tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68262063808026668342024-03-13T13:09:41.100-07:00Equal Money Blog - consumerismHere i discuss and investigate how the world and our experience will change with an Equal Money system --join us at www.equalmoney.orgKim Amourettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07686413067478622734noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6826206380802666834.post-55217466346172183042011-12-21T15:09:00.000-08:002011-12-21T15:38:57.944-08:00Planned Obsolescence is the Saving Grace of Capitalism<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xlxzfToCj18/TvJsHmG_rbI/AAAAAAAAAQk/Gppr6y26wUY/s1600/222775_183986938318689_175698322480884_524401_7741356_n.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 280px; height: 211px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xlxzfToCj18/TvJsHmG_rbI/AAAAAAAAAQk/Gppr6y26wUY/s320/222775_183986938318689_175698322480884_524401_7741356_n.jpg" alt="" 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mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--><span style="" lang="EN-US">Why do we not have one standard of every product – for instance <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Y1xt4nEvipg">light bulbs</a> or batteries or clothes – why do we have the cheap ones and the expensive ones, with the only thing making a difference between the two is that the cheap ones will break more easily? In the name of capitalism and profit this can easily be justified and understood – because in capitalism we have to keep the corporate machine going, we have to keep the economy going as the continuous production of products on a massive scale, day and night, seven days a week.<br /></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">If all products were built to last, our economy as it exists today would collapse, most corporations would make a lot less profit, so lots of people would lose their jobs and so the money system would collapse as more people would become poor. So in a way this planned obsolescence<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>is what keeps our economic system in place, is what makes sure that we all have a job and money in our pockets. So from the viewpoint of trying to survive in this capitalist system, we’d say this is ‘good’.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">However if we look at our system and what it’s consequences are on our environment and on who and what we are becoming as the consumerist mentality – we’d have to notice that it’s not ‘all good/right’ – bec</span><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">ause how can a system that is built and dependent on planned obsolescence as the creation of massive unnecessary and polluting waste that is destroying the very planet we live on be ‘right’ or ‘good’? In fact it is completely absurd. Consumerism as planned obsolescence is the backbone of capitalism, we need consumerism to have our economy going, because without our stuff breaking so easily, and without people believing that they need all sorts of stuff that is constantly being invented by corporations, there wouldn’t be all those factories, businesses and corporations that we have right now to employ all of us so that we can make money that we then in turn spend on buying products that we believe we need.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Products like the light bulb are deliberately being made with a very short life span, so as to keep people buying lamps. And in every market of goods there is a ‘fashion’, wherein products simply go ‘out of fashion’ from one season to the next – so as to keep people buying ‘the latest fashion’. This is the ‘consumerist mentality’ wherein human beings become consuming machines, so used to buying, taking, getting and having much more than they need and so used to easily throwing things away, because ‘why not, I can just go buy a new one as it is so cheap’.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Now at first glanc</span><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">e there isn’t really a problem with this, and the beings who inserted this ‘planned obsolescence’ into society weren’t trying to create an ‘evil plan’ to take advantage of people, they were just doing what they felt was necessary to keep the economy going and obviously to get people to buy more products – and everybody will (apparently) benefit. Though the ‘evil’ and ‘abuse’ in planned obsolescence, in consumerism and in capitalism is the one most important, most crucial and all determining point that was also the one point that was missed. And that point is earth, that point is life as earth and the animal kingdom – we never gave them much head, as we have since the dawn of our existence been taking everything for granted that is here.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Though now f</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xfn9k8D-a1k/TvJr7k2pvVI/AAAAAAAAAQY/mlDbeghzf3A/s1600/391614_10150423761606084_706371083_10472409_448038343_a.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 261px; height: 185px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xfn9k8D-a1k/TvJr7k2pvVI/AAAAAAAAAQY/mlDbeghzf3A/s320/391614_10150423761606084_706371083_10472409_448038343_a.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5688727950571715922" border="0" /></a><span style="" lang="EN-US">inally we are being faced with the consequences of the biggest mistake that we have ever made, which is to disregard the earth and the animals – because we never realized that the prod</span><span style="" lang="EN-US">ucts that we buy and consume from the food on our plates to the clothes on our backs to the b</span><span style="" lang="EN-US">ricks or wooden logs that make up the house that we live in to the money we hold in our hands all come from the earth, they are the earth, even we ourselves as the human physical body is of the earth and cannot exist without all that is here.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">This is the extent to which we human beings are disconnected from what is actually real, because we have been treating life as earth as the physical reality as if it doesn’t even exist by using and abusing it as we see fit and not ever taking into consideration what effect our every action has on all that is here and not realizing that the physical reality as nature it is in fact the only thing that really exist, because without it we wouldn’t be here.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">For some reason we were always so blind an ignorant to actually believe that ‘because earth doesn’t object, or earth doesn’t put a price tag on her resources and the animals don’t really seem to fight back, we can just take everything we want’, because somehow we have always seen earth and the animals as ‘nature’ as something that is separate from ourselves, as ‘something out there’ with which we apparently can just do whatever we want. We never realized that the reason why earth or the animals never ‘objected’ or told us what we can or cannot do, is because they are us, nature is us and we are nature – so we were obviously assumed to be aware of who we are as a part of life, as life itself, and to therefore simply treat all that is here with respect, within the realization that we are here as a part of all that is here. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Yet, we saw/see ourselves as ‘the human being’, as an apparent ‘superior’ being that exist somehow ‘above’ nature as earth and the animals – when really that is but an idea, a belief that is not actually real. Because if we have a look at the actual reality and the way it works and our place in it, we’d have to come to terms with the fact that really we’re just a part of the whole physical reality that exist here, and as such it is our duty to consider the whole in everything we do. Though instead of doing that, we have always been living in this fictional belief that because we call ourselves ‘human’, we are some kind of ‘special being’ apparently ‘made specially by God’ and so we can treat nature as inferior – and now our ignorance to what is actually reality is coming to bite us in the ass, as we are now being faced with the consequences of what we have been creating and participating in for eons of time as human beings, by having believed <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>ourselves to be ‘superior’ and to apparently not have to consider any other life form but ourselves.