PERSPECTIVE ON THE NEWS November 12, 1979 Issue

Economic challenge The demand for new values

"I think we have to orient ourselves to a different type of life, one more occupied by spiritual things, intelligent values, real convictions."^{Richard Russell, quoted in Quest/ 79, October 1979, p. 28;} The wisdom of this view recently advanced by a prominent American economic analyst is gaining acceptance. And events demand a reassessment of values.

On October 17 the chairman of the United States Federal Reserve Board declared that Americans must accept a reduction in their living standards if inflation is to be reduced.^{See The New York Times, October 18, 1979;} They must do so, he argued, in order to pay their higher oil bills. This situation may aid in compelling the recognition that no political or economic system can guarantee a reliable flow of the things we need. Only a perception of God's limitless impartation of good to His creation can offset the instability inherent in the finite, human sense of substance and supply.

Instead of being shaken or dismayed by the thought that we may have to curtail our consumption, we can welcome this demand to examine what we really depend on for life and happiness, and to make fuller use of our God-derived resourcefulness, because what may actually be facing us is not so much a demand to be content with less as a challenge to discover what our supply and support really are. This may be the period when people begin to put a higher premium on friendship, family, work, helping others. And most important of all: on spiritual growth, spiritual affluence.

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