It is clear then that subjective values are within the realm of economics. When an exchange does occur it is based on the knowledge-at-hand by the actors—the buyer and the seller. The knowledge-at-hand is relative and imperfect, yet at the same time it is fully coordinated within time and space. In other words, it could not be made more perfect as evidenced by the willingness of both the buyer and the seller to consummate the exchange, free of any coercion to do so.
Granting that the economy is divine implies the following: that the actors are seen as expressive agents of the will of mankind, that there is no omniscience within the realm of human policy-making that can even minutely compare to the divine expression inherent in the market, and that the market is not a product of human design. The market is a divine institution that emerges spontaneously from human action. It is a social institution that forms for the sake of production. The market is the time and place where the convergence of all of this useful information transpires and where it is discovered.
How do we know what the uncorrupt economy looks like unless it is seen as having a pure form? Those who recognize that the economy operates perfectly well independently hold “laissez-faire” up as the pure form. But they have not made any connection to the divine nature of the human being as an essential identity. This is a new thought and is worthy of consideration.
We must sort out the reason for the burdening or weakening of the institution (the economy) that serves to bring about our betterment. Understanding human nature sheds some light on the subject. The will to choose the higher perfections versus choosing the imperfections of our lower nature is at the crux. It turns out that ego-driven intervention is the best economic example of humans exercising their lower nature. Just as metal oxidizes and becomes corrupt, so too the economy deteriorates when it is corrupted by intervention.
What is the current condition of the modern economy? It is true that the modern economy carries the cumulative effect of human actions taken over time. Errors from economic ignorance have accumulated, consequently along the way unnecessary burdens have been added. These add weight and bulk, since after all, the burdens are cumulative.
Although rudimentary in the early stages of development, the early actions taken by primitive human beings were very much of the moment and yet they were also important agents of transformation. Notice the dynamic here — the spontaneity between the act and the transformation — a dynamic that conveys great meaning. One does not exist without the other and yet each spark of interplay reveals new possibilities. It is then this cumulative effect of human actions and the subsequent transformation, taken throughout time and across time, which brings to us the modern economy.
The origin of the economy is intricately intertwined with the origin of man, which is ancient and even still a mystery. It taxes all the discerning powers of historians and archeologists to discover the origin of man. Why does this veiled past have anything to do with the economy? The premise of this book is that the economy is a uniquely human institution and that without the human being there would be no such thing as the economy. Speaking in these terms it is obvious that they both appear and evolve concurrently.
The fact that the divine economy theory is now discovered is evidence that we are in a new cycle. At the same time this new cycle has a nature about it that requires a new theory. Reciprocally then, the discovery of the divine economy theory and the need for the divine economy theory are both important in this cycle, in this particular era of human history.