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">We have been destroying, polluting, draining, exploiting and depredating earth and all that is here like crazy, without ever having considered anything but our own personal ‘special’ desires – and in this we have shaken up earth’s natural processes and self sustaining abilities to the point of no return. So we are completely self-responsible for our impending doom, our inevitable demise as ‘the human race’ – as we will be faced with the reality of the physical, which is that we were never ‘special’, yet within believing that we were somehow special and therefore didn’t need to care about anything/anyone but ourselves we have in fact become the world’s biggest abusers. And so we will inevitably be wiped out as earth is trying to restore itself again and we are in fact not superior but quite inferior creatures.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Join us at <a href="http://www.desteni.co.za/">Desteni</a> and find out how you can stop yourself as the abuser of life and stand up as a respecting being as part of the physical reality as life itself </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">And visit <a href="http://www.equalmoney.org/">Equal Money</a> to get to know the solution for humanity to restore itself and earth through a new monetary system that is not based on abuse but on respect for life</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Also find out about the first part of the <a href="http://eqafe.com/p/equal-money-future-of-money-volume-1">Equal Money Book - The Future of Money</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">this and many more products about Equal Money and Self Perfection can be found on <a href="http://www.eqafe.com/">Eqafe</a><br /></span></p>Kim Amourettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07686413067478622734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6826206380802666834.post-68561451412954594322011-11-30T10:58:00.000-08:002011-11-30T12:24:13.463-08:00Consumerism and resisting an Equal Money System<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:relyonvml/> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:hyphenationzone>21</w:HyphenationZone> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> 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</w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Standaardtabel; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> Within an Equal Money System it is imperative that we will be looking at what is best for nature and the animal kingdom – so that we can live here on earth within mutual respect for all that is here, in this respecting ourselves as living beings that are part of life as the ‘earth experience’. This however implies that we will have to give up consumerism – as consumerism is the expression of absolute disrespect towards everything and everyone. Within consumerism not only nature and the animals pay the toll and get abused but also many of our fellow human beings are forced into degrading labor to keep the consumerism-machine going and many countries are being ‘sucked dry’ by the rich and wealthy consumerist countries, leaving the beings living in these unfortunate countries with little or no resources to take care of themselves and each other.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">As evidently appalling as this reality of consumerism that exists today is, it is still used by people as a reason for why they do not want to have an EMS – because ‘I may have to give up some of my desires’, when it is in fact these desires that we’ve grown so accustomed to and to which we’ve defined ‘who we are’, that are the very things making ‘the earth experience’ a living hell for many beings.<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Desires weren’t even supposed to exist in the first place – as they are the source of abuse. When we desire/want something or someone, as what is supported in consumerism, we don’t actually consider the reality of that which we desire/want, we don’t consider life as the life in another being – we only consider ‘what ‘I’ want/desire’ as ‘my own personal feeling’ wherein ‘I want this so I can feel good so I must have this now’, so then we will do whatever it takes to ‘have’/’get’/’take’ that thing/being that we want/desire and often this will lead to manipulation, lies, deceit and corruption because we are willing to do anything to fulfill our desires and we will close our eyes to the abuse that is the result of it just so that we can continue fulfilling our desires.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">This consumerist ‘mentality’/’attitude’ as wants and desires as who we believe ourselves to be, is however mostly cultivated by our up-bringing as what our environment has taught and shown us. We in the west (=the wealthy countries) have been ‘pampered’ by the industries that sell us their products – we were born into this consumerist system of apparent abundance so since childhood we’ve lived in a system where, if you have the money, which most of us do, you are ‘king’. Stores and shops go out of their way to make everything as easy and comfortable for the customer as possible, because within this capitalist society, the customer is king. So a lot of unnecessary waste has been created to produce wrappings, bags, containers, commercials, etcetera<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>to make the customer feel good about the product and want to buy it more. So products these days are being specifically designed to play in to the human beings desires and wants and to create even more desires/wants – all in the name of profit.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">The companies present us with a beautiful picture and depiction of ‘reality’ and ‘life’ to instigate and feed a good/nice/positive feeling within us as the customer – while in fact at the same time they are trashing and abusing the actual real reality as nature and the animal kindom and other human beings to do so. So things are in fact all in reverse – while we are indulged in good, positive and nice feelings about ourselves and the world that are supported by commercials and the entertainment industry, the opposite is actually going on and we have actually become the biggest destroyers/abusers known to Earth.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">So, indeed an Equal Money System implies that we will have to stop our abuse – for the benefit of all life, as we will be looking at how to live here in this world as all of humanity together within respect for each other and respect for nature. We are going to have to become ‘accustomed’ to<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>new ways of living – instead of living within constantly trying to fulfill personal desires and wants and in this being ignorant to the consequences of our actions<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>on the planet and on other beings that are also here, <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>we will have to look at and investigate how to live within respect for life as the Earth. This will be a learning process, as we’ve never actually practically done this.