Article November 4, 1996 Issue

As we were planning this issue, we found ourselves talking about news...

As we were planning this issue, we found ourselves talking about news reports that the gap between the rich and poor is widening on a global basis. One stated that "358 billionaires control assets greater than the combined annual incomes of countries with 45 percent of the world's people" ("U.N. Survey Finds World Rich-Poor Gap Widening," The New York Times, July 15, 1996).

That report made the point that a nation's total wealth is not an adequate guide to how people live," and this led us to a discussion of just what prosperity is. Is it defined by how much money one has? Are other possessions the way to measure it? Or does real prosperity have to do with feelings of "connectedness" with other people and with spiritual values that make life more than an economic competition?

Some of the authors in this issue explore those concepts specifically in relation to prosperity. Others develop this spiritual approach to life in different ways—in overcoming anger in a relationship, in being restored while taking care of an aging relative, in lessons learned at a birthday party, and in loving and adopting children.

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