Hi Mr. Rowson, are you familiar already of Eugene McCarraher's book, "The Enchantments of Mammon: How Capitalism Became The Religion Of Modernity"? It's the most recent and comprehensive account on the history of capitalism. I do think people on the Liminal Web space should pay attention to it.
"The Enchantments of Mammon is a magnificent book. It is, before all else, a sheer marvel of patient scholarship, history on a grand scale and in the best tradition of historical writing: a comprehensive account of the rise and triumph of capitalism in the modern age, not only as an economics, but also as our most pervasive and dominant system of ultimate values. But the book is far more than that. It is also a work of profound moral insight: a searing spiritual critique of a vision of reality that reduces everything mysterious, beautiful, fragile, and potentially transcendent in human experience to instances of—or opportunities for—acquisition and personal power, and that seeks no end higher than the transformation of creation’s substantial goods into the lifeless abstraction of monetary value."
I thought McCarraher a fascinating book, too, particularly for his neologism (?) "misenchants"; the pervasiveness of money from c18th century onwards misenchants as money increasingly enthrals us. And not without good reason. Adam Smith examines a similar dynamic in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, though argues the "deception", his word, is worth tolerating because of the progress that comes in its wake. There's the bind.
I try to not 'do' xmas - I don't put up decorations and these last couple of years my grown up kids have finally converted with me to 'Secret Santa' (one decent present each, rather than a dozen rubbish ones). Its hard to convince people I'm not bah-humbug about it... but I'm really not. I do my own ritual and of course enjoy meeting up with family and friends. How 'I am' with xmas has definitely been much more on my mind since my kids have grown up. It does seem important.
I wasn't wholly convinced by Martijn Konings' distinction between Icon and Idol. I mean I'm not sure that intellectually drilling down into such things is very revealing. Its tricky to capture our experience of our relationship with money (and Divinity) with any precision.
I've got an old book by William Desmonde 'Money, Myth and Magic' (1962). I read it a while back but always remember being struck by the idea he puts forward 'Money is the Christmas Spirit'. Basically, he takes a view of money not dissimilar to Scott Ferguson (who explores the nature of money from the perspective of Modern Monetary Theory). The idea is that money's proper role is to be 'an unbounded centre' that connects all of us to one another. Desmonde basically suggests that at Christmas money's true nature is revealed. Our relationship with it is changed and we embrace ideas of excess, waste and abundance. Ideas that are for the most part set aside, outside of festive season.
So for no 12 my suggestion would be when we critique the commercialisation of Christmas..... we're saying that it should be Christmas all year! That this short spell of time when money's logics are temporarily changed, when our relations to it are transformed through the ritual and ceremonial enactment of a sacrificial narrative, should be extended to the whole 12 months of the year! [ Albeit, for me...no carols, no decorations and no celeb charity xmas quiz show specials - my pet hate ].
Hi Mr. Rowson, are you familiar already of Eugene McCarraher's book, "The Enchantments of Mammon: How Capitalism Became The Religion Of Modernity"? It's the most recent and comprehensive account on the history of capitalism. I do think people on the Liminal Web space should pay attention to it.
Here's David Bentley Hart's review of that book:
https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/misenchantment
"The Enchantments of Mammon is a magnificent book. It is, before all else, a sheer marvel of patient scholarship, history on a grand scale and in the best tradition of historical writing: a comprehensive account of the rise and triumph of capitalism in the modern age, not only as an economics, but also as our most pervasive and dominant system of ultimate values. But the book is far more than that. It is also a work of profound moral insight: a searing spiritual critique of a vision of reality that reduces everything mysterious, beautiful, fragile, and potentially transcendent in human experience to instances of—or opportunities for—acquisition and personal power, and that seeks no end higher than the transformation of creation’s substantial goods into the lifeless abstraction of monetary value."
I thought McCarraher a fascinating book, too, particularly for his neologism (?) "misenchants"; the pervasiveness of money from c18th century onwards misenchants as money increasingly enthrals us. And not without good reason. Adam Smith examines a similar dynamic in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, though argues the "deception", his word, is worth tolerating because of the progress that comes in its wake. There's the bind.
Thanks for this!
I try to not 'do' xmas - I don't put up decorations and these last couple of years my grown up kids have finally converted with me to 'Secret Santa' (one decent present each, rather than a dozen rubbish ones). Its hard to convince people I'm not bah-humbug about it... but I'm really not. I do my own ritual and of course enjoy meeting up with family and friends. How 'I am' with xmas has definitely been much more on my mind since my kids have grown up. It does seem important.
I wasn't wholly convinced by Martijn Konings' distinction between Icon and Idol. I mean I'm not sure that intellectually drilling down into such things is very revealing. Its tricky to capture our experience of our relationship with money (and Divinity) with any precision.
I've got an old book by William Desmonde 'Money, Myth and Magic' (1962). I read it a while back but always remember being struck by the idea he puts forward 'Money is the Christmas Spirit'. Basically, he takes a view of money not dissimilar to Scott Ferguson (who explores the nature of money from the perspective of Modern Monetary Theory). The idea is that money's proper role is to be 'an unbounded centre' that connects all of us to one another. Desmonde basically suggests that at Christmas money's true nature is revealed. Our relationship with it is changed and we embrace ideas of excess, waste and abundance. Ideas that are for the most part set aside, outside of festive season.
So for no 12 my suggestion would be when we critique the commercialisation of Christmas..... we're saying that it should be Christmas all year! That this short spell of time when money's logics are temporarily changed, when our relations to it are transformed through the ritual and ceremonial enactment of a sacrificial narrative, should be extended to the whole 12 months of the year! [ Albeit, for me...no carols, no decorations and no celeb charity xmas quiz show specials - my pet hate ].