I recently read Niall Ferguson’s The Ascent of Money: A financial History of the World. In this book, Ferguson illuminates the fact that the world’s financial system has been, nearly since the beginning of time, not a physical entity but rather an elusive notion of existence that dictates the inter-workings of our universe. Individuals and nations alike work to create more money, but between cash flow through bonds, stocks, savings, hedge funds, and loans, we basically keep borrowing money from one place to give to another, both on an individual scale as well as a global one. And again, this silent but intangible superpower rules the goings-on of the world we live in from the price of the milk we picked up this morning to the plummeting interest rates on our home’s mortgage. While attempting to grasp the extraordinary power that this global financial illusion has on each of our lives, I began to think of other intangibilities which exert similar force. Politics and religion, right and wrong, and even love and hate embody some potent governing forces that are not tangible objects but belief systems of sort. Yes, wars have been fought over land and gold, but battles of the grandest scale have resided over religion, power, and freedom—indefinable concepts that have had a infinitely bigger impact on our world than any physical substance could. Indeed, it quickly becomes obvious that a great majority of what is most significant and has been since the beginning of time has been intangible.
Taking this into account, it is more important than ever to for people our age to have a belief system. In a world of propaganda and hogwash media influence, people who lack a sound foundation ebb and flow with the masses, a phenomenon history has proven more than once to have disastrous consequences. We have come to a time when what is tangible is what’s most important, but as one can see, it is what is intangible that still governs. A person without a belief system is one with no backbone, and that on a large scale is a recipe for disaster, a travesty of no one being able to stand for what’s right because what’s good and what’s bad is muddled into a big pile of gray.
Although I was raised Christian and was deeply involved in the church from a very young age, I do not protest that joining an organized religion is the only answer to our belief-less society. It is healthy for a nation to vary in their beliefs—to be of one mind is communistic and deadly. We can learn a lesson from genetics, where diversity is necessary for survival: if homo sapiens were all the same, one disease could wipe out the entire human race in a diminutive amount of time. It is genetic diversification that prevents this from happening. Much the same, diversity in beliefs enables societies to gather evidence from all sides and decipher the truth. After all, no argument is a good one if the counter-argument is not fully understood. Education, as it usually is, is key, and merely going along for the ride or with what the majority seems to believe is not a belief system; it’s pure naivety. Sheep to the slaughter anyone?
I am passionate about having a solid belief system, and perhaps I come off as being a little harsh. But I do believe that you cannot be whole without knowing whether you believe in God, what political stance you take, where you stand on social issues, and have a good understanding of what is right and what is wrong. Being fanatical or extremist is not the answer, but attempting to nail down some principles at this stage of life is of the essence when searching for truth and for meaning seems to be a common thread among those our age. Having a solid belief system also does not mean that we cannot change; it just means that we have a foundation on which to build—and buildings are often modified and updated. As we begin to truly start our lives, have children, and make a name for ourselves in this world, we can’t forget the most important part of our identity, and we can’t forget that intangibility is what makes it so powerful.
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