by John Young
In a http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2051 I quoted Oliver James as saying:
[quote”My explanation … is that the virus promotes Having over Being and the confusion (through advertising) of wants with needs.”[/quote
Even though Oliver James wrote a book on the topic, sometimes the most important truths, those that reach to the deepest levels, require barely a sentence.
The problem, in a nutshell, is that our culture has devolved to such an extent that it values what you own much more than what you are.Obviously, I have alluded to this problem within many contexts, though never so elegantly as Oliver James in this instance. In a very important sense, this simply-stated diagnosis lies at the root of many of the most serious problems that we face.
H1 & L1 Visas? The CEO’s responsible for importing them make more money, and thereby gain status. Our current consumerist culture values acquisition over any other trait, and will excuse evil-doers.
Illegal Immigration? Again, money is at the bottom of it, and justifies the destruction of our culture, our cohesiveness and even our genetic continuity.
The list goes on and on. And, of course, myriad social ills result, not the least of which are suicide and record levels of depression. When a culture has lost its moorings so badly that the genocide of its founding people can be justified by a ledger sheet, people are wandering around without any appreciable sense of meaning in their lives.
This problem is not entirely new. You may recall the stories of stock brokers throwing themselves out of windows during the Great Depression because the stock market had crashed. Think about that! All of that human potential, all of the many worthwhile attributes these people must have possessed, and they threw it away because they perceived themselves to have no value because they had lost their money.
Well – heads up – as I described in the http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=1888, tough economic times are coming. Even without Peak Oil, in spite of the booming stock market, foreclosures have hit an all-time high with many states going into crisis-mode. The real estate market is a bit depressed, and that is hurting other segments of the economy because so many people have been dipping into their home equity to buy stuff. Job loss is coming, because the Federal Reserve Chairman has predicted a recession less than a year away.
One of the biggest predictors of an adult male committing suicide is job loss.
Why?
Because, far too often, we define ourselves by our occupation and our ability to produce MONEY. When we stop producing money, we see ourselves as worthless.
This is an entrenched and constantly reinforced mindset, and it is important that you free yourself from it as soon as possible.
What makes you valuable is WHAT you are – what you have made of yourself in terms of your virtue, your ethics, and the various skills and talents you manifest. Start taking inventory, and invest some effort in self-overcoming so that everyday you are better than you were the day before; and you will weather the coming storms.
One of my friends is a devotee of the current market economy; and speaks glowingly of how the free market (as he describes it) rewards virtue.
To prove my point that wealth and virtue are not necessarily linked, ask yourself why a car salesman makes more money than a registered nurse. Ask yourself why a professional basketball player makes more money in a year than a cardiac surgeon will see in a lifetime. Ask yourself why a stock broker lives in the finest penthouses and drinks Champagne while a historian with a PhD is working at a convenience store.
It’s time to break the link: your virtue and value lie within you, and cannot be measured in dollars. Realizing and internalizing this is the first thing you need to do to prepare for the coming economic hardships.