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">It is important to realize that we have never practically lived within respect for life because it seemed as though we never had to, as we are currently living in a system wherein we abdicate our responsibility in this world and place it in the hands of ‘our government’ as ‘the leaders’, assuming that they know best and they will do ‘the right thing’ and we can just continue as is – obviously we haven’t realized that the destruction/abuse of the planet is not at the hands of ‘our government’ but it is all of us collectively as each one individually, that have been participating within ignorant consumerist behavior by not taking self-responsibility for our presence here. This means that in an EMS, there will be no ‘government’ as ‘leaders’ that apparently ‘stand above’ everyone else and make the decisions and apparently ‘take care of everything’ – yes, there will be a ‘management’ as a logistics ‘organ’ that is specifically in place to direct practical points within society though not from the perspective of it being a ‘higher power’ that will take responsibility for us and that we can blindly trust to decide what needs to be done for us, as how things are today – we will have to make an effort because that is what is required within taking responsibility. And, really, up to this point we have been acting/living like spoiled children that are completely clueless to how the world functions and who we are within it, yet we’ve believed ourselves to be superior and know everything there is to know so in this way our stupidity, ignorance and blindness is justified.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">In an EMS each one individually will be educated to be able to stand as an actual respecting, respectful being that is able to take responsibility, a being that can be trusted with life – because we realize that life is in the hands of all of us, of each one individually. So it will be a process at first to come to terms with what we’ve allowed in this world by having allowed ourselves to become ignorant, and to align ourselves with what is best for all, because ‘the EMS’ is not like ‘capitalism’, ‘socialism’, ‘communism’, and all other ‘isms’ as a system that apparently functions on itself and that simply requires us to trust and follow it as if it will take responsibility for us (which it clearly hasn’t) – the EMS requires the active participation of each one of us, because we ARE the EMS, the EMS IS us, as that is the only way to bring about a world that is best for all, is if all participate.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">To learn about how an EMS will practically be implemented – join the forum for discussions <a href="http://www.equalmoney.org/">www.equalmoney.org</a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">And for training on becoming a self-responsible being join the forum <a href="http://www.desteni.co.za/">www.desteni.co.za</a> and <a href="http://www.desteniiprocess.com/">www.desteniiprocess.com</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">See my <a href="http://equafeproducts.blogspot.com/">Equafe Products</a> (of which the proceeds go to the <a href="http://equallife.org/">Equal Life Foundation</a>)<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.desteniiprocess.com/"><br /></a> </span></p>Kim Amourettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07686413067478622734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6826206380802666834.post-16099099045949165612011-11-13T15:17:00.000-08:002011-11-15T11:36:54.713-08:00Consumerism and Education<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> 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Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Standaardtabel; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">When we have a look at how children are being ‘raised’ and ‘educated’, we may notice that they are being spun a lot of bullshit – that is very blatantly displayed by the media, such as television, where everything is a lie, everything is fairytales and make-believes. Children are being presented a beautiful, magical, pretty world where everyone and everything is happy and smiling and singing about happiness, love and joy, where animals and plants can talk and sing and everything has a ‘happy end’. Just have a look at ‘Disneyworld’, the number one children’s theme park, and Disney movies, the number one children’s television entertainment – it is all fairytales, none of it has even remotely got anything to do with the reality.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">It is even so that if you have a look at what is going on in this world today, the fairytales that are being sold to children are the complete opposite of the real world. And then there is Santa Clause and Halloween, and all other holidays that function as an excuse for children to get presents and candy and money, that have a ‘fairytale’ legend/story around it to make it seem as though it isn’t just about buying and consuming<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>and having, wanting, needing and feeding the consumerist mentality in the children, as the ‘don’t worry, be happy’ mentality.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Spinning bullshit before children is commonly accepted as ‘normal’ and apparently even required – when considering the amounts of lies that parents tell their children, on the one hand to make/keep the child happy and on the other hand to apparently ‘protect them from the truth’. For example with regards to sex/sexuality – parents seem to be almost incapable of just saying it how it is, so they make up stories such as ‘babies come out of cauliflowers’ or ‘babies are delivered by a stork’, ‘they come falling out of the sky’ and whatever other stories that parents may come up with in their fantasy. Because apparently children need to be protected from the truth about how this physical reality works. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Parents themselves can also enjoy themselves in telling lies to their children – the enjoyable factor being seeing the look on the Child’s face that believes every word the parent says, seeing just how much power the parent actually has over the child. That is in fact the truth about these ‘little lies’ that parents tell their children – from ‘where children come from’ to Santa Clause – it is the abuse of power by the parent to satisfy some twisted desire to feel powerful. This is very obviously justified by parents and by society in various forms where children are being presented as these ‘dumb, naïve beings who will believe anything you tell them’ and because they are apparently so ‘dumb and naïve’, for some reason they have to be told lies, because ‘they wouldn’t be able to handle the nasty truth about this reality – about what actually goes on in this world’.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Clearly we (adults/parents) don’t seem to realize that children are who/what we make of them – they become what we teach/feed them, so if we keep them in a private little world of candy and presents and if we pretend as if Disney is real, then we are creating beings that will not be able to stand in this world/reality and take responsibility for it because they are not even part of this reality as they were never shown reality as how it really is. What we parents don’t seem to realize is that the kids of today will become the adults of tomorrow – they will become our lawyers, politicians, doctors, parents, scientists. So what and how we are teaching these beings now, especially during the first 7 years of their lives wherein they are so pliable, will shape the world of the future.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">If we dare to open our eyes to how we treat/teach our children (= as if they are ‘dumb and naïve’) then we can see the kind of adults we are creating – which is beings that do not see the world as it really is, because apparently they are too weak to handle it, and who then go and create a made-up world that will make them feel good about themselves, as what we are doing for them at this moment and as what we are doing for ourselves as well, within consumerism, because this has also been the way that our parents have raised us – as beings who are weak, dumb and naïve, who are not able to truly take responsibility for themselves and this world and who need to be ‘pacified’ and ‘sweetened’.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">So, what of this idea that we seem to have about children that they can’t handle the reality and that they apparently need to be ‘sweetened’, that they need Santa clause and Disney movies and theme parks – apparently a child needs to feel happy and therefore it needs to be lied to about reality and the world that they live in because this world/reality is not a happy one. Have we forgotten that we were the ones who came up with the concept of ‘happiness’ in the first place? because when you look at a baby or a small child, they are quite satisfied on their own. They never asked for television, Disneyworld, stuffed animals, toys, candy and birthday parties – it was us who introduced them to it, us as this entire reality, as everything in our society is saturated with this kind of ‘child entertainment’. