Introduction
Swenson’s work handles the subject of margin in an attempt to build a new integrated health paradigm that begins with margin.[1] The central idea is that margin is the lacking element that was taken for granted and not recognized by earlier generations that is much needed today.[2] Overall, the point is that margin is presented by Swenson as being the key to solving today’s problems that most vex people.
Book Summery
Swenson’s book is dedicated to, “…exposing and correcting the specific kind of pain that comes from marginless living.”[3] In this regard margin for Swenson is having extra of resources, and his case is that people today often live in a world without margin such that small problems can have compound results from problems causing a chain reaction.[4] Swenson makes the basic case that most people experience pain of some sort, and that pain can be a symptom of overload.[5] Swenson’s prescription in this case is to give margin in order to restore health,[6] and in this way Swenson would combat the problem of marginless living.
Swenson shows that despite having realized the utopia vision of food, health, warm homes, education, and affluences, these things have not brought about stress free, frustration free, and despair free living.[7] His case thus is that many of his patients are exhausted, depressed, and stressed, and many are desperate because their jobs have no security, their farms are repossessed, their marriages are troubled, they are overrun with debt, and their children are submerged by cultural forces.[8] Swenson goes on to argue that the cultures with the most progress have the least margin,[9] and in this regard the price that is paid for progress is the calamity that overtakes people through stress, exhaustion, and depression.
Swenson argues the case as well that limits have shown themselves to emerge in a world that was otherwise thought limitless as exponential growth has often been suddenly halted,[10] and thus Swenson shows that since margin was a space between limits and one’s own self, margin was eliminated by the exponential growth of progress suddenly arriving at limits.[11] Swenson also makes the case that stress often occurs as a byproduct of progress like exhaust from a car,[12] but regardless of this fact many use stress to their advantage in order to cause creativity (an excess is damaging and is called hyperstress).[13] Swenson goes on to describe many that thrive on stress and living without margin as such people would not want to live any other way,[14] but the implication is that having too much stress can hurt most people.
Swenson gives the analogy that experiencing overload as a result of having no margin and having far exceeded limits is like being, “splashed” by a large group of Chicago Bears.[15] Swenson thus gives a diagram showing the optimal point that maximizes productivity and stress as it looks like a parabola,[16] but because of the fact that many exceed the optimal point, Swenson gives three pages to definitions of various types of overload that occur from having greatly exceeded limits.[17] Swenson goes on to argue in contrast that to have margin allows a freedom to exist that permits rest and allows for the purposes of God to work as it produces the opposite of overload.[18]
Swenson discovered that the total ability of a person minus the load equals margin,[19] and thus one can argue that increased ability can be the key to reducing stress by increasing margin. To this end Swenson discovered four key areas for margin as these are emotional energy, physical energy, time and finances.[20] Swenson goes on to give the cures for restoring margin in emotional energy as these are cultivating social support,[21] petting a surrogate, reconciling relationships,[22] serving one another,[23] resting,[24] laughing, crying,[25] creating boundaries,[26] envisioning a better future, offering thanks, granting grace,[27] being rich in faith, holding fast to hope,[28] and most importantly love.[29] Swenson goes on to give cures for restoring margin in physical energy as these cures cover a total of twenty-four possible cures over about ten pages,[30] but the most notable is changing habits.[31] The cures for restoring margin in time are expecting the unexpected, learning to say no,[32] turning off the television, reducing activities,[33] practicing simplicity, understanding time and technology,[34] making clear distinctions between the short term problems and the long term vision, thanking God,[35] getting less done while doing the right thing, enjoying anticipation while relishing memories,[36] not rushing wisdom,[37] creating buffer zones, planning free time, and being available.[38] The cures for restoring margin in finances are demolishing the power of money over us, acting counter culturally,[39] not living beyond means, disciplining desires while defining needs,[40] decreasing spending,[41] increasing income,[42] increasing savings, making a budget,[43] discarding credit cards, not mortgaging against the future,[44] resisting impulses, sharing things by lending and borrowing, not living fashionably,[45] fast, and putting the kingdom of God first.[46] Overall, Swenson has give a vast categorization of cures for restoring margin to all four of the main types of marginless living that people face.
Swanson presents the fact that ninety percent of health has to do with things unrelated to medical establishment, and he believes that simplicity, balance, rest, and contentment can all contribute to promoting margin.[47] The implication that more margin means greater health cannot be underestimated as it can be seen as a wellspring of heath. Simplicity is described by Swanson as being voluntary, free, uncluttered,[48] natural, creative, authentic, focused, margined, disciplined,[49] diligent, and healthful.[50] Also a person can restore the balance in their life by regaining control, placing God as the center of everything, not becoming increasingly imbalanced to solve imbalance, and allowing others to find their own balance.[51] Swanson lastly describes rest as including physical, emotional, and spiritual rest.[52] Overall, Swanson thus provides powerful factors for influencing margin, and these factors are understood to greatly influence health a person’s total overall heath.
Book Critique and Evaluation
Swenson is very clear that margin does indeed solve the main problem of stress that would otherwise cause a person to be overloaded and unable to function. The problem that can however occur is that God may desire an investment of talents that are only possible if a person serves the system of the world first and then devotes every other resource to building God’s kingdom. The reason why such would be so is because today Jesus does not always say to people, “come and follow me” but instead many churches teach people to devote themselves first to the work of their hands to have enough for themselves and others before they may follow Christ. When this happens, people often may never get ahead because their work may demand priority in their lives (especially with work on Sunday), and thus stress is caused by people being unable to satisfy God’s expectations by being trapped into a wicked system that enslaves them.
