This came up on my Facebook timeline and on reading it I realized how true it is. Consumerism and materialism are a disease that “encourages” us to be constantly dissatisfied with what we have and to constantly want better, bigger and newer, instead of being satisfied and happy with what we have.
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On that photographed page are amongst the silliest words I’ve ever seen strung together to form sentences. Think about this: That book has to make you miserable about having nice stuff so you’ll buy the book in the first place.
And you bought it.
Nobody wants to look old and wrinkly. Only the pompous young say they’ll grow old gracefully. Once age is tap dancing on your once beautiful face, much of that bluster goes out the window. That’s why they sell anti-aging cream… because people want to look pretty just a little longer. That book takes advantage of the same instinct: The elusive desire to be happy with who we are.
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Thanks for the comment – firstly, apologies for taking so long to reply ….
The words on the photo page are a very broad generalisation and lack the context of the book as a whole, having said that I do think that there is an undercurrent of truth in those words when we get down to the root cause of consumerism and materialism.
“And you bought it” – no I didn’t, not in any sense, I don’t own the book and it is also an observation/explanation (one of many) for much that I see around me!
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Let’s look at that book another way… The author didn’t release that book for free – or better yet, the publisher wouldn’t release it for free (or even at cost). Consumerism had to happen just for someone to buy the book so you could scan or take a photo of the page. I think too often, when we get caught up in “keeping up with the Jones’s”, the reaction can often be a complete 180, as you describe – eschewing material possessions. The key is balance, my friend. I imagine I could be happy with less, but that wouldn’t be by choice. On the other hand, I also don’t need much more than what I’ve got. I have balance in my life. Things, used properly and for good, are good.
Finally, maybe you do need to scale back and cut out buying things (or consumerism, as you call it). I’m okay with that choice for you. Just because I think it’s nuts doesn’t make it so. It just means I won’t be signing up for the newsletter. 😉
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“the key is balance” – I would definitely agree with that 🙂
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Excellent. Now let’s do like politicians and argue over what balance consists of, and then make rules about who can have what we end up deeming is the appropriate balance!
Just kidding, let’s call it good. Chuckle.
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