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Parents will often feel obligated to participate in this consumerism behavior that is being forced onto children through the media and entertainment, because they cannot send their children to school without having them come in contact with other children who display their products and tell everyone else about their parents who give them every new toy that appears on television. At school is where children, through other children, are being introduced to the ‘ways of this world’, wherein everything seems to be a competition of having always more and better and newer stuff. As all children just want to be part of the group, they will without questioning, simply copy the other children – as a behavior that they have subconsciously copied from their parents. And then parent will feel obligated to also buy unnecessary shit for their child because they wouldn’t want them to be unhappy – as in ‘not being accepted by the other children’ and ‘not getting positive attention’, not realizing that it is this belief that our children need to feel happy (as a conditional inner experience) that we have taught them as if it were the reality. When in fact this ‘happiness’ is the fairytale/fake reality that we have spun/shown/told them because we looked down on our children by for some reason believing that they are ‘too small and too innocent’ to see and handle reality.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">It shouldn’t be difficult to see and realize that one will only be ‘unable’ to handle reality when they are not in fact in reality, when they are not educated about the workings of reality and when they are being kept in the loop of what is actually going on. How we see our children is in fact who we ourselves have become, believing ourselves to be too weak and dumb to be able to handle reality and take responsibility for this entire world – so that is how we will treat our children, and within this continue the cycle of ignorance and stupidity that lies at the heart of all the problems that we face currently in our human society/world.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">So, how about instead of us introducing the new generations of this world to the same lies and bullshit that we have been sucked into – we present them with the truth and in this we take responsibility for creating the new human being of the world as one that is capable of actually solving the problems and who will not attempt to escape into a fake-reality like consumerism as a pacifier/sweetener due to a lack of confidence and common sense, which will obviously only make matters worse.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">How about we get over our own inferiority-issues as the desire for power that cause us to not see our children as equals, and therefore not realize the consequences of our behavior towards them.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">We do not need to continue like this anymore – change is possible.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Come and discover how we change ourselves and every following generation of human beings into self respecting, real beings that are able to stand and take responsibility for all life equally – at </span><a href="http://www.desteni.co.za/"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">www.desteni.co.za</span></a><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">And investigate the new monetary system of 2020 that will create an environment for parents to express themselves as the truth towards their children and not feel obligated/forced to comply to consumerism as lies and bullshit – at </span><a href="http://www.equalmoney.org/"><span style="" lang="EN-US">www.equalmoney.org</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>There is also a book available about Equal Money - <a href="http://store.desteni.org/products/what-the-faq-is-equal-money-system-volume-1">'What the FAQ is an Equal Money System?'</a><br />so check out the <a href="http://store.desteni.org/">Desteni Store</a> for support in the process of self change and investigating Equal Money<br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>Kim Amourettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07686413067478622734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6826206380802666834.post-34869015984818372012011-10-28T09:52:00.000-07:002011-10-28T09:59:01.732-07:00Will we accept an Equal Money System?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:relyonvml/> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:hyphenationzone>21</w:HyphenationZone> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>NL</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> 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<w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="19" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="21" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="31" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="32" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="33" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Book Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="37" name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Standaardtabel; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">So, the important question is: Do we need all of this? Do we really need all the stuff that we are at the moment consuming?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">That is an important question to consider when looking at the implementation of an EMS, because ‘Why aren’t we living in an EMS already?’ – is it because we actually need consumerism? Do we really need to consume at this rate?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Because, I assume that we wouldn’t be living in this current system, if we did not want it this way. And if we agree with our current system of consumerism, then we also agree with the consequences thereof, which is that we all have to work to keep up with producing the products that we so desire, and to keep on inventing more and more ‘new’ products to consume, so that we can live in our secluded little bubble wherein we can satisfy our own personal desires, completely separate and shut off from the rest of the world, consuming the products that are created in this world, and we also do our part by going to work five days to seven for pretty much our entire lives. And so by everybody working constantly in this society, we are able to keep our consummation–level high, because products are being produced at a high rate, as there are ‘night workers’ in every factory as well. This is what exists currently, so that means that this is what we want, this is our will in action. We want stress, fear, anxiety, depression, worries, exhaustion, burn-out, tiredness, headaches, ulcers, poverty and fear thereof – so that we can have our excitement, desires, positivity, ‘shop-till-you-drop’-ing, fame, Hollywood, celebrities, strive for success, competition, medals, prizes, promotions, lottery, kings, queens, religions, and so on.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">This is what we allow reality to be, a reality wherein we exist in constant fear of losing our money, because we know that the system will not take care of us if we do, people will reject us, society will reject us, because we all look down on those who have nothing, which is due to our consumerist mentality of desiring ‘more’ and ‘higher’, only respecting, admiring, liking and noticing those with money.