A person could thus utilize Swenson’s ideology to increase margin in living while others thus bring slavery through steeling margin. If for example a person buys a large portion of land for a small house for the sake of growing food for living in simplicity, others may disapprove and raise property tax as a result. If a person buys a very old but reliable car and it does not satisfy the expectations of others in a neighborhood, then it may be towed away by the city (a lesson from personal experience). If a person chooses to dress in clothing from a thrift store as opposed to new clothing, then that person may receive social condemnation that cannot be atoned for in the public opinion (another point from experience). Overall, without the respect granted to a person like Swenson for being a medical doctor, he could suffer harsh and crippling consequences by others for living in a way that others see as disrespectful of the most, “prosperous, productive, and best nation on earth.” (The American dream)
The fact that many people live in such high pride for the little they know that they have worked years to obtain, the little they have that they have toiled effortlessly to gain, and the grand status that a new car made out of cheep plastic affords all means that the common person may have hatred for others that do not live the same lifestyle. The fact that the common person with a secular high school education would in many cases find themselves to be expects of religion above and beyond a doctor of the subject is astonishing, and what the attitude portrays is that in many cases the common person is highly offended by genuine lifestyle and living. The world of margin involves living below societal expectations for dreams and visions that would otherwise outstrip reality, and so when a common person would see someone with a lot of margin in their life, it serves as a ‘wake up’ call to reality to that deluded person and thus people with lots of margin would and do offend the common person that lives marginless.
The problem that Swenson may not have encountered is that many times people that do not invest their talents will slander those that do behind their backs and seek to destroy them because of their wealth and because of a disparity between the rich and the poor as a result. When a person is rich but chooses to live in simplicity, it mocks the enemy more and causes a very deep hatred and desire for the enemies of God to gain the upper hand. When people work so very hard in talentless labor to have the little that they have, then they can feel mocked if someone that has lots of talents lives just like them because it sends a clear message to the poor by the rich that money and the values of the poor ‘idolater’ are indeed worthless. Overall, Swenson does not appear to see such issues because he is removed from feeling their effects as a result of his position in life (people often already worship Medical Doctors as gods), and so his work is rather simple and incomplete.
Personal Application
The best personal application of Swenson’s work is to do the things that Swenson suggests while finding clever ways of encouraging others to do the same without causing social condemnation. The fact that the existence of margin will result in the societal, ‘gods’ not being worshiped will indeed show a break of faith from the mainstream culture. An application that thus goes along with the break from being marginless is the development of apologetics to argue why it is better to have less than to constantly put everything on the line.
The best application is thus not to sacrifice the long term for the sake of gaining the short run as is often the case with those that argue for margin from a secular perspective. When margin for example is gained by a teen that reduces his college class load in order to live a better life through working more, the result is a sacrifice of the long term for the short run. Many of such people have found that they enjoyed the extra margin so much that they would drop out of school altogether and focus only on getting a weekly paycheck because it is a lifestyle of margin and simplicity, but as time progresses the lack of a early investment in education often renders a light harvest in maturity. Knowing this, the best application of such a principle in ministry is to gain as much margin as possible in order to make as much future investment as possible in order that the future is totally sustained by the past investment.
If margin can be always applied to future investment for the pleasure in planting and the joy of harvesting, then no need exists in being held captive by the world system that dictates values and causes stress that propels people to do what they would otherwise not do if they had the option of being blessed for not doing it. The best application of margin thus is to develop a lifestyle of independent investment that renders freedom such that no need exists for individuals to be enslaved by their flesh or the flesh of others. Overall, by being self propelled as like the Amish (on the settlement) life is like flying a plain freely in any direction such that the destination is always eternal life as the plain (settlement) reproduces its own fuel and is not under any rules laws or control except for what God gives it.
Conclusion
Swenson’s work can be like transforming the world around the Christian into an advanced Amish civilization. Swenson has discovered some of the secrets of how to live the dream of margin that the Amish have always considered utopian without having to separate one’s self from the world. Overall, the fundamental principle for Swenson is simply to continually live in such a way as to have extra of all resources, and thus a person would continually hold themselves back from indulging in utilizing all of their resources.
Bibliography:
Swenson, Richard. Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives. Colorado Springs, Colorado: NavPress, 2004.
[1]Swenson, 151
[2] Note Ibid, 42
[3] Ibid, 15
[4] Ibid, 13
[5] Ibid, 17
[6] Ibid, 17
[7] Ibid, 22
[8] Ibid, 25
[9] Ibid, 25
[10] Ibid, 41
[11] Ibid, 42
[12] Ibid, 43
[13] Ibid, 44-45
[14] Ibid, 52
[15] Ibid, 53
[16] Ibid, 55
[17] See Ibid, 61-63
[18] Ibid, 69
[19] Ibid, 70
[20] Ibid, 78
[21] Ibid, 86
[22] Ibid, 87
[23] Ibid, 88
[24] Ibid, 89
[25] Ibid, 90
[26] Ibid, 91
[27] Ibid, 91-92
[28] Ibid, 93
[29] Ibid, 94
[30] See Ibid, 98-108
[31] Ibid, 99
[32] Ibid, 122
[33] Ibid, 123
[34] Ibid, 124
[35] Ibid, 125
[36] Ibid, 126
[37] Ibid, 127
[38] Ibid, 128
[39] Ibid, 140
[40] Ibid, 141
[41] Ibid, 142
[42] Ibid, 143
[43] Ibid, 144
[44] Ibid, 145
[45] Ibid, 146
[46] Ibid, 147
[47] Ibid, 151
[48] Ibid, 172
[49] Ibid, 173
[50] Ibid, 174
[51] Ibid, 190
[52] Ibid, 196
