Published on 12, July, 2020
Work, consume, die and never question why
I believe this is what we are being taught every day. Children at school are not taught to learn, develop, think for themselves and have enquiring minds. They are taught to become part of the system, good little cogs in the wheel, and never question why. Im a teacher so I know this first hand
In adulthood we are taught that the only way to happiness is by acquiring posessions. We are taught we need big houses, nice cars, designer clothes and endless updated technology to be happy. The I phone 14 will soon be out and no doubt Apple will be convincing all the millions that it has technology that wasn't in the first 13 phones, your old phone is now completely inferior and you really need this new one and the £50 a month direct debit contract to be happy! We always need bigger TVs and faster broadband. I find it interesting that in this cost of living crisis (which I am suffering from myself, having lost my job and had my energy bills tripled) the one thing people cannot live without is their smartphones. I honestly think people would rather starve or freeze than give up their phones. Some I think would rather not be able to feed their kids properly than give up their phone. I have just bought a £6 basic LG texting and calling phone from Oxfam and I couldn't be happier with it. We dont need this stuff, its just a marketing trick! I have an old iphone that I dont pay a penny for and just connect to the wi fi to reply to whats app messages but I am thinking of selling it.
Social media deadens the human mind. Endless scrolling has a numbing, almost hypnotising effect and reduces human intelligence. We numb ourselves with social media and endless expensive subscriptions to streaming services where we "consume content"
If you support a football team you have to buy a £70 piece of cheap polyester every few months to show you support them. You have to pay a £120 for a pair of shoes worth £20 just cos it has a tick on the side.
You are bombarded with adds for deliveroo and uber eats to buy endless takeaways and then bombarded with further adds to pay £50 a month to join a gym to get fit again afterwards. Gyms are the biggest con of all. £50 direct debit to do the same exercises indoors that you can do outdoors in the fresh air for free
The only way to acquire all this stuff you "need to be happy" is to work every hour under the sun at a job you hate and never leave it for your whole life. Of course even then you still cant afford everything so you will need the greatest con of all, credit cards, to buy this stuff. You then get into debt and become even more enslaved to the system as then you can never leave your job or you wont be able to pay your debts.
Guess what....... Its all a con! You dont need any of this stuff to be happy and the human race has survived for thousands of years living a simple life without any of it. None of this stuff brings happiness and the more you chase it the more unhappy you will get.
I am trying to change my life and escape the system. Once you see through it all you can never view life the same again
I totally agree and its really difficult once you know this and I feel I'm caught in a double bind. I woukd love nothing more than to give up most of what i have. I can't believe how many possessions I have, even the ones we think are "necessary" are not. It's quite scary but I'm sure it's very liberating to just f--- it all off and start again. Things likeadvertising i dont think work much with me and i dont engage in fads like uber eats. I think all political parties totally have it wrong, they are all about economic growth. This is at the expense of the planet. I often think back to how we used to live (as far as we can tell...)as hunter gatherers, respecting the land and animals. Only taking what we need. It's really hard but I have to tell myself that although I don't like it, this is just how we have evolved - there's no right or wrong way. We still migjt only be at the very beginning of human evolution, who knows. The thing I have issue with is now we know we are wrecking the planet but just carry on. I actually think living a simple way of life is more in tune with the autistic way of being. I think to escape the system is hard but when I have seen people on telly do it they seem to be quite well off to begin with. Lastly, we have self imposed big brother onto ourselves through the use of smartphones, social media and the like.
Edit. Actually lastly....my partner and myself have naturally become more about being content. I think contentedness is more realistic and means you are not constantly chasing happiness which is often unachievable. For me happiness is actually being in nature, something which doesn't cost anything. We are so far removed from the natural world in this day and age, it's quite unbelievable.
I think what you have said is so true. So much of it sums up what I am thinking at the moment. I am the same with my possesions, I look around the house and it is so cluttered and I have so much stuff and direct debits etc and its hard to give it up cos our brains are hardwired by society that we need this stuff to be happy. I think giving it all up in one go would be too much and we might end up losing stuff we actually do like so what I am doing is getting rid of stuff slowly and a bit at a time. That way I can think about what I really need and whether each thing is actually worth having. It is very liberating i must say. I have closed so many direct debits for streaming services, phone contracts etc and got rid of a lot of the clutter and stuff in my house
I think what you said about self imposing big brother on ourselves is so true. Its like the CIA or MI5 or whoever dont have to try and find out about us or get our information, we are voluntarily giving it up on social media to anyone who wants it. It is a snoopers dream
I completely agree about being out in nature too. When i am at the river feeding the ducks i just look at them and think, they dont worry about any of the stuff I do, they dont need things and look how happy they are. It is so peaceful and calming. I agree about contentment too, it is far more stable than happiness.
I think for me, believing in God and having my faith, I just look and think God made the rivers and the trees and the animals and birds, he didnt make motorways and shopping centres and smartphones. We are not living how we were designed to live
This thread has made me think too much for a Thursday morning....not that they are new thoughts. Indeed I think about all this stuff a lot and its been nice to get my thoughts out. Big brother knows even more about me now! I always know when it's time for me to go back to work. I get too much in my head about existential matters. I'm just going say I'm more aware now that work does do me some good as it stops me ruminating on the big stuff ;-) you might say this is capitalism keeping me in my place but that's a whole other story.
I have respect for people who have a faith. This is something that has always been missing from my life. However I would say I'm quite spiritual. You said about motorways etc. For example, I don't like the noise of aircraft flying over and how they pollute the environment but at the same time find it fascinating that there are tin cans flying through the sky. What would people have thought 200 years ago?! There's a part of me which is amazed at what humans have come up with and i love learning about stuff. Then there's the other side....in the western world we seem to place such high value on science and education and rationality and see other cultures who are really connected with nature and living more as a human animal as "savages". Like they way they are doing things is somehow inferior....I'm not explaining my point well but I think you probably get it.
We aren't living how we were designed but it's just how we have evolved.