Consume . . . consume . . . consume . . .
“We are, as it seems, considering not only how a city, but also a luxurious city, comes into being… Let’s look at a feverish city…This healthy one isn’t adequate any more, but must already be gorged with a bulky mass of things.”
~ Plato, Republic, Book II, 372e-373b
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“We can’t let the terrorists stop us from shopping.”
~ George Bush, September 2001
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Consume . . . consume . . . consume . . .
It’s the American MO (Mode of Operation)
It’s the American Way . . . the American Dream
Consumption keeps our country alive.
Consumption gives us jobs . . . which give us money . . . so we can . . . hmmm . . . consume.
Consumption generates wealth . . . so the rich can get richer . . . and poor get poorer.
Consumption depletes our Earth’s resources.
Consumption pollutes our air, water, soil . . .
Let’s see . . .
We make lots of money so we can spend, spend, spend.
We create the demand so companies can produce, produce, produce.
When we buy, buy, buy,
we accumulate things, things, things.
Then we can impress our friends with our riches
and get more friends, friends, friends.
. . . all the while . . . feeding our ego, ego, EGO.
Hmmm . . .
Companies want more money . . . so they produce more things . . . from our Earth’s resources . . . mostly non-renewable . . . that we steal from our children . . . and grand children . . . and great grand children (if things last that long)
Consumption creates demand. Demand gives us production. Mass production gives us freedom and liberty to have anything we want and to eat anything we want.
Because of Consumption, America the Beautiful is getting bigger and bigger and less and less healthy.
“More” defines success and freedom . . . for our society: corporations, churches, cities, schools, and individuals (how about government and military?)
Lets scratch America the Beautiful. Our new logo is now: America the “Bigger” and “Better” . . . as it self destructs
Consume . . . consume . . . consume . . .
For our actions have no consequences . . .
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“The unchecked striving for more, for endless growth, is a dysfunction and a disease. It is the same dysfunction the cancerous cell manifests, whose only goal is to multiply itself, unaware that it is bringing about its own destruction by destroying the organism of which it is a part.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
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“You will eat not to satisfy your hunger.
A self-indulgent man lives to eat;
A self-restrained man eats to live.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
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“Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.
“Therefore, I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
“See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they?
“Which of you, by being anxious, can add one cubit to the measure of his life?
“Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin, yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these.
“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith?
“Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’
“But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.” Mathew 6
~ Jesus
Living with Open Hands 
May 2nd, 2017 → 6:19 am
[…] Consume… Consume… Consume… […]
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