Consumerasaurus — Eating Everything in Sight

If I had to name one thing as the worst attribute of modern humanity, it would be consumerism. If I could name two, the second would be our need for instant gratification. If I could name three, the third would be the loss of our awareness of divine Source (this doesn’t necessarily mean a belief in God, although it could include that; it means a belief in something in addition to materialism).

The order in which I listed these three Horsemen of the Apocalypse is reversed. In reality, the sequence begins with the loss of divine awareness. This leads to a self-absorbed (narcissistic) need for instant gratification, which in turn leads to acute consumerism.

That’s it. I just summed it all up. That is the whole enchilada in a nutshell. Tell me I’m wrong.

We can see this evil trio playing its roles in nearly every small microcosm of existence, as well as in the big picture. We see it in romantic relationships, we see it at the workplace, and we see it in international relations. It is everywhere.

You can put it even simpler if you like; it is the loss of love. But that concept is a bit too abstract to give it any purposeful meaning in this small essay. So, I will keep it to the Big Three.

These are the reasons why most people’s lives lack meaning and purpose. If you want to get metric about it, give each one of these three things a scale of 1 to 100, assessing your own personal life. Give yourself a rating. How disconnected are you from a metaphysical aspect of the universe? 1 to 100 (the higher number representing your degree of disconnection).

How important is instant gratification? 1 to 100. And how obsessed are you with consuming? 1 to 100. Be honest. What is your score? Personally, my score is nothing to write home about: Disconnection from divine source: 30 (meaning I am more connected than not), Instant Gratification: 95, Consuming: 80. Sad but true.

I am a disgrace—an undisciplined, insatiable, big, fat Consumerasaurus. But I do think many people around me are worse. And at least there is some hope for me.

As sad as it is, I don’t think you can fix this with more connection to the divine. Maybe, but that hasn’t really worked for me. The last two are addictions. Once they set in, you are screwed. And yes, when I was younger, my “God” (for me, it was a “God” concept) awareness was very low. I called myself an atheist in High School (just because it was “in” to do so—and what did I know at that stupid age?), but I slowly came around over the ensuing years. The culture got me with all of its enticing, shiny baubles to pursue and acquire. Gobble, gobble, gobble. The Consumerasaurus was born.

I’ll say as a culture, on the whole, secularism has caused the habits of consumerism and instant gratification, but because these two things sneak up on you, and they are so prevalent in the culture, I am not so sure if simply adding a keen awareness of divine source could avoid succumbing to the other two. And you have to really define what “keen awareness of divine source means”—I am using “God” to denote this, but it is more than just “believing in God”—much more. And I am not going to explain it here in this little article—actually, I seriously doubt if I could explain it, because I only have a minimal idea of what it is.

I went to a large local mall the other day. For some reason, the thousands of hungry Consumerasauruses lumbering around hit me like a ton of bricks. The dozens of stores filled with sparkly goodies astounded me, although I have seen this my whole life (although, granted, when I was a kid 60 years ago, there was nowhere near as much stuff to consume). How could all these businesses stay operating? How do people have so much money to supply to these outlets to keep them in business? How many pairs of shoes does one person need to own? How many purses, fancy dresses, power tools, and electronic gadgets? My head was spinning.

I reason why my Consumer score is not 100 is because I do think I am past the stage of wanting thing after thing after thing. The only object I seemed to be obsessed about are books (and that’s a whole other crazy story). I don’t think I have bought a shirt, for example, for 20 years. All of my clothes I acquire through gifts from others (that is still consuming, though). Nevertheless, I gave myself a high score because I don’t live a thrifty life.

But is every aspect of consuming bad? Of course not. I don’t propose we return to the caveman era when the only things we possessed were loincloths and clubs. In fact, I don’t even propose we go back to a time when we only possessed things we needed, removing from our acquisitions all things we simply desired. That’s no fun at all. We are creative beings, and we are drawn to create, as well as acquire, things of all sorts that our crow-like sensibilities are attracted to, with the desire to decorate our bodies and our nests with them.

Like with most things humans grapple with, it is a matter of consciousness and balance. If we are conscious of our need to instantly gratify ourselves with a purchase of the 5th pair of shoes in a week, then we might balance things out better. This consciousness cannot only be about a monetary budget, but also about disciplining ourselves to curb that insatiable desire to be instantly gratified. It is also a consciousness of what really matters in the world. How about spending time caring for others, volunteering in local welfare programs, tending to animals, tending to our gardens, taking more time in nature, reading, learning something about the world and the other creatures we share it with. These solutions include becoming more in tune with other things rumbling around in our psyches rather than our addictions and desires. Consuming then becomes an intelligent and conscious part of our enjoyment in life. It takes its proper place amongst the other joys, as well as tribulations, of being human.

People seem to think that our primary goal in life is to be happy—to be entertained, and to “feel good.” Certainly, that is part of it, but our primary goal really is to be aware, to move toward a sense of meaning and purpose, and to experience life in its fullest—which requires that we be conscious. Working to be happy 24/7 is a futile and pointless effort. Consuming everything in sight that is desired is the way most people seem to think we obtain happiness; it is a desire to be instantly gratified, instantly be happy, and it is empty. Generally speaking, if we attempt to fill our life with instantly gratifying events and objects, we will only experience a spurt of well-being, which inevitably leads to the drop—a period of sadness and depression—which typically sends us out for the next instantly gratifying consumption. And the cycle continues.

Will the Consumerasaurus ever become extinct? We can only hope so…one day.

Todd Hayen PhD is a registered psychotherapist practicing in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He holds a PhD in depth psychotherapy and an MA in Consciousness Studies. He specializes in Jungian, archetypal, psychology. Todd also writes for his own substack, which you can read here

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