War Profiteering and Economic Justice
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” — 1 Timothy 6:10
This week, journalist, Damian Carrington, at The Guardian reported that the world’s largest oil companies are making more than $30 million an hour in excess profits as war drives up global energy prices. Since the conflict escalated, these companies have taken in tens of billions in windfall gains while households across the world absorb rising costs for fuel and electricity.1
He writes:
ExxonMobil, which has a long record of denying climate change, will take in $11bn in unearned war profits in 2026 if the $100 price endures. Shell will get a $6.8bn boost. The value of both companies, like others, has risen significantly due to increases in share prices in the month after the Iran war began: ExxonMobil is worth $118bn more, Shell $34bn more.
Chevron is on track to make windfall profits from the Iran war of $9.2bn, according to the analysis. The company’s chief executive, Mike Wirth, has also benefited, selling $104m worth of Chevron shares between January and March.
These numbers are not hidden. They are reported plainly. War raises prices. Higher prices generate profit. That profit goes to those at the top, not to the people who are paying the price. We can understand the mechanics and still miss the meaning.
Professor, Dr. Ruth Ben-Ghait,2 says it this way:
“It has become evident that we are in a time of moral collapse: a time when plunderers of foreign territories, the environment, bodies, minds, and economies, who know they are on the decline, are trying to seize and exploit as much as they can before they are vanquished.”
Jewish ethics has a concept called geneivat da’at. People often translate it as deception, but that word does not capture its full meaning. It is more about relationships and is more serious. It means shaping reality so others cannot see clearly. It is stealing someone’s understanding. It’s not a lie, exactly. It’s harder to call out.
When people call profits from war “market responses,” they aren’t owning the full truth. The words are technically correct, but they miss the moral side. This language separates the human story from the economic facts. It lets us talk about prices without talking about people’s pain.
Once we make that separation, the system keeps going without being challenged. This is how moral harm spreads, not just through actions, but also through the way things are explained.
The prophets in the Hebrew Bible did not accept that split. They kept economic life and moral life connected. They said that how wealth is made is just as important as how it is used. They did not let people hide behind complicated ideas or distance.
They described what was happening in clear, simple words: People were suffering. Others were gaining. The link between the two was not by chance.
We are facing a similar situation now.
Most of us are not making choices in corporate boardrooms, but we are still part of the system. We rely on it and take part in it. The gap between our daily lives and these global patterns is smaller than we might think.
Realizing this can feel overwhelming. It is easier to step back and see it as something too big to understand or too deep to challenge.
But geneivat da’at warns us not to do that. It reminds us that being clear is a moral duty. When the truth is hidden, even by accident, harm keeps happening without anyone stopping it.
So we start by telling the truth as humbly as we can. War is not only a geopolitical event. It is also an economic engine. Suffering is not just a tragedy. In this system, it is also a way for some to make money. We do not have to exaggerate to say this. We just need to avoid making it sound less serious than it is.
Then we have to choose how we will live with what we know, as participants who can pay attention, name what is happening, and, in small but real ways, choose to act differently.
We are not being called to be pure. That idea will fall apart quickly. We are being called to be honest. To reject words that hide harm. To push back against stories that make harm seem normal. To stay aware of the human cost built into the systems we depend on.
If we lose this awareness, we lose something important in ourselves. We risk becoming people who see suffering and call it opportunity.
That is a line we cannot cross without losing our sense of direction.
We are in this together,
Cameron
A Note from Cameron
I am away for the next two weeks on a trip to Italy. A little work and a little fun. I will do my best to send out meditations, but if I miss some days, don’t worry. I will be back in the swing when I return.
Reflection Questions
Where have you accepted language that explains away harm rather than revealing it?
What does it cost you, personally, to see this reality clearly?
Where are you being asked to stay awake rather than turn away?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer For Clear Seeing
God of truth, You see what we are tempted to overlook. You see the lives behind the numbers, the suffering behind the systems, the cost behind the convenience. Keep us from becoming numb. Keep us from accepting what diminishes life. Teach us to see clearly and to live honestly in a world that rewards something less. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
A Ritual of Refusal and Reorientation
Set aside five to ten minutes today for a simple act of attention.
Begin by placing an object in front of you that represents your daily dependence on energy. It could be your phone, your car keys, or even a bill. Let it sit there, visible and ordinary.
Stand or sit quietly. Take a slow breath and name, either out loud or silently:
This connects me to systems I do not fully see.
Let your mind widen. Consider the chain behind it. The land. The labor. The policies. The conflicts. Do not rush past this. Stay long enough for it to feel real, not abstract.
Then speak a simple refusal: I refuse to call harm normal.
Pause.
Follow it with a reorientation: I choose to see clearly and to honor life where I can.
If it feels right, place your hand on the object for a moment as an acknowledgment. You are not outside this system. You are choosing how to live within it.
Close by taking one concrete step today that reflects this awareness. It does not have to be large. It does need to be intentional.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
My team and I launched a new experiment we are calling “The Commons.” It’s an online space centered around communities of practice: groups of people who share a common concern, set of problems, or passion for a topic, and deepen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on an ongoing basis. Join the community here.
May 27, 2026, 12pm ET - FREE WEBINAR - I will be hosting an online experience titled “Reclaiming the Power of Imagination: A live experiential webinar with Jackie Sussman." Jackie, a psychotherapist, author, and leading expert in Eidetic Image Psychology, has spent over forty years helping leaders and individuals unlock creativity, uncover hidden strengths, and move through limiting patterns. During this session, she will lead a live Eidetic process shaped by mythic imagery, offering a direct experience of the work. REGISTER HERE.
On July 19-24, 2026, I’ll be leading a Women’s Wellness Retreat in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming, and I’d love to extend the invitation to you. We’ll spend five days off the grid, riding horses through wide open landscapes, sharing meals, and creating space to slow down enough to hear ourselves think again. This retreat is about returning to yourself, settling your nervous system, letting go of what you’ve been carrying, and getting clearer about what matters now. The group will be small (no more than 10 women), and we’ll move at a steady, spacious pace, with plenty of room for both conversation and quiet. I hope you’ll consider joining us.
I drafted a Strategic Framework for Congregations as we move into the coming years of increased authoritarianism around the world. If interested, you can download it here.
Fun Things My Friends Are Up To…
I get to work with such amazing, creative people. This section is my way of celebrating them—no paid promotions, just joy in what they’re creating.
My colleague, the amazing Rev. Anna Golladay, is hosting another online training in Protest and Action Chaplaincy. This course offers a framework for providing compassionate, grounded spiritual care during protests, advocacy gatherings, and social movements. Drawing from a variety of faith traditions and critical social justice theory, it equips chaplains, pastors, and spiritual leaders to respond with integrity, purpose, and preparedness. LEARN MORE HERE.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
“Shaping reality so others cannot see clearly” - thank you for that framework. We live within so many systems that do just that, that predate upon ordinary people to fuel profit and power - whether in energy, agriculture, governance- so many systems that need reform.
I nearly forgot. Enjoy your time away. A getaway - especially to someplace as beautiful and enchanting as Italy - and especially if you’re with someone special - can be as close to perfection as we get. Perhaps you could stop by Vatican City and offer your support to the Pope. Not that he needs it 😉.