Banger post as always Spencer. This framing of capitalism as ultimately a spiritual problem, one where consumption is a response to crises of hope and identity and despair, is so crucial. Often our culture is designed to making buying things (cars and clothes, skincare and sports equipment) a solution to disconnection from our land and bodies and communities. It's easier for me to buy a face cleanser that promises perfect skin than it is to believe that my face is perfect how it is made. There's so many pieces of what it means to bring reality inside the tumour: to challenge the lies the cells around us are told about growth at any costs being possible, and to do that gently and lovingly - it's so hard! (And as someone whose salary is provided by a company that makes the bulk of its money from ads I feel this *acutely*). I guess what I hold onto is: wouldn't it be wonderful to be free from wanting to be more beautiful and more wealthy, and instead have freedom to want to be more tethered and more abundant? And don't I want that for the people around me, too?
As an aside I loved the point about rubbish! Last time I was in India I visites my old neighbourhood and there was rubbish everywhere; it made me reframe it and think that my home in Aotearoa New Zealand probably produces more rubbish, we just have better systems that make it easier to whisk out of sight. Something that the Zero waste movement approaches with missed success, but that is another story
Thank you for this contribution. It resonates strongly on an 'as above, so below' level. Although uncomfortable to read, it also shines a light towards moving forward out of lethargy.
Banger post as always Spencer. This framing of capitalism as ultimately a spiritual problem, one where consumption is a response to crises of hope and identity and despair, is so crucial. Often our culture is designed to making buying things (cars and clothes, skincare and sports equipment) a solution to disconnection from our land and bodies and communities. It's easier for me to buy a face cleanser that promises perfect skin than it is to believe that my face is perfect how it is made. There's so many pieces of what it means to bring reality inside the tumour: to challenge the lies the cells around us are told about growth at any costs being possible, and to do that gently and lovingly - it's so hard! (And as someone whose salary is provided by a company that makes the bulk of its money from ads I feel this *acutely*). I guess what I hold onto is: wouldn't it be wonderful to be free from wanting to be more beautiful and more wealthy, and instead have freedom to want to be more tethered and more abundant? And don't I want that for the people around me, too?
As an aside I loved the point about rubbish! Last time I was in India I visites my old neighbourhood and there was rubbish everywhere; it made me reframe it and think that my home in Aotearoa New Zealand probably produces more rubbish, we just have better systems that make it easier to whisk out of sight. Something that the Zero waste movement approaches with missed success, but that is another story
Thank you for this contribution. It resonates strongly on an 'as above, so below' level. Although uncomfortable to read, it also shines a light towards moving forward out of lethargy.