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">It’s a sad thing to realize that this is the world that we dreamed for ourselves, that this is apparently the best we can do. That we are apparently unable and incapable of stopping starvation, war and poverty, when this world is in our very hands. We glorify ‘the human’ so much, we see the human as ‘more special’ than all other life forms – if this is true then why can’t we seem to sort out this shit on our planet? If we are so ‘evolved’ then why are we so stuck in our current system that is spiraling out of control? - inevitably falling to its destruction, as its very nature as consumerism isn’t in fact practically livable, because we’re taking more than we give back, not realizing that there’s only one planet, so it will only be able to give what it receives.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">In an Equal Money System, we will no longer HAVE TO work - we will work obviously to be able to produce what we need to in fact survive in this reality, but at a minimum, because consumerism will no longer be supported. So, looking at our current system, as what I described before, we may have a problem, because our ‘human nature’ that apparently ‘needs’ to consume, does not in fact correlate with what an EMS presents. What the current reality show us is that, in spite of all the stress, fears, anxiety, depressions, illnesses, poverty, abuse, war, and all other problems that we face in our world today, we do not see a reason to stop, we simply don’t seem to be interested in stopping and turning a new page, because apparently being able to consume is much more important than stopping the bullshit that comes with it, even if it means the destruction of the very planet that we live on, and much of the beings on it as well, and of our physical bodies that are being polluted from every angle.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">How will the human handle equality? Is the human capable of accepting/living equality? Is the human able/willing to stop its destructive nature? – or will we continue to accept it as ‘our nature’?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">It is time to truly honor our ‘human nature’ as beings who are able to create. Time to create heaven on earth instead of the hell that we have created thus far. Time for an Equal Money System that will respect and honor all life, to prove to ourselves that we are in fact capable of much more than consumerism.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Visit: <a href="http://www.equalmoney.org">www.equalmoney.org</a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Follow the blog books regularly </span><a href="http://store.desteni.org/products/freedom-blogs-the-birth-of-practivism-volume-1" target="_blank" title="http://store.desteni.org/products/freedom-blogs-the-birth-of-practivism-volume-1" updated="true"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">http://store.desteni.org/products/freedom-blogs-the-birth-of-practivism-volume-1</span></a><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"><br />which are available at the Desteni Store </span><a href="http://store.desteni.org" target="_blank" title="http://store.desteni.org"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">http://store.desteni.org</span></a><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> along with many other self-supportive products.</span></p>Kim Amourettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07686413067478622734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6826206380802666834.post-80867206574458723652011-10-18T12:56:00.001-07:002011-10-18T12:59:27.488-07:00Consumerism as destruction of Earth – Can we blame Corporations?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:relyonvml/> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:hyphenationzone>21</w:HyphenationZone> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> 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name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Standaardtabel; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"></span>What has already become obvious to all of us is that we are depleting the earth and polluting the earth, due to consumerism.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Because of our individual desire to consume, we don’t care about the environment, so the pollution of earth is what we allow to exist in reality. Thus it is no wonder that the corporations that sell us the products we desire to consume don’t care about the environment, because we don’t. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Do we really expect the corporations to go and say ‘hey but wait a moment, we need to be kind to nature and make sure we don’t pollute when creating products’? That is just naïve of us to assume and expect that, because if we take an honest look at ourselves as our consumerist behavior wherein we only really consider our personal desire for consuming things and NOT the environment, then we see what it is that we truly expect from the corporations, and that is to just make sure that we, the consumers, get what we want, and that we get it ASAP, no matter what kind of measures/materials have to be used to make/get it, no matter if earth gets polluted. Because when it really comes down to it, we consider our desires as superior to life as earth and we would not be willing to give up our desires so that earth has a chance to ‘breathe’. If we were really willing to give up our desires to give life/earth a chance, we would have already done so, yet here we are.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">So, it is easy to go and point the finger of blame at the corporations that are in fact polluting and depleting earth on a massive scale, because, yes they are the ones actually creating the products and taking from the earth what they need to be able to create all of the plastic that is required to make the wrappings of our precious products and then dumping the used plastic back to the earth, in this destroying entire ecosystems. Though we need to be serious here in the point of why these corporations take to such destructive measures in the first place, because it is in fact because of the consumer’s lack of patience and desire for new shit, always faster and faster and more and more, in always more variations, that the corporations as people starting a business that<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>want to earn money by selling a product feel the need to keep up with the consumers wants, needs and desires because if they don’t they’ll go bankrupt. So in a way the producers feel forced to not care about what is best for nature or the animals when they use nature and the animals in producing their products, because the consumer with it’s never ending needs, wants and desires , won’t let them.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Also the consumer will in most cases only go for the cheapest, easiest way to obtain/purchase a product as we only really care about the money in our pockets, and that will always be a product that is made within abusing the earth/animals as this particular company that made the cheap product only looks at what is the fastest/easiest/cheapest way to create a product so that it can sell the product cheap so that everyone will want to buy the product. This way of looking at creating products inevitably leads to abuse as what is actually best for life as the earth and all beings existing on it is not considered because that would take time to investigate, research and experiment. And in the current system time is money…</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">So because the consumer will mostly go for the cheapest product, because the consumer does not actually consider what is best for life as he/she is too busy blaming the corporations for the abuse of earth and the beings on it, there exist a competition between companies that sell the same product, as all the other companies will also feel the need to ‘keep up’ as in creating their products faster and cheaper otherwise everyone will buy from the ‘other guy’ whose products are the cheapest leaving them not earning enough money to survive, so then obviously this results in pretty much all corporations/companies that create products abusing earth/life.