Every living being strives to attain Happiness and avoid misery. We all are materialistic and the pace through which things are moving on this planet today has also wired humans to become dissatisfied pretty fast. This is a weapon used by every industry, organization, and enterprise. From the minute we are born, we are bombarded with ten thousand advertisements that all say,

"Hey, this is what your life should be about!"

Entrepreneurs have started to the market experience of space tourism, spend billions of dollars to find life in mars when we have so many problems down here on ground. 3 billion people living in poverty, animals slaughtered for sensory pleasures, child labour, people jumping out of planes to get away from the Taliban, and at the same time billionaire entrepreneurs devoting their brains to sell rides into outer space because we have accepted to spend millions to buy this product. Let alone contribution to solve earthly problems they don’t even care about the carbon footprint and the devastating impact of burning fuels to conduct lavish space rides. Escaping same caustic mentality to a different planet without trying to solve problems here is just cowardice.

In 1990 companies spent 100million dollars in marketing, in 2020 companies spent 17billion dollars only in a single country. They want us to believe that we really need these things. The Hungry mind tends to consume more and more every moment. It’s an addiction and we are encouraged to maintain these addictions. Take a minute and think why we are termed CONSUMErs and not buyers.

There is nothing wrong with consumption. The problem is compulsory and unnecessary consumption. People buy things because they try to fulfill the void inside of them. Human identity is now defined by what one possesses rather than what one does in life. Buying stuff because that’s what we are supposed to do, that’s what advertising tells us to do, the magic template for Happiness.

We think we need the new iPhone because we have been told that we need it. Fast Fashion brands want us to feel that we are out of trend after one week so that we buy something new the following week. They force mind of the consumers to buy as much clothing as possible as quickly as possible. It happened not only in the apparel industry, but in the consumer goods sector as a whole. Concept of new age marketing embodies in it the idea that one should throw things away not when they are no longer usable but when they are no longer fashionable and that’s a sad transformation.

We consumers fall into this trap of consumerism quite easily and surprisingly that is the same reason why B-schools are the new fish market today. Knowingly or unknowingly every generation participate into this rat-race. The young minds compete intensely to bag a placement in one of these companies without checking what product they are selling and that’s the saddest reality. Standards have been already set by the society and we have been told what package which we should sit for.

We don’t really care about the amount of damage the product would cause to the environment, nature to which we are dedicate our whole life. It is cold reality that there is no difference between MBAs , Engineers , Accountants , Executives and every white colour employees are just an employee like the employee in a roadside butcher shop who has buried ethics and morality. Its enigmatic but consumerism, materialism, elitism and corporate rigor has helped us to let go our values, teachings that we were taught in childhood. We all are stakeholders in propagation of these addictions so we would end up being silent spectators while our kids are advertised with junk because too many of us tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption.

However, no matter how many material we acquire, we do not become a more whole individual. This appetite never goes away, and we keep hunting for more because deep down we don’t really want more goodies, more cars, more clothes we want what they will bring us. So what is the solution?

What car , house ,shoes defines a man? How many plates and blows should a man own? These mundane pleasures such as good food, stylish car, and new phone never last long. Today it exists, tomorrow it disappears. A person who loves meat may get some pleasure when it’s first placed in the mouth but will get nothing once it is swallowed.

We have to ask ourselves, can finite objects give infinite Happiness? So what is the source of permanent Happiness?
Imagine a life with less. Less stuff , less stress , less clutter , less debt and discontent a life with fewer distractions. Now imagine a life with more. More time, more meaningful relationships, more contribution and compassion towards all beings. Only that object which is itself unlimited can provide permanent and eternal Happiness.Lets stop the madness. You don’t need these stuffs. Love nature (beings) and use things because the opposite never works.

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