Consumption as a lack of clarity about one's life
Some people are slaves because of external circumstances, but others, and perhaps far more pernicious and widespread, are slaves in their internal world. It is not just that they work at a job they hate because they need the money, but because deep down they are terrified of making any significant change in their life to get out of their situation. This essay deals with this distinction: those who are independent, versus those who are inner slaves of society, or in practical terms, consumers.
While this binary is far too simplistic to understand humans at large, I find it useful as a reference point for my decision making with regards to purchase, time, money, jobs and meaning.
§1. Consumers tell themselves that a purchase is fine because it doesn't cost too much. Independent people on the other hand know what they want, which also means that the opinion of others don't sway theirs. They are perfectly fine with not spending anything if they don't need to, and save the money for future purchases.
Ultimately, consumers take their income for granted, which implies that they take their servitude for granted. Those people are very often the same who then complain about how much their job sucks, how little their boss or manager listens to them, on and on. