Discuss: The Gospel of Consumption

Peace and the responses to this are great.
But let me add another fast observation about this situtation.
It seems that this whole idea is even connected with a lot of the
religous behavior that goes on the
planet. Some people seem to think that this life is only about being here,consume then die and maybe go
to some heaven or hell.
Depending on what a person’s believes. After reading this article and some of the comments.
I think this whole idea has been
a great big con job on the masses
of the people and the people on the planet and all these countries
need to get hip and change their
self destruction ways soon.

Dear Peter,

There are many problems that are associated with “religious” behavior and the harsh dogmas underpinning religions.  And yes, I agree that the rankling among those who hold fanatically to one religion and deny the efficacy of others are exemplars and victims of “a great big con job”, as you put it.

Having said this, let me add that I draw a “line in the sand” between this destructive thought and behavior on one hand, and the thinking and behavior of people who embrace the spirit of God on the other.

As I see it, one of most colossal mistakes in our time is the perpetration of a consensually validated, false dichotomy by many too many people in science and in the religions The scientists say “god is a delusion and lay claim to the perspective of arrogant, overly educated and evidently deluded atheists. People of the religions deny that science is from God and provides the best available evidence for determining what is real with regard to the biophysical world we inhabit.

If we imagine for a moment that science is a gift to humanity from God; that science is of God, then science is a guide to human beings.  Of course, this idea cannot be construed to mean that people “cherry pick” the attractive scientific evidence which supports ideology.  Science is not be deployed for the sake of self-interests and self-aggrandizement. Ideological idiocy is justified in this way.

Science is to be completely embraced the way one wholeheartedly maintains faith in God.
The emerging and converging ecological challenges posed to the human family by greed-mongerers who rule the world in these days and produced the current global economic crisis remind me of the following views that were left as instructions for all of us by a person of God, I believe.

“The unforgiveable sins this earth must confront and overcome are nationalism, capitalism, and hoarding. The idea of every nation should be forgot, price should be struck from the commons, and princes should be seen for the devils they are. The sins include our church, secret societies, and other religions which make of the spirit of God a divide.”

“Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.”

Pope John Paul II.

Sincerely,

Steve

I have long been fascinated by the thought that we are taught in certain belief systems that God is in fact rewarding us in terms of cash and consumables for being “good” and that poverty is somehow related to being “bad.”

I have a related, but different question to pose on the over consumption which is killing us and our beloved planet. The best answer I can surmise from the data in regards to how quickly this planet will self destruct will occur is sooner than we’d like. Is it possible that the three million people who suffer from hoarding syndrome are in fact victims of the industrial lifestyle and that this is yet another way in which we are dying from over consumption? Everytime I hear of another person being trapped under their belongings and dying I wonder how many others are just another trip to the mall away from a similar fate. Even if they don’t have enough to physically crush them, aren’t they in fact being crushed under the weight of a sick modern lifestyle which says buy more and be more? It seems to me that prior to the industrial revolution hoarding would have been pretty difficult since very few had even enough much less excess. Food for thought.
I agree “con job” is an appropriate way to describe the lifestyle we have been sold and continues on as I write this.

Two responses:

Dear Peter,

Just for the sake of clarity about the widely shared, false dichotomy of science and religion, let me add just a bit more to my previous statements.  Perhaps there is a deeply structured harmony between religion and science.  And this unity is derived from one source… God.

Dear Ellen,

Your perspective is wonderful. It appears our leaders are advocating that we choke ourselves and the living Earth to death. Bloated, bloviating Masters of the Universe among us could share but choose to conspicuously consume and excessively hoard resources as well as, of all things, to profanely proclaim that they are doing “God’s work”. Who knows, maybe these self-proclaimed Masters of the Universe are indeed among the ‘princes’ who need to be named, shamed and seen for the devils they are?

Sincerely,

Steve

Dear Steve Salmony:
I was rereading what you posted and what you said was on point
and applies to a lot of the situtations going on now on the planet.
Myself,I have had to deal with
the question of being a believer
or non-beliver by somebody that might approach me on the street.
When I have tried to explain that they have me pegged wrong.
They don’t understand then some
judgement is passed on me,based
on bad data/info.
The reactions to this activity is
causing a lot of the problems
and the confusion.

Dear Peter,

If I understand you well enough, it might be best not to place too much emphasis on convincing other people of your perceptions. Other points of view are to be respectfully considered but, if they conflict with your own perspective, let this difference be just as it is. Discussions of beliefs about human existence and biophysical reality are typically difficult ones that are fraught with ambiquities which lead to many misunderstandings, even when people are trying their best to communicate in intellectually honest and morally courageous ways. Do your part to communicate well as you can and then, as many people might say, “let the chips fall where they may”. It is ok that people disagree.

