Loaves and Fishes

They always say "fishes" -- that has always annoyed me. "Fish" is the plural of "fish" - you don't say "fishes" - its grammatically incorrect, and annoying. However, I used "fishes" in the title because that's what everybody knows the story as.

If you don't know the story, then it is a story from the Bible, in which Jesus feeds all of his several thousand followers with merely a few loaves of bread and fish.

The story always troubled me when I heard it, but now I finally understand it's meaning. My last blog, Obama's levy, caused me to suddenly think of it with new understanding.

After reading the story, I always thought "how can you divide so little food among so many people and satisfy their hunger? Impossible." Well, when you find something that's impossible.... check your premises.

It's an economic parable. I know, it's not what we would normally call a "parable" ; rather, it would be considered a "miracle." But the miracle itself is the parable. In a church, the pastor would probably say something about the "bounty of the Lord" after reading this story. Well, the "bounty" (or, having lots to share among many) is referring to profits, in a way that we in modern times should understand.

Consider that there is a man who needs something, and a company which sells that something. The man has some money, and he uses it to buy what he needs. After spending his money, does he have less wealth? No, value has been exchanged for value, and so he still has the exact same amount of wealth as before. But does the company who sold the thing have as much wealth as before? Obviously, the company has more wealth now. The company had used basic materials to make a product of higher value than the value of the materials put into it. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The company used what it had to create more wealth, and from that it was able to satisfy the needs of the man who bought it. The company also became wealthier from the transaction.

Tying this back into the miracle/parable, where does the "bounty of the Lord" come from? It comes from us. We produce the bounty, and as a result of our production we can satisfy our needs as well as others' needs, and we all become wealthier in the process. But, the key is production. God wants us all to produce -- to create -- and make the world better in the process. He wants us to seek profit. The only true sin is to be nonproductive... in fact, think of all the other sins -- why are they sins? -- Because they make us unprofitable.

This brings me back to Nietzsche -- man, he's a good philosopher!

"Fellow creators, the creator seeks -- those who write new values on new tablets. Companions, the creator seeks, and fellow harvesters; for everything about him is ripe for the harvest. ... Fellow creators, Zarathustra seeks, fellow harvesters and fellow celebrants: what are herds and shepherds and corpses to him?(Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra)"

To boil it down, it is the industrialist who is most like God... God is an industrialist.

This seems so obvious now... I am not a very religious type ; more philosophical than religious, really. Upon having this revelation, I had to write about it.