{"id":334,"date":"2016-03-29T10:00:31","date_gmt":"2016-03-29T14:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/?p=334"},"modified":"2016-03-29T10:00:31","modified_gmt":"2016-03-29T14:00:31","slug":"simple-living-is-the-perfect-antidote-to-mindless-consumerism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/03\/simple-living-is-the-perfect-antidote-to-mindless-consumerism.html","title":{"rendered":"Simple Living Is The Perfect Antidote To Mindless Consumerism."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"The_Simple_Life_(15264713335)\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the aftermath of 9\/11, President\u00a0George W. Bush<\/b>\u00a0urged Americans<\/a>\u00a0not to be intimidated by the \u201cwar on terror,\u201d but to get back to our lives of shopping, flying and \u201cbusiness as usual.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dubious wisdom of this directive aside, it seems to me that the average American consumer doesn\u2019t need much encouragement.<\/p>\n

Take our annual \u201cBlack Friday\u201d extravaganza. Who is fueling whose agenda?<\/p>\n

In 2014,\u00a0store profits<\/a>\u00a0peaked around $50.9 billion \u2013an 11 percent dip from the previous year. Last year\u2019s profits dipped a little more as more shoppers opted to shop online. But with stores opening earlier each year, and people\u00a0literally dying<\/a>\u00a0to get in, binge shopping is alive and well\u00a0\u2013 a\u00a0telling testament to our addiction to consumption.<\/p>\n

\"Black_Friday_by_Powhusku\"<\/a>
Powhusku \/ Creative Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even those of us with an environmentally conscious disposition tend to get sucked into this cultural maelstrom of consumption and, before we know it, become as addicted and lost as the shopaholic in the next aisle.<\/p>\n

The other day, I signed into my\u00a0Amazon\u00a0<\/b>account and took a gander at my purchase history. I did it out of curiosity, but I\u2019m not returning for a while. Why? Because it irks me that Amazon won\u2019t allow me to delete my purchase history. I am not a \u201cconsumer junkie.\u201d Yet, I sure felt like one when I clicked on this link.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t need to be reminded of what I\u2019ve (even frugally) purchased through Amazon over the years. Do you?<\/p>\n

And as for that \u201clittle something\u201d a customer purchases and later is profoundly embarrassed about: Oh well, there it is like a smirking gargoyle permanently ensconced in the purchase history!<\/p>\n

Apple Inc. is no better. If I delete an app on my iPhone, where does it migrate to? To the \u201cPurchased Items Landfill,\u201d of course \u2013\u00a0just in case I change my mind, decide to reload it and spend more frivolous money I don\u2019t have.<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

Does it ever end?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t. We\u2019re spinning uncontrollably in a vortex of rampant consumerism and there isn\u2019t an escape hatch. At least, none that I am aware of.<\/p>\n

So if, like me, digital consumerism exasperates you, unless you\u2019re prepared to close out your\u00a0Facebook,\u00a0App Store, Amazon and email accounts, ditch your smartphone and become a wandering\u00a0Bedouin\u00a0<\/b>in the Arabian Desert, you\u2019re just going to have to suck it up and get on with it.<\/p>\n

But is there a way to mindfully navigate these consumer traps? Yes, through the power of human agency and the art of simple living.<\/p>\n

By human agency I mean taking charge of who and what controls our mind, informs our daily choices, enters our stream of consciousness and ultimately determines the core values by which we live.<\/p>\n

We have the power to choose whether to be hapless consumer junkies or to mindfully engage in the marketplace as discerning and responsible shoppers \u2013 not impressionable kids who go into a store with a list of three items and leave with seven!<\/p>\n

We can be well-intentioned shoppers who buy a useful and needed item on Amazon,\u00a0<\/strong>eBay\u00a0or wherever, but then get lulled into browsing the sidebar \u201caccessory\u201d items or the \u201cCustomers-who-bought-this-item-also-purchased\u201d section.<\/p>\n

Scream! Get the hell out of there \u2013\u00a0now! You don\u2019t need the wicker chair that would be such a cozy companion for your new writing desk! Don\u2019t dither and dally so \u201cthey\u201d can dupe you into unnecessary purchases or play havoc with your most basic of human instincts \u2013\u00a0desire.<\/p>\n

Because they will and they\u2019ll suck it dry until you\u2019re spent, broke and incapable of recognizing who you are.<\/p>\n

The art of simple living doesn\u2019t mean wholesale divestment or disengagement from a materialist lifestyle. We all, to varying degrees, live a materialist lifestyle. We have the things we use on a daily basis; we buy more of these things when we think we need them and we have a legion of reasons to justify (or rationalize) why we need the creature comforts we have.<\/p>\n

My suggestion here is to periodically do a little moral inventory on the things we own and consider indispensable.<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

Do we really need them? Do I have miscellaneous flotsam in a storage unit that has been sitting there for a year or more? Do I absolutely need the iPhone 6 or am I doing just fine with the 4S? And who the heck needs an inane Apple Watch with micro apps?\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

Why does my family have four cars in the driveway when we used to get by (comfortably) with two? Why am I spending 45 minutes on a simple Amazon purchase, when this should only have taken five? Has gaming and gambling taken over my life?<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is high time we stripped our lives of the addictive, consumer crap piling up at our doors \u2013 the ones to our homes and human dignity.<\/p>\n

Until Amazon, Apple Inc. and the like grow up and give us the option to delete our purchase histories, I would advise resisting the urge to browse these links. If we don\u2019t, we\u2019ll end up back on the whirligig of mindless spending. And that, sadly, is another deathblow to the human spirit.<\/p>\n

