Summary
Richard A.
Swenson is a medical doctor who has written several different books. This book
fits into the system of books that has been written by him, it seems as though
most of them focus to some degree on margin and things dealing with it. For the
purpose of this critique we will be evaluating only the first ten chapters of
this fifteen-chapter work. The ten chapters we are going to be evaluating fall
into two separate categories that the author has established. Chapters 2-5 are
in what he calls The Problem: Pain. While chapters 6-10 are The Prescription:
Margin.
None of the
chapters are terribly long, each being about ten pages sometimes twenty not
much more than that. Before Dr. Swenson gets too deep into the problem he
starts off explaining how we go about in marginless living. You could say that
marginless living is living with no room for the unexpected. Swenson defines
margin in this manner, “Margin, on the other hand, is having breath left at the
top of the staircase, money left at the end of the month, and sanity left at
the end of adolescence.” [1]
After
defining what margin and marginlessness is, he goes on to lay out what he call
the four areas of pain: progress, problems, stress, and overload. What exactly is progress and why is it a
problem? According to Swenson, “Simply stated, progress means proceeding to a
higher stage of development.”[2]
So, progress is technological advancement, along with advancement in other
field or area you can thank of. For most people I would assume that the
problems of pain and stress seem to be pretty self-explanatory. While the
problem of overload may seem the same way, is not exactly the case. How does
one differentiate the problems of stress from that of overload? It is not so
simple to answer that question. I would guess to say that stress is our
reaction to the situation while overload is not just one situation but the
taking on and handling of too many different things. He responds in kind to the
four areas of pain with four different prescriptions to help change the pain to
healing. The areas of healing are in emotional, physical, time and finances.
Critique
Swenson has
some valuable input when we sit down and take the time to read and digest what
he is saying. Progress is dangerous when it is not kept in check. Swenson says,
“Before we can subjugate progress, we must first break the addiction.”[3]
This is not going to be easy because
progress has crept into every area of our lives, so now vigilance is required
so that progress does not gain any further ground. A great statement that he
makes is found in his section on stress. I had never thought of it the way he
defined it. “Stress is not the circumstance, it is our response to the
circumstance.”[4] He
also speaks about vacations and how they are supposed to be joyful and
restorative, that is something I have always struggled with, which means I may
be a type A according to Swenson. He says, “Most people find a vacation
relaxing, but type A’s often do not. “[5]
“The
overload syndrome is often inaccurately labeled weakness, apathy, or lack of
commitment.”[6] It
is a shame for people who have taken on so much to be given such negative
labels. They are more than likely people who struggle with the ability to say
no. So what is needed is margin, “Margin is the opposite of overload.”[7]
We often look back at how bad generations before us had it without the modern amenities
we often take for granted, but Swenson makes an excellent point, “The past
might have been poor and deprived in many respects, but its people had margin.”[8]
I am not
sure whether or not I agree with this statement, “Emotional overload saps our
strength, paralyzes our resolve, and maximizes our vulnerability, leaving the
door open for even further margin erosion.”[9]
There seems to be a lot of truth behind that simple statement, because our
emotions play such a vital role in our lives and how we process the things
going on around us. It is safe to assume that most people would feel blessed
(or at least should) by the amount of things they have but, “the widespread use
of illicit drugs in our country is evidence that many perceive their personal
lot not as a blessing to celebrate but, instead, as a burden to escape from.”[10]
This is a shame because it shows us that we no longer worship the creator, but
we have been worshiping creation and it is not meeting the void it has created
inside of us.
As a person
who lives with depression, I appreciate the fact he did not brush it of as
merely psychosomatic when he said, “A depressed person suffers a type of
anguish which in its own way can be as painful as anything that can happen to a
human being.”[11]
One other thing that I really appreciate about his work is that he does not
just tell you that your life is screwed up and there is no hope. I like the
fact that he mentions God in positive ways and offers solutions while they are
broad because not everyone’s situation is similar. One of the best statements
that he made was “Progress brings technology, affluence, and education, but not
the kind of inner discipline necessary to maintain sound physical health.”[12]
And he is right; there is no amount of money or advancement that can make a
person do what they do not already want to do for themselves.
Evaluation
Swenson has
written a book that can do the world some good not just pastors. I would
recommend this work to anyone with the caveat not to read it unless you are
fully alert, because most of the text is very dry. This work can add to the
field of pastoral ministry by providing pastors with material that can be used
in counseling sessions, and personal application. This book is beneficial
because Swenson seemed to work very hard to offer real life principals and
anecdotes. I have ready many different
books on the condition of man, and this one has to be one of the better ones on
getting the closest to why we are as miserable as we are. When you read this
work he is saying that we have allowed so many things to crowd our lives we
have no space, among that no space is time with/for God and the things He wants
for us. While I may not agree with everything this author has had to say there
is much from this book that can be taken away.
Bibliography
Swenson, Richard A. Margin: Restoring emotional, physical, financial,
and time reserves to overloaded lives. Colorado
Springs: Navpress, 2004.
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