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">This is a vicious cycle wherein the corporations producing the products only support the desires within the consumers, because they adhere to them, the corporations look at ‘what do human beings WANT and DESIRE’ because they too just want to earn money to be able to survive in this world. And<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>so because the consumer is only supported in his/her desires and wants, he/she will only want more and more and more, and that is what is busy happening in the world currently. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">More and more and more products are being created, there is always more exotic and different foods found in the supermarket that wasn’t here a few years ago and especially with regards to technology as computers, cell phones and all sorts of applications that are constantly ‘evolving’ and ‘changing’ in a faster pace than ever before. This is all due to this ‘vicious cycle’ wherein human beings are only supported in their ever growing desires and wants, that in turn supports the corporations as the producers to feel the need to produce more and more shit, because it is what the human wants/desires. It is obvious that this system can only end in self destruction as the desires of the human as their ‘consumerist behavior’ will accumulate to such an extent that it will devour the planet we exist on.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">If you are ready to change this ‘upside down’ system that we have created as human beings, and to implement a system that actually supports and respects life as earth, animals and human beings equally, then visit:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><a href="http://www.equalmoney.org"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">www.equalmoney.org</span></a></p>Kim Amourettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07686413067478622734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6826206380802666834.post-34637555252063866072011-10-14T13:13:00.000-07:002011-10-14T13:32:57.182-07:00what does consumerism tell/show us about ourselves?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:relyonvml/> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:hyphenationzone>21</w:HyphenationZone> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>NL</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> 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mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Consumerism is part of the system that we live and function in, it exists because we exist, it exists because of our participation in it. Perhaps the structures of society were founded before we were born, we didn’t actually physically create them, but we participate in them and in this we allow them to continue existing, so that means that we agree with how the current system is structured and operating, because we never stopped it. Therefore, this consumerist system shows us the kind of beings that we are, it shows us 'the nature of ourselves' as it is a reflection/presentation of what each human being participating/existing in this system is allowing to exist within themselves.<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">So, agreeing with how the current system is structured and operating means that we agree with and support the abuse of planet earth so that we can feel good in buying our favorite foods, clothes and doing what we like and what makes us feel good about ourselves. We agree with the excessive and brutal killing/slaughtering/butchering of animals as what happens in every country to supply us/the people with meat so we can have our ‘hot summers day afternoon – barbeques with our friends’ that give us the good feeling we so desire and enjoy. We agree with all the consequences of our participation in the consumerist system, which is for example globalization, wherein Africa for instance is able to be accessed easily and sucked dry by the rich ‘colonialist’ countries so that we could consume and feel happy and lucky and all the people living in Africa are left to rot in the mess that we left behind in our search for producing more products so that we can consume more.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">To sum up what consequences we agree to within our allowance of the existence of consumerism, in one word is ‘abuse’, in all ways imaginable. Because consumerism and ‘consuming’ implies a desire/want/need to have/take/get always more and more and more. It is taking without giving and this can only end in abuse as we will take what we want without considering anything besides our own personal wants/needs/desires. Now in this I am only looking at the word ‘consumerism’ and ‘consuming’ in itself as what we use to describe ourselves within and as the system that we live in, we are ‘consumers’ in a ‘consumerist’ system as capitalism. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Within our consumerist society/world, our personal desires come first and we have created and allowed the creation and existence of a system that is based on trying to fulfill those ‘personal desires’ that we deem so important and from this system, within the ‘consumerist mentality’, we go into the world and take what we want to have to fulfill certain desires within ourselves, we take advantage of and pray on the weak, justifying our behavior with statements and beliefs like ‘survival of the fittest’ or by simply refusing to look at what is happening in the world as the abuse that the system that I am participating in is creating. Africa especially has become our ‘milking cow’ that serves to maintain our ability to satisfy our desires and addictions as the lives that we in the ‘wealthy countries’ are living.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">We have glorified this ‘consumerist society’ as the ‘capitalist system’ to such an extent that we truly believe our personal desires to be who we truly are, we believe that ‘who I am’ is defined by ‘what I want’ and ‘what I like’, not realizing that in order to fulfill my desires, I have to TAKE something from this world. And in this I do not even ask myself ‘where does it all come from?’. And because we refuse to ask ourselves this simple question, we don’t see and we don’t want to see the effects and consequences of our consumerist behavior on this planet and the beings in it. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Are we honestly this blind? Do we really not see? How is it that we cannot do the simple math as the realization that there is only one planet – with billions of people – so if we are all taking without giving = destruction of our one planet?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">So, what consumerism shows/tells us about ourselves is:</span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-ansi-language:EN-USfont-family:Calibri;" lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">1.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">That we are abusers as we allow the abuse of beings in this world to continue as a consequence of consumerism, while we ‘turn a blind eye’ for the sake of feeling good about satisfying our personal desires</span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-ansi-language:EN-USfont-family:Calibri;" lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">2.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">That we are blind because we do not see the reality as what is actually happening in this world because apparently we still seem to find reasons for feeling good and happy and positive about ourselves and the world, while reality shows us the opposite</span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-ansi-language:EN-USfont-family:Calibri;" lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">3.