And now with e-commerce giant\u00a0Alibaba<\/a>\u00a0cleaning up in China, particularly during their\u00a0Spring Festival<\/a>\u00a0shopping spree, there really seems little or no hope to slow the march of rampant consumerism.<\/p>\n

So It\u2019s Time\u2026\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

Time to get over ourselves and stop lining the pockets of the megastore giants who drive the\u00a0slave wage industries<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0sweat shops\u00a0<\/a>of our developing world.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Time to take the steps we know we can take to restore a more integrated sense of who we are in an elegant and expanding universe awash in natural abundance.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cover Photo: Christopher Michel (Creative Commons<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the aftermath of 9\/11, President\u00a0George W. Bush\u00a0urged Americans\u00a0not to be intimidated by the \u201cwar on terror,\u201d but to get back to our lives of shopping, flying and \u201cbusiness as usual.\u201d The dubious wisdom of this directive aside, it seems to me that the average American consumer doesn\u2019t need much encouragement. Take our annual \u201cBlack […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2586,"featured_media":335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSimple Living Is The Perfect Antidote To Mindless Consumerism.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the aftermath of 9\/11, President\u00a0George W. Bush\u00a0urged Americans\u00a0not to be intimidated by the "war on terror," but to get back to our lives of shopping,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/03\/simple-living-is-the-perfect-antidote-to-mindless-consumerism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Simple Living Is The Perfect Antidote To Mindless Consumerism.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the aftermath of 9\/11, President\u00a0George W. Bush\u00a0urged Americans\u00a0not to be intimidated by the "war on terror," but to get back to our lives of shopping,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/03\/simple-living-is-the-perfect-antidote-to-mindless-consumerism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pit Stop for the Spiritually Bamboozled\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-29T14:00:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gerard A. Murphy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gerard A. Murphy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/03\/simple-living-is-the-perfect-antidote-to-mindless-consumerism.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/03\/simple-living-is-the-perfect-antidote-to-mindless-consumerism.html\",\"name\":\"Simple Living Is The Perfect Antidote To Mindless Consumerism.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-29T14:00:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-03-29T14:00:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#\/schema\/person\/aa5608648e5b0572a68caea83a994fe2\"},\"description\":\"In the aftermath of 9\/11, President\u00a0George W. Bush\u00a0urged Americans\u00a0not to be intimidated by the \\\"war on terror,\\\" but to get back to our lives of shopping,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/03\/simple-living-is-the-perfect-antidote-to-mindless-consumerism.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/03\/simple-living-is-the-perfect-antidote-to-mindless-consumerism.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/03\/simple-living-is-the-perfect-antidote-to-mindless-consumerism.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Simple Living Is The Perfect Antidote To Mindless Consumerism.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/\",\"name\":\"Pit Stop for the Spiritually Bamboozled\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#\/schema\/person\/aa5608648e5b0572a68caea83a994fe2\",\"name\":\"Gerard A. Murphy\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d179225d56f8a110fdf2c61df79c8a?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d179225d56f8a110fdf2c61df79c8a?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gerard A. Murphy\"},\"description\":\"Gerard A. Murphy is a former priest of the Catholic Diocese of Oakland, CA. He has an avid interest in evolutionary spirituality and cultural trends. His debut book, 'Do It Anyway: Deep Spirituality Meets Real Life' was published by Patheos Press in April 2017. It is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/author\/gmurphy\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Simple Living Is The Perfect Antidote To Mindless Consumerism.","description":"In the aftermath of 9\/11, President\u00a0George W. Bush\u00a0urged Americans\u00a0not to be intimidated by the \"war on terror,\" but to get back to our lives of shopping,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/03\/simple-living-is-the-perfect-antidote-to-mindless-consumerism.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Simple Living Is The Perfect Antidote To Mindless Consumerism.","og_description":"In the aftermath of 9\/11, President\u00a0George W. Bush\u00a0urged Americans\u00a0not to be intimidated by the \"war on terror,\" but to get back to our lives of shopping,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/03\/simple-living-is-the-perfect-antidote-to-mindless-consumerism.html","og_site_name":"Pit Stop for the Spiritually Bamboozled","article_published_time":"2016-03-29T14:00:31+00:00","author":"Gerard A. Murphy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gerard A. Murphy","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/03\/simple-living-is-the-perfect-antidote-to-mindless-consumerism.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/03\/simple-living-is-the-perfect-antidote-to-mindless-consumerism.html","name":"Simple Living Is The Perfect Antidote To Mindless Consumerism.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-03-29T14:00:31+00:00","dateModified":"2016-03-29T14:00:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#\/schema\/person\/aa5608648e5b0572a68caea83a994fe2"},"description":"In the aftermath of 9\/11, President\u00a0George W. Bush\u00a0urged Americans\u00a0not to be intimidated by the \"war on terror,\" but to get back to our lives of shopping,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/03\/simple-living-is-the-perfect-antidote-to-mindless-consumerism.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/03\/simple-living-is-the-perfect-antidote-to-mindless-consumerism.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/03\/simple-living-is-the-perfect-antidote-to-mindless-consumerism.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Simple Living Is The Perfect Antidote To Mindless Consumerism."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/","name":"Pit Stop for the Spiritually Bamboozled","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#\/schema\/person\/aa5608648e5b0572a68caea83a994fe2","name":"Gerard A. Murphy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d179225d56f8a110fdf2c61df79c8a?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d179225d56f8a110fdf2c61df79c8a?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Gerard A. Murphy"},"description":"Gerard A. Murphy is a former priest of the Catholic Diocese of Oakland, CA. He has an avid interest in evolutionary spirituality and cultural trends. His debut book, 'Do It Anyway: Deep Spirituality Meets Real Life' was published by Patheos Press in April 2017. It is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/author\/gmurphy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2586"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}