A Glimpse of the Void

America values persons in terms of their income. We make celebrities of the rich, even when we know they are evil, because we envy and admire their power. We do this in spite of the fact that we know that income a is highly contingent and arbitrary matter, except perhaps in a limited way to those few and unfortunate souls whose entire lives are devoted to maximizing their income. Income is highly contingent and arbitrary because it is due to the vicissitudes of the market, over which we as individuals have no control. Therefore, we value persons in terms of highly contingent and arbitrary matters.

As a result, we dehumanize others and ourselves. We place more value on money than on moral character, faithfulness, and life itself. We are willing to die at our desks for money, because our income is what renders us valuable to the other people in our lives and makes us worthy human beings. We regard the ephemeral and fleeting as the Absolute and disregard the eternal as insignificant. We are truly alienated from ourselves, from other persons, and from God. From that condition of alienation, we have a glimpse of the void.