages unaffordable and sparked a massive cost-of-living crisis. The theory was that if you make the rich richer by cutting their taxes, then they will invest in Britain and that wealth will trickle down through the economy, stimulating growth. Her shortest-ever, 44 day prime ministership of the UK was launched and crashed on a lemming-like rush for economic growth. Liz Truss was (and, for some, still is) the goddess of growth. Unlimited spiritual growth can lead to certainty – and that way religious madness lies It posits that we need, as a matter of necessity, to overcome what is often called our “fetish” for economic growth that such growth is inevitably finite, it destroys the planet, polarises the rich and the poor and, ultimately, makes everyone unhappy. There is an economic theory that has been fashionable in liberal circles for some decades, called “degrowth”. And I wonder whether a parallel with economics can show us the way. In a way, I want to shrink spiritually, strip down to some honest essentials, lose some of the fat of faith. I want to make a case this year for not trying to grow spiritually in Lent. The intent is sound, but it doesn’t do us any good in the long run. There’s a danger of ticking the spiritual growth box in Lent in the same way as we might join a gym in January. And another word for a truism is a platitude. On this model, it’s about spiritual growth. Lent, it is said, is about finding time to be spiritual and, in doing so, closer to God. It should be about doing more that’s worthwhile – like reading scripture or theology, learning a new way of meditating, working at a food bank. It’s become a commonplace to say that Lent shouldn’t just be about fasting, giving up chocolate or booze for the 40 days (with formal breaks from the fast for Sundays).
What to do about Lent? It’s a question that preoccupies parish priests and not a few of their congregants as we approach the last Sunday before next week’s Ash Wednesday, when the penitential season begins with the sombre liturgical reminder that “you are dust and to dust you shall return.” Chat GPT: The biggest leap forward in AI is changing everything.Ukraine: Stories of hope amid heartache.Fearfully and wonderfully made: 5 disabled Christians share their stories.
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