The Arc of the Universe Bends Toward Shalom

The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr once said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” I suggest that the arc of the entire universe – moral, spiritual, physical, and economic – is long, but it bends towards Shalom.

This is difficult for most of us to believe. We are confronted daily with the suffering, injustice, and depravity of our broken world – terrorists, human sex trafficking, hunger, climate change, the list goes on and on. It is easy to believe that that the world is coming apart at the seams.

But there is also a lot of evidence that the world is actually getting better. In the book Abundance, Peter Diamandis and Steve Kotler do an amazing job of pointing out the many ways in which life has actually improved significantly over the last 200 years. Factfulness has the same punchline. Life expectancy, poverty, literacy, quality of life, and many other macro trends are all heading in the right directions over the last hundred years. And experts expect these trends will not only continue but accelerate. Technological advancements in artificial intelligence, automation, gene sequencing, synthetic biology, solar power and others are on the cusp of offering unfathomable opportunities and abundance to billions of people.

The reality is that both statements are true. The world is getting better, and the world is getting worse. If you believe Dr King (and we all should because he was correct) then we must admit that the reason the arc of the moral universe bends towards justice, is because the arc of the entire universe bends towards shalom. Shalom is the way the universe was created to be, and Shalom is how the universe will be again eventually. But we are stuck in the middle between these two paradises, wrestling daily with a broken world.

In theological circles, this perspective is often called the “Creation-Fall-Redemption-Restoration” worldview. Tim Keller and others have written extensively on this important subject. Believe it or not, this philosophical/theological discussion actually has some very practical applications for mission-minded executives.

One quick implication. If your business model relies on exploitation, informational-asymmetry, lust, greed, jealously, injustice or any sort of impure influences, then the days of your business model are numbered. I don’t know if the life expectancy of your business is 1 year or 1,000 years, but businesses that depend on impure influences will not last. They will eventually be replaced by business models that align with the fundamental design of the universe – shalom.

One quick example: it is very expensive to be poor. If you look at the retail banking industry over the last couple decades, it is easy to see that high-income consumers get free checking accounts because lower income customers pay a lot in overdraft fees. Even if you normalize for risk, there is a lot of injustice in this system. Lower income customers shouldn’t pay hundreds of dollars in fees to subsidize free banking services for higher income consumers. This is not shalom. This business model is misaligned with the fundamental design of the universe, so it will not last. And since 2008, as you should expect, it has been under attack from both legislation and competitors with better business models, more competitive cost structures and better risk-mitigation capabilities.

Second example: Victoria’s Secret. Do women have the right to buy underwear and feel sexy? Absolutely. Does women’s underwear need to be sold in such an overly sexualized, lust-inducing and insecurity-driving way? No. And in the last few years we’ve seen Victoria’s Secret struggle, because their business model is at odds with shalom.

How should Shalom shape your strategy?