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">That we are dumb because we cannot make the simple equation of seeing where and how our individual behavior supports the collective actions and how that affects everyone and everything that is here in this world </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Finally, it shows us that we have to stop ourselves, we have to stop our desires, we have to stop who and what we have allowed ourselves to become, which is consuming machines/robots that have a complete disregard for all life. We have to stop holding onto this belief that for some reason, just because we are ‘human’ and because we can think, feel and experience emotions, we are ‘special’ and ‘superior’ to all other life forms because apparently we were created by ‘God’ with a special purpose. We need to really get over ourselves as the ego that we have become as it is just that: ego, selfishness, as what can be seen of ourselves as our actions in this world.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Join us in the re-education of ourselves in how we see the world, teach yourself to see the world through ‘real-eyes’ and ‘real-ize’ yourself as who you truly are, which is life as one and equal with all life that exist. Stop yourself as the ego and stand up as life!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Visit:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><a href="http://www.equalmoney.org/"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">www.equalmoney.org</span></a></p>Kim Amourettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07686413067478622734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6826206380802666834.post-1768772335914901572011-10-13T06:37:00.000-07:002011-10-13T06:41:50.271-07:00Who is to blame for consumerism?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:relyonvml/> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:hyphenationzone>21</w:HyphenationZone> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> 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priority="37" name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Standaardtabel; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">so the big question is: where does the word ‘consumerism’/’consumer’ come from, who invented this word, and who decided that it would be the primary focus point that lies at the heart of our experience within the society that <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>we live in?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">when we look at society, we see that ‘consumerism’ is but a result/side effect/consequential outflow of the ‘capitalist system’ as the monetary system that we ‘agreed to’ live in, for the following reason: in this system everything basically revolves around getting money, where it is each on their own on our quest for money as ‘personal happiness’. From this starting point of ‘each on their own’ in getting money, with money being something that you cannot just take or make but something that you have to get and receive from other people/the system, it is a small step for people to go and manipulate/deceive other people in more or less subtle ways to ensure that we actually get money.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">To some level this is what every being in the capitalist system does, because we all just want to survive and if our survival depends on other people giving us money, then why not ensure the chances of actually getting money by for example ‘putting on a smiling face’ to make other people happy, or by being friendly, polite, nice, positive, happy, etc… to make other people feel good so they will want to make us feel good by giving us the money we want (by employing/hiring us or buying from our store or whatever it is). </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">This is though also what lies at the root of the manipulation, deception and cheating that’s being done to us by the major corporations that are in charge of providing us with the food we eat or the clothes we wear, the house we live in, the electricity we use, etc…<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>because these ‘major corporations’ are also just people who want money. And if there is one addiction that we all have, it is money, we are all addicted to money, we all want it and as much as possible because we all just want to feel safe and secure and that is what money can provide for us in this reality: a safe/secure future. Therefore we cannot blame the corporations for cheating us, manipulating and deceiving us because if we were in their shoes, we would do exactly the same, because we’re already doing the same on a smaller scale towards the people in our own environment.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">So, where does ‘consumerism’ come in? how did ‘consumerism’ come to be in this capitalist system and what place does consumerism take in the capitalist system?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">First of all, the capitalist system,<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>as the system that we ‘chose’ to live and experience ourselves in, revolves around our personal ‘capital’, meaning that which we have that gives us ‘value’, and that is at the current moment ‘money’. In other words, the capitalist system is by definition a system wherein you/your life are/is only as valuable as the ‘capital’ that you have, so a being living in this system is only as valuable as the money that it has. From when we were children we were taught by our parents and grandparents that being poor is ‘bad’ and that having sufficient and preferably more than sufficient money is ‘good’, so we have come to connect energetic charges within ourselves to the amount of money that we have, a more positive ‘higher’ energetic charge as a ‘good feeling’ the more money you have/earn. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">because our lives is all about ‘capital’, we will define ourselves to the ‘capital’ that we ‘have’, which is all the stuff that ‘I’ call ‘mine’, that is ‘my’ capital, ‘my’ value in this reality because I live in a system that will only measure the value of my life according to the capital that I have.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> So ‘I’ feel exited and somehow ‘uplifted’ as this energy within myself , when I look at MY house, the money in MY bank account, my children, my clothes, my image that I see when I look in the mirror, my garden, my books, my furniture, etc… when looking at all the stuff that I call ‘mine’, that I have purchased with MY money, I feel good inside, because I have allowed myself to believe that all the stuff I call ‘mine’ and thus define myself with, actually gives me a ‘value’, hence the ‘good/exiting feeling’ I experience when looking at ‘my’ stuff, so then I believe that ‘the more stuff I have that I can call/define as ‘mine’, the more value I have and the more valuable I will feel’. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Thus our desire for shopping and the constant need for ‘consuming’ that is where ‘consumerism’ comes from, because we’re actually looking to add value to ourselves, believing that it is the stuff we have that we can call ‘mine’, that determines the value of ourselves in this reality. Which is in fact an illusion as it is but an energetic reaction within ourselves attached to a word ‘mine’, an illusion that causes the never ending consumption of human beings because the funny thing about a feeling/energetic reaction is that it only lasts a few seconds or minutes and then it is gone, and when it is gone we only desire to again experience that energetic reaction/good feeling within ourselves as the illusion of ‘adding value to ourselves’ by buying more stuff that we can then define as ‘mine’.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">So ‘consumerism’, from this perspective, is not just ‘the system’, it is in fact the people within the system and how they have allowed themselves to define the value of their life according to what is prescribed by the system that they live in and that supports them, which is their ‘capital’ in the capitalist system. We, as citizens of a capitalist system, have allowed ourselves to become programmed by the values as ‘rules’ that were designed within the capitalist system, which is basically that ‘you are only worth as much as what is in your bank account and the stuff you ‘have’’.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">How this capitalist system with its twisted values came to be and why and how we allowed such a ruthless system to exist, is an entire book in itself that I will not be going into here.