Why Progress Fails To Deliver
I recently started reading an enlightening book entitled, Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives, by Richard Swenson. It had been referred to me a couple of years ago at a Charlotte Mason conference and has now made it to the top of my must-read queue.
What I didn't expect was to be bowled over by the concept of Progress as anything but good. Much to my surprise, I've just realized that we as a nation have been indoctrinated into an ideology of Progressivism. Let me explain...
In his book, Margin, Swenson discusses how this Progressive mentality "has given us unprecedented affluence, education, technology, and entertainment...comforts and conveniences other eras could only dream about. Yet somehow, we are not flourishing under the gifts of modernity as one would expect." He goes on to say that "the formula for happiness has proven to be more elusive than the simple bestowing of...food plus health plus warmth plus education plus affluence...[which] have not quite equaled Utopia." What he means by this is that though we have everything previous generations wished for, it hasn't satisfied us.
This post contains affiliate links.
Any purchases made using these links will provide HSMoms applicable compensation.
Thank you for your generosity.
Swenson talks about how "Progess is so natural an idea that 21st-century Westerners can't conceive of life without it" and that we've grown "...to assume that the solution to any problem [can] be confidently entrusted to progress." In our lifetime, we've seen this with our culture wanting more and more and being satisfied with less and less. Even as homeschoolers, we run around looking for the next STEM/Co-op group to join, shuttle our kids to baseball, ballet, Taekwondo, swim class and the like. I'm as guilty of this as anyone. And what we find is less rest and less peace.
Progress, as Swenson defines, "...increases everything it touches...", it's the hamster wheel that never stops spinning. Because it's always moving forward, faster and faster, offering "more than we have now", it increases stress & unnecessary "pressure on the individual and on the system", creates overload, puts us "...on a collision course with human limits."
Ultimately, Progress consumes us. We either find that we're running around like chickens with our heads cut off. As a physician, Dr. Swenson sees this played out in the lives of his staff and his patients. He states, "People are tired and frazzled. People are anxious and dressed. People don't have the time to heal anymore....we have no time for anything but vertigo."
So, as we move forward (pun intended), take stock of what's really important...the relationships in your lives;, your husband, your children, your friends. Take a moment to decide the purpose behind your current activities and assess those you're considering for next year...will these drain your time/relationships? If your activies withdraw more than they deposit, ask yourself if you really need them and if you can do without them. More often than not, these supplementals push us beyond our limits and what we desire is more margin, deeper relationships and a thriving life. Now, rethink busy and give yourself some margin! :)
