There is a wonderful piece of wisdom that states that “the last person that would ever discover water would be a fish!” Water is a taken-for-granted reality in the daily life of a fish. The only person who would discover the water would be a land animal, an insect or a bird. They know how much they need water just to survive. It is always there for the fish!
Now religion gives purpose and meaning to human life. It is the tool by which we evaluate our place on the face of this earth, what our life is actually worth and the direction our life needs to take. Religion is a meaning maker. We see it function most powerfully when poor and oppressed peoples can still find great meaning in their life because they are firmly convinced that they have been created in the image and likeness of God. To use an excellent example from our Bible history: the Hebrew slaves were oppressed and suffered greatly at the hands of the Egyptian masters. But they knew their lives counted for much because their God (Yahweh) would deliver then to freedom.
As a society we are living through decades of unbelievable consumption of the material goods of this earth. We are building bigger houses, buying more clothing and driving bigger vehicles because we are rich enough to do so. We feel more and more worthwhile as a human being because we own more. We define ourselves by what we own.
Are we not using our consumption of material goods as the measurement of our worth? Do we not consider the people who live in the bigger houses as being better than others? Have we not brought our level of consumption to be a religion?
People who are honest about what is happening today recognize that this level of consumption is leading to the collapse of the world’s systems. We need to struggle with some very tough questions if we are to survive as the human species.
The next time you are shopping for tooth paste or hair shampoo, stand for several moments before the fifty choices that you have of tooth paste (regular, paste or gel and what flavour would you like?) and ask yourself: And how has all these choices made my human life better? Is the unbelievable number of choices actually make my life better? Or is this just a large shelf full of “stuff?”
When you return home open your clothes closet. Count the number of shirts and tops that are have hanging there? How many? But you can only wear one shirt today? Is the purpose of a shirt to hang in the closet or spend many days in your laundry hamper? How has life improved because you have thirty-five shirts hanging in your closet?
We can go on with the number of tools we have in the garage, fish hooks if we fish for a hobby, the number of shoes and runners, or kitchen ggets. Have our houses become store-houses for all our “stuff” that we seldom use or perhaps no longer use.
Do we find strong comfort and security when we sit amidst all our stuff? Does the newest computer make us feel more successful in our lives?
The question we all must grapple with: How well does all our material possessions give our lives meaning and purpose. Does consumerism actually function as a religion in our culture?
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