Consumers

I hear we live in a consumer economy. The term is used in media constantly. It is a given. By defining human beings as consumers, some human beings exploit human greed and materialism for great profit. This is not new.

Stepping away from the addictive process of consuming every new thing is part of an awakening. The brainwashers of advertising use peer pressure and fear of isolation to peddle electronic devices, cars, clothing, alcohol and soft drinks. They used to peddle cigarettes in the same way, before the product was revealed to be more toxic than being the odd man out.

Watching television with commercials has always felt like manipulation to me. I could not enjoy the content of a drama or comedy without the nagging feeling that my brain was being programmed to do things against my better interests. I stopped watching commercial TV about twenty-five years ago.

I come back to the Japanese Buddhist mantra , "Person environment one." If you are submerged visually in commercial advertising all day, your mind and your environment are no longer your own. You are inhaling messages, overt and covert, which shape your ideals and your interests. The goal of the originators of these messages is simple. They wish to own you.

You are what you eat. In a similar way, you are what you watch and consume. Taking time away from the messages of media and the process of consuming or planning to consume is essential to finding your center. Meditation is a useful tool for this. Yoga is another. Other forms of focused activity, geared to releasing the mind from cluttered thought, are useful tools to break the pattern of wanting and buying and wanting more.

As I have said before, wanting more when you are full is a symptom of disease. The lords of the consumer economy never want you to stop wanting. This is a struggle for your health and mental well being in a world driven by money and profit. The choices are difficult and require great balance and persistence.

Change

Change is inevitable. Our bodies change constantly. The weather changes. The planet itself is always changing.

Human beings can execute behaviors, based on thought, which can change our environment. Yet, how do we use this exceptional ability? We use it to accumulate things at the expense of our health and well being.

The change which some politicians are promoting in their speeches is not really change for the betterment of the species or the planet. Their focus is to preserve the bad habits of materialism and selfishness which are rapidly degrading the planet. They are obsessed with human creations, wealth and power.

True change for the better would be focused on education, the alleviation of poverty by taxing the materialistic, directly dealing with overpopulation and holding responsible those who have plundered human wealth for irresponsible and destructive purposes. However, the domination of world governments by the very greedy corporate entities who have been destroying the planet for decades has perhaps already doomed the human species to a bleak future for some time to come.

Individual practice always allows for positive change in one human life. If the current destructive course of the human experience is to be reversed, individual practice will be at the core of that change. Living in the light of truth with compassion and responsibility is one way to create daily changes in the world, one life at a time.

Economics

The human economy reflects the folly of the human denial of the human condition. In general, human beings live their lives irresponsibly. This is grossly obvious in the state of the planet, which human beings continue to consciously pollute and abuse every day.

The vast ignorance and denial of the inevitable consequences of overpopulation among human beings of all social and educational levels is obvious in the lack of discussion of overpopulation by world leaders, scientists and educators. This too is irresponsible.

The economics of the human species are less science than manipulation of markets and money to perpetuate the power of the few at the expense of the many. The current turmoil in the global human economy is evidence of this reality.

Humans spend their lives trying to balance their conditioned denial and religious illusions with the reality of mortality and their own irresponsible attitudes toward their own species and the rest of the planet. These contradictions will not be balanced. By letting this farcical play fall apart, the human mind awakens. By embracing mortality and taking a determined path to make the world a better place with daily right action and right thought (practice), human Being can be happy Being, liberated from the pain of constant uncertainty and illusion.