The Art of Zen Living

Ever wonder where your stuff comes from? You shouldn’t have to. I know that I spent a lot of years actively avoiding even thinking about where my stuff comes from. I also avoided thinking about what happens to it when I throw it away. We all know it just isn’t a very pretty picture. So we think to ourselves “Oh, my stuff comes from the store!” and we leave it at that. I suppose because it’s too hard to face the idea that “Oh, my stuff comes from the rape of our planet and the horrific exploitation of human beings!”. Thinking about it that way would sure smash the joy of buying that new TV, wouldn’t it? Well, shouldn’t it?

The system we have today isn’t the way it always was. In fact, it isn’t the way things would have progressed naturally, by themselves. The change happened in the 50’s, right after World War Two. America led the way, by inventing a new way of life - consumerism. We weren’t selfish about it - we happily exported it all over the world. There’s a problem with that. Here in America, we have about 5% of the world’s population. In order to live in a state of consumerism, Americans use 30% of the world’s resources. So what happens when the rest of the world starts trying to live in consumerism?

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