Repenting of Consumerism: Great Reformation 5.0

3) Repenting of Consumerism:
Post 3 of 6 on my list of reforms in honor of the 500th anniversary of the protestant reformation. The first word is repenting of Christendom, which is a reformation of power. The second word is repenting of Capitalism, which is a reformation of trust. Repenting of Consumerism is a reformation of identity.

I know, I am a total kill joy, right? But here is the thing…consumerism is the kill joy. Our very identities have been reduced to producing and consuming products. Being human is quickly measured by an index of consumer confidence. Life is forecasted to be good if our purchasing ability and desire is high. Doom and despair ominously preys on the society suffering from purchasing insecurity. We have normalized a system that reduces and refers to us as consumers and job creators. 

Try this greeting out: “Hello, fellow consumer. What have you produced today?” 

We instinctively know this is crazy making, but finding the way out of the crazy is easier said then done. I need someone everyday to shock me into consciousness with…“Well hello, Android, how about we both take the red pill and wake up from this dehumanizing matrix?”

Our true worth and value unfortunately marinates in a mythic stew of productivity. It is the belief that if we can prolifically produce and voraciously consume, we can possess the pinnacle of human flourishing. But this is not true.

We live in what is perhaps the most prosperous and depressed nation in the history of the world. The depressant hovering over us is like a lamenting whisper in our ear telling us that this consumptive story is not big enough. The consumer narrative is simply not rich enough to hold the full beauty of life. (As a fellow sufferer of depression, this is not a shaming word or a reductive word on the complexities of depression. It is an attempt to describe a general cultural malady resulting from a dehumanizing belief.)

The cost of living in this reduced consumptive identity in not merely psychological. When we allow our own humanity to be defined too narrowly, it has consequences on how we view all of life, the lives of others, and the complex realities of life on one planet. 

Consumerism is a reductionist narrative that devalues people and the planet. It perpetuates an unsustainable and inhumane economy of extraction and exploitation. The “good life” is precariously propped up by the exploitation of cheap labor and a myopic extraction of the earth’s natural resources. 

My son had a school project several years ago that calculated how many Earth’s it would take if everyone on the planet lived like our family of 6. I believe it was 7.5 Earths. I remember he asked me if I thought that was good. I said, “well, there is only one Earth.” And He said, “Yea, that’s right.”

I do not believe we are powerless, but I do believe confronting these realities can make us feel this way. I know I am a part of large problem and don’t always know how to operate any differently. I believe the first step calls for a reformation of identity. I am not the sum of what I own and can produce. Neither are you and neither is anyone else. We are a mysterious and wonderful combination of dust and divinity. So let’s refuse to live in the small story of just stuff. 

I believe that reformed identity can lead to reformed practices and policies that will better organize our life together for true flourishing wholeness for all people, all over this beautiful creation. Let’s tell a different story of what it means to be fully human, so that 500 years from now our descendants will experience a level of flourishing that transcended ours.