Thoughtful people like you, who find themselves in circumstances similar to ones you describe, might value the following reminder: neither seek the confirmation of fools nor suffer them gladly.

All my best,

Steve

Dear Peter and Ellen,

It appears to me as if one certain thing humanity cannot keeping doing much longer is the very same thing we are so adamantly and foolishly doing now as the self-proclaimed Masters of the Universe among us choose to recklessly speed up the ever increasing, seemingly endless growth of the global economy as well as to deceptively manipulate human beings into going along with a conspicuous per-capita overconsumption and unreserved overpopulation agenda.

If we keep doing what we are doing now and the human community keeps getting what it is getting now, I fear that sooner rather than later everything we are believe we are protecting and preserving will be ruined. In the not-too-distant future a distinct probability could exist that one of two colossal calamities will occur. The wanton dissipation of Earth’s limited resources, the relentless degradation of Earth’s frangible environment, and the approaching destruction of the Earth as a fit place for human habitation by the human species, when taken together, appear to be proceeding toward the precipitation of a catastrophic ecological wreckage of some unimaginable sort unless, of course, the world’s ever expanding, artificially designed, manmade global political economy (the modern “economic colossus”) continues to speed headlong toward the monolithic ‘wall’ called “unsustainability” at which point humanity’s runaway economy crashes before Earth’s ecology is collapsed.

Could we talk about the need for a new vision for life on Earth?

Months ago Andy Revkin of the NYTimes and the Dot Earth community asked the question, “What does humanity do when we grow up?” Dr. Joel Cohen has explained elsewhere how humanity is currently in an adolescent phase of its development and his moving toward maturity. Other experts have suggested that the behavior of people in many places is even more primitive, in the sense of being less grown-up than adolescents and more nearly infantile.

Perhaps another way of coming up with a new vision would be to ask the question, “What might a human world look like when full grown, mature human beings with feet of clay design, construct and organize a new world order in the future?”

Sincerely,

Steve

Thanks to everyone in the Orion community for being here just as you are and for all you are doing to protect life as we know it on Earth from huge human-induced threats. You have probably been correct in your identification of formidable global challenges that are likely the result of human activities borne of foolishness, arrogance and greed. To be a species with such remarkable self-consciousness, intelligence and other splendid gifts and to do no better than we are doing now is a source of sadness and outbreaks of passionate intensity (like this missive).

I believe in remaining engaged with all of you in the necessary struggle to preserve the future of life as we know it, a sacred struggle in which so many human beings with feet of clay have been deeply involved for a lifetime. The first fifty years of my life were lived as if in a dream world, the profane one devised by the self-proclaimed Masters of the Universe among us. I had no awareness a single generation would elect sponsors of powerful, greed-mongering economic powerbrokers who would operationalize policies and business plans as well as implement government programs that irreversibly degrade Earth’s environs, recklessly dissipate its limited resources, relentlessly diminish its biodiversity, destabilize its climate and threaten the very future of children everywhere. My failures include not responding more ably and also communicating more clearly how I and my selfish generation were ravaging the Earth and behaving in a way that could lead to the destruction of our planetary home as a fit place for habitation by our children. Even though it is discomforting and difficult to responsibly perform all our duties to science and humanity, at least we can speak out loudly and often about these unfortunate circumstances and in the process educate one another as best we can. Like you, I do not have answers to forbidding questions related to the patently unsustainable ‘trajectory’ of human civilization in its present, colossally expansive form. Much more problematic, however, is the ruinous determination of many too many perniciously silent experts who have colluded to obstruct open discussion of the best available scientific evidence of “what could somehow be real”. If what could be real about the human condition and the Earth is not confronted with intellectual honesty, the best available science, moral courage and faith in God, how is it possible for the family of humanity to adapt to the practical requirements of “reality” in timely, reasonable, sensible and sustainable ways?

An ecological wreckage of some unimaginable sort is likely to be the end result of experts choosing to remain willfully blind, hysterically deaf and electively mute rather than skillfully examining and objectively reporting on extant science of human population dynamics and the human overpopulation of Earth (see the scientific research at http://www.panearth.org/ ). The refusal to respond ably by acknowledging evidence and accepting responsibility for the distinctly human-driven global challenges that have emerged robustly and converged rapidly just now could be one of the greatest mistakes in human history. After all, what mistake in history could be greater than the ones made in our time that lead humanity, however inadvertently, to precipitate the demise of life as we know it and to put at risk a good enough future for the children?