Hook

I'm reading 'Hooked - Buddhist writings on greed, desire, and the urge to consume.' Its a little something for the holidays.

The book is a collection of essays written by various writers.

This excerpt from the essay 'Practicing Generosity in a Consumer World' is a straight forward take on a very obvious problem that not all, but many face simply by trying to live and work in our complex society.

"Consumerism is the current dominant form of capitalism, a system that biases capital over labor and money values over other values. Thus is biases the things that make money over things that make meaning, happiness, wisdom, compassion, and other virtues. In our world, consumerism is more than an economic system, more than political economy. It increasingly functions as substitute religion, debased, shallow, and unable to liberate. As the dominant value system, way of thinking, and way of life, consumerism has a powerful influence even on those of us who struggle against its seductive tentacles..."

Many have locked horns with this for years. Some give away large swaths of their lives to one or the other, money or meaning.

Everybody tries to find the right balance. Its a lifelong trick.