Sunday, October 4, 2009
Abundance
Reading the section in Pink's book on abundance really had me thinking about what is important in life. I have never been one to love material things, but I occasionally enjoy nice things. When I read that Americans spend more on trash bags than ninety other countries spend on everything I was blown away. And how about designer toilet brushes! I find myself getting caught up in the more "stuff" race and looking back on those times it makes me angry I submitted myself to this. I wonder if we will shift from abundance as we search for meaning in life?
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A shift from striving toward material abundance would require a radical shift in how society defines success. Acquiring the most technologically advanced equipment is a concrete measurable entity. Acquiring a greater capacity to understand and serve others is vague and nebulous unless -- you are the recepient of such leadership.
ReplyDelete"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want," (but I do anyway).
ReplyDeleteIf anything could cause the shift, a greater recognition of meaning would do it. I hadn't thought of the potential of meaning to help us change from out materialistic society. It could work. But I don't think it will.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone else get a little rush when they buy something? I'm not ashamed to say I do. I think that's one reason Ebay is so successful. Like Amazon.com it lets you buy almost anything instantly, but the addition of the auction atmosphere lets you feel like you can buy a lot more at great deals. And it's no problem as long as you have the willpower to back off when the price gets too high (I love Ebay but I rarely end up buying anything).
It's interesting to think of the possible inverse relationship between abundance and meaning. As one goes up, the importance of the other goes down... I think we'd have to watch the world a long time to really see if it works that way.