THE GUIDE

When we are hungry, we have a need for nourishing food. Seeking an extra pair of pants or a new car will not satiate that hunger, only temporarily distract us from it. If our consumption does not match our real need, the emptiness we seek to fill will remain, and no matter how much we gorge ourselves on false substitutes, we will continue to starve inside. If greed is a symptom of emptiness, what is it that we are really hungry for?

Why do we seek to acquire money, certain products, resources, or positions, experiences and lifestyles? Perhaps it’s to full-fill a need for power and control, or safety and security. In a materialistic culture, we are sold a mindset that tends to put greater emphasis on the accumulation of money and tangible resources as an expression of status.

But when financial worth becomes mixed up with personal value, and our social identity is judged on the merits of being a producer or a consumer, who does this mindset really serve?

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Who decides what is valuable and worth pursuing ~ what (or who) is worthy of our time, energy and attention? What influences and shapes our core values and interprets our experiences of worth? And who decides what aspects of reality get to be seen and heard?   

A mindset that promotes the value of tangible assets as an expression of worth might perpetuate the need for utilitarian or decorative symbols of status. But in order to sell their message and/or product, such promotional campaigns often tap into (or exploit) our deeper and less tangible needs ~ our needs for freedom, love, meaning and belonging.

In this way, a materialistic mindset may perpetuate the acquisition of financial wealth, goods and services by inverting the human need to be safe, connected and valued. If an individual lives in a group or society that does not value them as a person, nor their talents, skills and gifts, that person may feel isolated, devalued and purposeless.

Wanting to feel worthy, and exposed to a daily onslaught of messages that reinforce a materialistic mindset, this person may come to believe that in order to be respected, admired and wanted, they need to achieve a certain level of financial success.

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When it comes to projecting our self-worth into our wallets, many of us have been conditioned by the mixed messages of family, religion, media, and society, buying into a mindset that starves us with one hand with the promise of fulfilling us with the other.