I. Living within a consumerist system: how capitalism tells us what we need and starves us.
We are fed so many lies within this system. Lies about our worth as equated to our income and our buying power. Lies about how this or that thing will fill up the gap inside us. Lies about the “green-ness” of said new product. Obfuscation around what it cost our Earth to produce said product. I see consumption as symptomatic of the gaping wounds in our culture - often we shop and consume to fill up the holes within us. All addictions - “I need a new thingy for my machine, a c
V. Pleasure and joy are the purpose of life.
When we get too full of undigested feelings, our consciousness shrinks us down to something smaller, tighter - constrained, contained, manageable - and joyless. Here I understand joy as the simple pleasure of being here on Earth in a human body. Joy is not giant. Joy does not need to shout. Joy rides under the surface of the stormier emotions. It says: This anger will pass. This sadness will pass. Even this happiness will pass, and should pass. This is your life. Take pleasur