Via a few people I went and read Margaret Atwood’s Op-Ed in the NYT (link below) about debt and its role in society. Nice read. For me the most interesting thing is the word for ‘debt’ and ‘sin’ are the same in Aramaic (see quote below). That turns ‘sin’, something to be ashamed of and a violation of something beyond society, to ‘debt’, something you owe the people around you – much more accountable.
Leads me to thoughts about different shame and guilt mechanisms some societies have, say Catholic vs Lutheran.
Hm.
In a related topic, did you know that even monkeys understand fairness (the basis for debt and credit)?
There was an experiment where they gave two (rhesus?) monkeys cucumber slices. No problem. But, then they started giving one of them a grape (much tastier). The one with the cucumber slice threw it back in apparent anger for being treated unfairly.
In another story, this guy got mauled by some chimps who were jealous of the attention (and cake) he had been giving another chimp (the guy was the chimps previously adoptive human parent). The angry chimps just thought it was plainly unfair not to share the cake.
Yeah. I think so much of our massive brain is geared to keeping (up to 150?) various combinations of relationships and debt-credit arrangements. Indeed, the whole human social system is based on tit for tat and retribution for those who violate this necessary social flow.
What do you think?
Link: Op-Ed Contributor – A Matter of Life and Debt – NYTimes.com
Once you start looking at life through these spectacles, debtor-creditor relationships play out in fascinating ways. In many religions, for instance. The version of the Lord’s Prayer I memorized as a child included the line, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” In Aramaic, the language that Jesus himself spoke, the word for “debt” and the word for “sin” are the same. And although many people assume that “debts” in these contexts refer to spiritual debts or trespasses, debts are also considered sins. If you don’t pay back what’s owed, you cause harm to others.
Image from Chrys Omori
