Diminishing Marginal Utility is a law meaning decreasing gains. More easily understood, imagine eating a hot dog. Imagine eating one more. Imagine eating 5 more. The more you eat, the less pleasure you gain from your hot dog eating.
This phenomenon can accurately portray why we are so excited to do something for the first time, but after repeating the same activity multiple times, we are bored.
Economists have long looked for some activity that breaks this pattern of behavior, but there just simply is no exception. And some of you might be thinking, "What about church? Shouldn't we be able to go to church a million times and still be just as willing to go one million and one times?"
The answer is complex. And the truth is, I don't have the answer. Yes, we should be willing to participate in good things an infinite number of times; however, this is seldom the reality.
I believe the answer is to differentiate. Each day is new and different. What is exciting about today? Focus on that!
I'll take a shot at it: economic principles are based upon rational human behavior. These principles represent the "natural man"--what any person will do rationally in any situation involving utility, choice, etc. The gospel's purpose is to overcome the natural man. Although plenty of principles of reason do apply in the gospel, faith in practice is something beyond reason, and something that we do despite utility, pleasure, etc. There is no diminishing marginal utility in the gospel because the purpose is the opposite of pleasure/personal gain/utility, it is service.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion is that is exactly why there is eternal progression. Even in earth life, you should be progressing in church. As children, you go to nursery and have snacks every week. Then you advance to primary, ym/yw, and then single's wards, and then possibly to student wards, and then to family wards. At that point you are going to be a new parent, and now you are needing to help your child grow in the church. And as they grow you will receive different callings. Sometimes you'll be a teacher, sometimes you'll be in leadership, and sometimes you'll be doing something else. And if the purpose of church is for you to constantly grow (rather then going to just stay the same), then there is always something new to learn and new to do.
ReplyDeleteSo I believe this concept is true, even with church. So it becomes even more important for us to go to church wanting to grow and progress, because if we choose to stay where we are at, then we will grow "bored" and end up having little to no desire to continue attending church.
Addictive substances break the rule ... kind of. Since you can't get that initial high, you need more and more to be satisfied. As for church, if you've ever had the experience of having the same calling for a very long time (maybe a decade or more), the calling can get old. However, the church itself doesn't have to get old. If you have the right perspective, going to the Temple or reading the Book of Mormon doesn't get old, it gets better. Some things are just better with practice.
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