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Investigate the system of consumerism and participate in creating the solution to end all abuse in this world, join us at:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">www.equalmoney.org</span></p>Kim Amourettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07686413067478622734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6826206380802666834.post-66595691806669781772011-09-28T16:17:00.001-07:002011-09-29T13:05:12.554-07:00What is consumerism?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d-ROWN1Hc1I/ToOtfadniaI/AAAAAAAAAFo/baYa5fuvViE/s1600/consumerism.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 298px; height: 407px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d-ROWN1Hc1I/ToOtfadniaI/AAAAAAAAAFo/baYa5fuvViE/s320/consumerism.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657556312098572706" border="0" /></a><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:relyonvml/> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:hyphenationzone>21</w:HyphenationZone> 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mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">The word ‘consumerism’ is a word that has influenced our lives and the world we live in extensively, in the news the people living in the country are often referred to as ‘the consumer’ when they talk about ‘protecting the consumer’ for example, because apparently ‘the consumer’ (which is us) needs to be protected by ‘the producer’. This means that we need to be protected against being abused and taken advantage of by the business corporate executives (= the ones ‘pulling the strings’ and making the decisions of what we buy each day in our reality to survive or enjoy ourselves).</span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">We’ve actually come to accept this situation wherein we are in fact being ‘taken advantage of’ as in being manipulated, lied to, cheated and abused by major corporations that make and sell us the products that we buy as our basic necessities (and much more). We find it normal because it is all we hear and see, like the commercials on television and in magazines, we are aware that they use subliminal messaging and manipulation and deception techniques to get us human beings to buy their products and to desire buying their products, in fact every single commercial uses this technique of deception and manipulation. We also often hear stories in the news of a ‘cover up affaire’ that has been ‘uncovered’/discovered about for example a pharmaceutical business using damaging substances in their medicine for whatever purpose that always has to do with profit and selling more of whatever it is they want to sell, or just think about the chemicals and hormones that animals are injected with to make them fatter or to give the meat a ‘fresh’ colour when it is in the stores to make people want to buy it more, or what about all the sugar that is deliberately added to most of the processed foods that you find in stores to make people addicted to the foods and make them want to buy it more. In all these examples the people who make, produce and sell the food, aren’t considering what is best for the ones buying and consuming it at all, quite the opposite actually. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Within this consumerist society we cannot trust the food we eat (especially) because we cannot trust those that sell us the food because the companies producing/manufacturing and selling the food do it from the starting point of only making money out of it for their personal happiness and wealth (=money), in this basically going to any lengths to just make the consumer buy their products, regardless if the product will in fact support the one who buys it in their physical health and growth. This is also done with all other products that is being sold to us, where for example clothes or equipment deliberately has a short expiration date, it is designed to break easily just so that the product will be sold more, though it is food that actually affect us the most because it actually poisons our human physical bodies.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">So, therefore, we consumers need protection from the corporations as the abusers and we trust our governments as those in power, making the decisions, to do this for us, to protect us, in this clearly we are not considering and realizing that those in power are also just looking out for their own personal wellbeing (=money), and therefore they are willing and able to ‘turn a blind eye’ to what they know is actually happening as manipulation, cheating and deception by the major producing corporations because when it comes down to it, it is always simply those who have the most money that are truly in power, that are respected and protected, and that would be the producers, not the consumers. So basically this means that we’re being duped from all sides.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">So how did we come to simply accept this situation as being ‘normal’ and ‘acceptable’? how come we don’t and have never stood up from this within the realization that this is simply an unacceptable way of living? When asking myself this question, I answer to myself ‘because this is just the way it is, and who am I to change it? This world is after all not in my hands, I am but the consumer’, and in this answer is where the problem lies, because I have accepted myself as ‘but a consumer’. To understand the problem in this we must look at the word ‘consumer’ and ‘consumerism’, what does it mean to be ‘a consumer’? the ‘definition’ of ‘consumer/consumerism’ as what we’ve accepted ourselves to be/become is a being/entity that only takes but doesn’t give, a being that ‘takes’ without considering where what I take comes from, or how it is made or how it got here, because ‘the consumer’ only consumes and leaves the ‘producing’ up to ‘the producer’, thus the consumer is a being that exist in total unawareness of the effects and consequences of its ‘consummation’, and this is how we have allowed ourselves to define ourselves, this is the self-definition that we have come to accept of ourselves, a definition that is being supported by our own governments that use the word ‘consumer’ to define its citizens.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">So, in being ‘a consumer’ and believing myself to be but ‘the consumer’ I place myself in a very inferior position, where I just have to ‘swallow’ and ‘take’ what the producer, as the corporations, give me within and as the products that they sell to me. Consumerism/consuming is then the implied and suggested way of living in this society that is founded on the principle of ‘consumerism’, wherein we consumers have become consumed by consuming products, we have become the addicts of the products that are being sold to us, as if we are attempting to ‘hush’ and<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>‘appease’ our experience of accepted inferiority by having allowed ourselves to be reduced by society to ‘but a consumer’ as a being that exists in complete unawareness of how and why everything exists and of where everything that exists comes from and of the consequences of our production and consummation on the planet and all beings that exist. Instead of realizing our shared responsibility towards the world/reality we live/exist in and standing up from this perceived and induced inferiority position as a being that stands as self responsibility, standing within and as full awareness of all that goes on in this world, to ensure that no more cheating, manipulating and deceiving for the sake of personal interest, where what is best for all is not considered, happens ever again.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Investigate the system of consumerism and participate in creating the solution to end all abuse in this world, join us at:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.equalmoney.org/"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">www.equalmoney.org</span></a></p>Kim Amourettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07686413067478622734noreply@blogger.com0