The Financial Philosopher

The Decline of America Part I: What Consumes the Consumers?

"Paradoxically, what keeps the so-called consumer society going is the fact that trying to find yourself through things doesn’t work:  The ego satisfaction is short-lived and so you keep looking for more, keep buying, keep consuming." ~ Eckhart Tolle

There was a time in history when humans only consumed what they needed to survive and reproduce. However, humans have "evolved" to mindlessly consume much more than is needed. In nature, at least as it is explained by humans (science), living things can be either a producer (makes its own food), consumer (gets food from other living things), or a decomposer (breaks down other living things to get nutrients). Human beings are consumers.

But what consumes the consumers? Assuming humans are at the top of the "food chain," the only thing that can consume us is ourselves. And this occurs as a direct result of unconsciousness--the lack of awareness (ignorance). This consumption is not just a physical one; it is also mental, emotional and spiritual.

This post will serve as the first in a series of three or four posts that philosophically observes the decline of Western Civilization, especially in America.  Here are some initial points to provoke and prepare your and my thoughts:

• Humans consume information but information consumes attention. The wealth of information that exists today equals a poverty of attention. The mind is the gateway to authenticity, productivity, spirituality and thus the mind is the enabler of the overall well-being of individuals. But without attention, the mind is not awake. Therefore the decline of attention translates into an increase in entropy--an increase in useless energy--and thus the figuritive light of the individuals that make up the society fades... and thus the society fades...
• The term consumer is not just a scientific one. It is most commonly known today as an economic one that refers to the end users of products and services in economic and social systems. These consumers and their collective economic activity make up the vast majority of the economy, as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Therefore the vast majority of economic energy is spent keeping the consumers well-fed with food, money, and media messages to continue their growth and thus the growth of the economy. However, this effort translates into the interior deterioration of the economy itself over time, much like the body, mind and spirit of the consumers (individuals in society) deteriorates..
• The increase in the capacity to connect people together has paradoxically divided the world into tiny cultural segments. Connectivity is diminishing into segmentation.
• The increase in the availability and accessibility of luxury and convenience makes bodies and minds lazy. Therefore we grow physically overweight, mentally weak and spiritually dim.
• When people grow accustomed to illusion, they require greater illusions to be satisfied. Therefore only a "better illusionist" will succeed in this environment. This partially explains why politicians have evolved to be more magician and less leader in recent decades.
• The need to be satisfied cannot be fulfilled if the appetite for satisfaction can grow without limit. Consumption increases the appetite and thus there is no means of "satisfaction" in absence of consciousness.

These are just some of the themes that will be addressed in this series of posts that I currently foresee as my next book project (the current one is near completion, which provides excuse for my light posting lately).

I hope you'll join the conversation as we work to awaken ourselves, our friends, our families, our nations and the world. This may sound a bit grandiose in nature but such is the nature of a "crisis in consciousness," as Jiddu Krishnamurti so aptly labeled the modern sickness of society.

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Related: The American Awakening

The 'Four F's': Pressing Your Buttons

"Memes involving danger, food, and sex spread faster than other memes because we are wired to pay more attention to them--we have buttons around those subjects." ~ Richard Brodie

In his best-selling book,Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme, Richard Brodie provides an interesting and insightful look into the impact of memes--what he calls the DNA of human society. 

A meme is a basic unit of imitation.  All trends, social conventions and religions are built on memes.  Like DNA, a meme's purpose is to copy itself.  Genetic evolution can take decades, centuries or millennia.  However, a meme--an idea, a catchy phrase, a trendy behavior--can evolve almost instantaneously, especially in the incredibly interconnected world in which we live today.   

The most effective memes are the ones that spread the easiest.  Think of a photograph or video that gets spread quickly on the Internet.  It is said to have gone "viral."  Memes can also survive beyond the short-term trend and spread across vast regions of space and time. 

But what makes the most effective memes successful?  How do some ideas, images and messages catch our attention more than others?  According to Brodie, memes are like a computer software that builds on basic brain functions or "hardware design."  The hardware (brain) is driven by the most basic human drives, such as hunger, fear and sex.  The software (memes) enhance the functionality of the hardware.  This hardware/software design has been fundamentally the same since primitive man.

