When I use the word 'society' I mean that which reinforces our culture. By 'culture' I, of course, mean the collective body of expectations society whispers into our ears from the cradle to the grave. This is all made irrelevant by many alternate definitions of these meaningless words so this paragraph seems to be a waste of time. But why do we assume time is a commodity capable of being wasted? Could this perception of the cause of our perceptions be the reason we make stupid assumptions that profoundly determine the course of our lives?
What I really mean to start out to explain to you, my enlightened readers, begins by assuming, for some reason, the population of civilization, unambiguously across planet earth, have an insatiable appetite for everything. Citizens of progress have unlimited wants.
Hell, everyone worth mentioning in economics old and new assumed and still assume this. In classic economics unlimited wants are shown to meet the harsh reality of mere existence. What I mean to say is, being humans we will never be able to provide for unlimited wants because we have limited means and limited resources -- the concept of scarcity.
The sad thing is that so many economic solutions rely on finding alternative means to sate the insatiable wants when the answer is and always was in front of the community of life -- stop assuming the human animal has unlimited wants. Don't try to reach wants but rather stifle the idea that these wants exist in the first place, effectively nipping the problem of scarcity in the butt.
The simple assumption has proliferated into a cultural expectation that life should be solely a quest to sate as many wants as possible. If the wants are unlimited it is an unreachable goal. Working towards sating the insatiable is a sign of delusion or insanity. These two words perhaps describe a condition which may be used to categorize one segment of the human population -- civilization.
While I have not here provided demonstrable evidence to refute this assumption (which can be found in Marshall Sahlin's classic The Original Affluent Society) it is just a matter of changing one's perception of human contentment to begin to find this contentment.
People in all walks of life believe there is somehow an end to be reached which will bring happiness and contentment while at the same time operating within a world-wide system running under an assumption that wants will never be fulfilled.
To apply the above, think about health food. The kind of people who go to health food stores are the kind of people who want something. They want to lose weight, relieve digestive problems, maintain health, or live for 135 years. But once the immediate want is fulfilled another arises to take its place. The reason for this is both external and internal.
Because the sellers of the healthy products are assuming it is their mission to make as much money as possible to fulfill as many of their unlimited wants as possible, they bombard the world with advertisements to convince consumers they have wants which can be fulfilled by way of purchasing said product.
But the consumer also assumes these wants exist and buys into the advertisements, quite literally. Ironic or by design, the loss of currency in exchange for said product to fulfill perceived want then creates a need for further currency.
So, at the end of the day we live in a world beyond our control. But there is nothing stopping us from non-participation. Simply opt out when the alternative is buying into a system of delusion and insanity. See the world for what it is. When buying food for good health act as you would at any other activity: Do the best you can with what you have with the time you have while doing the least harm to others and yourself. Just remember wants beyond sustenance are illusions.
