SUFFICIENCY V. "EQUALITY"
The pernicious illusion of some mythical "equality" has seriously impinged upon our present appreciation of what sapient sufficiency we do now possess.
I term equality "mythical," because it is merely an abstraction. No two persons have, nor have access to, the same thing, in the same quality or quantity, at the same time and place, even in the same family, as reflected in the allegory of Cain and Abel in the Book of Genesis.
I posit that sufficiency is more ideal, is more real than "equality,"
which is illusory and unattainable.
Exodus 16:16-18 explains what I mean by "sufficiency." It states:
"This is what the Lord has commanded: 'Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of persons that each of you has in his tent. And the people of Israel did so. They gathered some more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack . Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.'"
https://www.google.com/…/%3fsearch=Exodus+16%3A16-18&versio…
I follow up on the question of "Equality v. Sufficiency" with a decidedly non-Biblical reference from BONDAGE IN EGYPT: SLAVERY IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS by Darrell Dexter (2011). He writes:
"The slave population in Illinois continued to increase, despite limits on importation. The 1752 census of Illinois Country shows the largest slave population in Kaskaskia, with 246 black slaves, over 40% of the village's population ... Forty-one percent of Illinois households had slaves, although most owned only a few slaves, and eight masters owned nearly half of all the slaves."
P.34
The point being made is that he who pursues "equality" chases a mirage, a phantom , an abstraction; but he who seeks sufficiency will find plenty for he and his family!
Equality is "keeping up with the Jones," while not enjoying what you have. Granted, the Declaration of Independence does say, "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal..." These stirring words were written either by President Thomas Jefferson, a slaveholder, or by Thomas Paine, his imported, eloquent surrogate.
The escaped slave and literary tour de force, William Wells Brown, may have put it best, in a speech that he gave to the Antislavery Society of America on May 8, 1862, viz:
"All I demand for the black man is, that the white people take their heels off his neck, and let him have a chance to rise by his own efforts. (Applause.) One of the first things that I heard when I arrived in the free States--and it was the strangest thing to me that I heard--was, that the slaves cannot take care of themselves. I came off without any education. Society did not take me up; I took myself up. ( Laughter.) I did not ask society to take me up . All I asked of the white people was to get out of the way, and give me a chance to come from the South to the North. That was all I asked, and I went to work with my own hands. And that is all I demand for my brethren of the South today--that they shall have an opportunity to exercise their own physical and mental abilities. Give them that, and I will leave the slaves to take care of themselves, and be satisfied with the result."
P. 949-950.
WILLIAM WELLS BROWN: CLOTEL & OTHER WRITINGS (2014)
Self-Sufficiency beats mythical "equality," going away, any day!
Thursday, October 20, 2016
SUFFICIENCY V. EQUALITY
SUFFICIENCY V. "EQUALITY"
The pernicious illusion of some mythical "equality" has seriously impinged upon our present appreciation of what sapient sufficiency we do now possess.
I term equality "mythical," because it is merely an abstraction. No two persons have, nor have access to, the same thing, in the same quality or quantity, at the same time and place, even in the same family, as reflected in the allegory of Cain and Abel in the Book of Genesis.
I posit that sufficiency is more ideal, is more real than "equality,"
which is illusory and unattainable.
Exodus 16:16-18 explains what I mean by "sufficiency." It states:
"This is what the Lord has commanded: 'Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of persons that each of you has in his tent. And the people of Israel did so. They gathered some more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack . Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.'"
https://www.google.com/…/%3fsearch=Exodus+16%3A16-18&versio…
I follow up on the question of "Equality v. Sufficiency" with a decidedly non-Biblical reference from BONDAGE IN EGYPT: SLAVERY IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS by Darrell Dexter (2011). He writes:
"The slave population in Illinois continued to increase, despite limits on importation. The 1752 census of Illinois Country shows the largest slave population in Kaskaskia, with 246 black slaves, over 40% of the village's population ... Forty-one percent of Illinois households had slaves, although most owned only a few slaves, and eight masters owned nearly half of all the slaves."
P.34
The point being made is that he who pursues "equality" chases a mirage, a phantom , an abstraction; but he who seeks sufficiency will find plenty for he and his family!
Equality is "keeping up with the Jones," while not enjoying what you have. Granted, the Declaration of Independence does say, "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal..." These stirring words were written either by President Thomas Jefferson, a slaveholder, or by Thomas Paine, his imported, eloquent surrogate.
The escaped slave and literary tour de force, William Wells Brown, may have put it best, in a speech that he gave to the Antislavery Society of America on May 8, 1862, viz:
"All I demand for the black man is, that the white people take their heels off his neck, and let him have a chance to rise by his own efforts. (Applause.) One of the first things that I heard when I arrived in the free States--and it was the strangest thing to me that I heard--was, that the slaves cannot take care of themselves. I came off without any education. Society did not take me up; I took myself up. ( Laughter.) I did not ask society to take me up . All I asked of the white people was to get out of the way, and give me a chance to come from the South to the North. That was all I asked, and I went to work with my own hands. And that is all I demand for my brethren of the South today--that they shall have an opportunity to exercise their own physical and mental abilities. Give them that, and I will leave the slaves to take care of themselves, and be satisfied with the result."
P. 949-950.
WILLIAM WELLS BROWN: CLOTEL & OTHER WRITINGS (2014)
Self-Sufficiency beats mythical "equality," going away, any day!