"In other words, our brains made us better at pursuing the four basic drives animals have, fondly referred to by zooligists as the "four F's": fighting, fleeing, feeding, and--er--finding a mate." ~ Richard Brodie Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme

The marketing adage, "sex sells and we're buying," is true.  This can be extended to fear, food and fighting.  From these basic brain functions our figurative buttons are formed.  Mass media and marketing messages use these buttons to get your attention.  The buttons are commonly pressed by asking questions with one of the four F's imbedded:

• Are your children safe riding the bus?
• Got milk?
• Hungry for Pizza?
• Will the European Debt Crisis Tip the World into Recession?

One of the key lessons I took away from this book is that there are few human beings who are conscious of their surroundings and are therefore rarely acting authentically -- they live in a kind of dream state -- by eating, buying and socializing without knowing why they do what they do -- they imitate and replicate -- memes and DNA go on surviving long after we are gone.

"The word pay in 'pay attention' is quite apt.  As we are conscious beings, attention is our most precious commodity.  Attention is a piece of our consciousness, a slice of our human life.  When we direct our attention at something, we are spending a piece of conscious life." ~ Richard Brodie,Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme

Imitation is human but it may be best used as a tool for learning, especially when young.  Once we learn how to function in our environment, we may then move on to learning about ourselves.  The challenge, however, is that self-knowledge and self-awareness take a conscious mind, which is not part of our hard-wiring.

It is not necessary for a computer to understand how it is programmed--it just runs the program.  Similarly, our brains naturally and automatically perform very simple and specific tasks.  Therefore the natural tendency for humans is to go on through life without consciousness and our buttons are easily pressed.

Try finding the memes that have become your programming:  Where did your attitudes about money come from?  Why do you tend to vote for the same political party?  What made you buy the food item that wasn't on your list?  Begin by recognizing how you are programmed to think and act in a certain way.  You are then enabled to "de-program" yourself and act consciously and authentically. 

Now, if we can only spread this meme to others we may build a better world!

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Source: Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme

Related Post: The Paradox of Habit Part II: Antonyms of Creative Thought

Balancing Human and Being

"You are a human being. What does that mean? Mastery of life is not a question of control, but of finding a balance between human and Being." ~ Eckhart Tolle

Does the stock market make you anxious?  Do you get angry when someone cuts you off in traffic?  Do you spend more time thinking about and planning for the future than you spend living in the present moment?  Have you put off taking steps toward the life you've imagined?   Of course you do!  You're human!  But how human are you?

If you answer 'yes' to most of these questions, you have an unhealthy balance of human and being; you are more brain than mind, more ego than authentic self, more money than meaning, more plan than purpose, more somewhere else than where you are now, more human than being.

"The ego doesn’t know that the source of all energy is within you, so it seeks it outside." ~ Eckhart Tolle

There is no denying the fact that you are human--you are flawed. So you easily forget who you are and why you live because you get caught up in the illusion of a world of forms (thoughts, words, things perceived by the senses) that your brain/ego can grasp and use as identity.  Translation:  You think you need outside things (money, material wealth, other people) to give you a sense of self; and as you continue seeking these things, you lose the life that you are.  You need to get back to Being.

"Whatever has being does not become; whatever becomes does not have being." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Conversely, the attempt at denying the human in you--to move too far from human--can create its own illusion.  Even the attempt to force away outside influences--to become an island unto yourself, if you will, is a work of ego.   You decide to create your own reality and rationalize away anything that disagrees with your thoughts and ideas. 

So what can be done?  Your human nature can be self-destructive and denying it can cause incredible tension and inner termoil. Accepting your human flaws is to flow with nature.  However, the human that exists without awareness is a child without a parent, a brain without a mind, a mindless existence.

"What this has taught me I think all of us had better learn.  There are no perfect human beings!  Persons can be found who are good, very good indeed, in fact, great.  There do in fact exist creators, seers, sages, saints, shakers, and movers.  This can certainly give us hope for the future of the species even if they are uncommon and do not come by the dozen.  And yet these very same people can at times be boring, irritating, petulant, selfish, angry, or depressed.  To avoid disillusionment with human nature, we must first give up our illusions about it." ~ Abraham Maslow

The antidote to the disease we may call the human condition is simple awareness--a balance of Human and Being.  The mind becomes the adult and the brain is the child.  Both have their redeeming qualities; both have their destructive tendencies; but together they strike a healthy balance of responsibility and adventure, chaos and order, dreaming and consiousness, wrecklessness and control, play and work, observer and observed, lost and found, planner and wanderer, selfishness and unselfishness and so on.

Human and Being are not opposing forces but rather two parts that create a balance.  See it, enjoy it, embrace it.

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Related:

Mind vs Brain Part I: We are only Human