The Dismal Science and the Meaning of Life

(“Meaning of Life Merit Badge”, 2010, original oil) The Dismal Science and the Meaning of Life Supply and demand is as basic and Nobel a Truth As you can get. If you doubt, just hold your breath a minute And notice the urgency that quickly builds. Somehow in man’s quest for meaning Aka the creation of religion, or “dharma”, The sacred and the secular Became divided into the pure and tainted. To this day too many religious people dismiss The need to study economic truths As too profane Beneath their lofty ideals and pure aspiration. What they’re really saying is they want to avoid The messy complexities of human desire And the limits of this material world; ie. The market place of actually being human. So whole institutions arose to encourage this escape Clergy in their cloisters, hermits with their hermetics A class above, in ivory tower, and lonely cave So the worries of this world could be left behind. But this world of woe and constant sorrow Is also the world of perfect attainment Where our karmas always ripen And wishes sometimes do come true. What other world Could these human experiences of ups and downs Happen in anyway, Since this is our world and our experience? If you give a moose a muffin They will always ask you for another. And on and on Until there is no supply left to meet demand. But the question becomes Did increasing demand lead to increasing satisfaction As the supplies dwindled and costs rose? Most likely it was the opposite. Because with every acquisition Comes the building of a habit Until what is left is an insatiable addiction. If you doubt, just hold your breath for a minute… (8/5/25)