Liesure Time

We have a crisi of liesure time and too many things. In the span of approximately 150 years (1880-2040) the time spent earning a living and doing what we want will completely reverse:

In 1880 we spent 80 percent of available time working;
In 2040 we'll spend 75 percent of available time doing what we like.

Why the change? Because of the extraordinary technological advances it takes fewer hours of work to earn enough money for living. Robert William Fogel, the Nobel Laurette in Economics, states in his book, The Fourth Great Awakening, "We have become so rich that we are approaching saturation in the consumption not only of necessities but also of goods that were in the very recent past thought to be luxuries and that were only dreams during the first third of the twentieth century" (p.189).

So the question is, "What are we going to do with all this free time?" It brings us back to the question posed to young wealthy Athenians by Socrates, "What is the good life?"

Fogel states, "A half century from now, perhaps sooner, when increases in productivity make it possible to provide goods in abundance with half today's labor, the issue of life's meaning, and other matters of self-realization, will take up the bulk of discretionary time" (p. 192). Self-realization does not mean fulfilling one's desires, but "immersion in the political struggle to create a better world."

Rich Christians, and that is most of us in America, need to think about what we have to share with the poor. Let me give you an hint. It is not usually money. More on that later.