Blog #7: The Story of Stuff

Text 1: In our current economic system, we are considered to be "valueless" if we do not own or purchase a lot of stuff. When I heard this quote I immediately thought back to my Catholic Education and remembered how God warned us to not commit idolatry. I am referring here to the worship/infatuation with materialistic items that give us "value" in our current economic system.

Response 1: Well, it seems like we dropped the ball on this one. We fail miserably every day to adhere to one of God's most primitive guidelines for humanity. We are glued to our iPhone, constantly reverberating our ear drums with our headphones, incessantly e-mailing, and then heading home to our LCD televisions and overhead showers. The value has shifted from the now idealistic, intrinsic value that a human has, to the superficiality of the measure of how much "stuff" a human can obtain. And our consumption is only increasing at the video states. Hopefully we hit a roadblock soon that will slow us down and shift the focus back to what it should be.

Text 2: The quote from Victor Lebow disturbed me. Lebow said we have to live to consume at an ever-accelerating rate. Are we really supposed to make consumption our way of life? Have humans evolved into such a transitory species that we have to practice such rituals to live?

Response 2: Unfortunately, our economy has harvested this way of life. Especially living in New York, where I most recently bought a small glass of Lemonade at the Columbus Circle Mall for $4.08. When the cashier told me the total I almost did a double-take. I have seen meals at a diner cost less than $4.08. That's what NYC is today. In order to make it here, you've got to spend it here. The economy has transformed itself into an ever-consuming money pit that needs constant contributions to stimulate itself. It really says something about inflation and the nation's debt when I'm spending over 4 dollars for a SMALL glass of lemonade. I didn't even look at what a large would have costed. All I know is, I'm moving down South where the sun is shining and a small glass of lemonade is affordable.

More blog posts in this category Common

• The Wound & the Blessing/The Economy of Communion Project Post
• The Crest- Jewel of Wisdom & Work as a Spiritual Practice Post
• "What Money Can't Buy" Blog Post
• Blog Post Ni: FTRN Booklet & Arithmetic of Passion
• Work as a Spiritual Practice (The Transformation of Work)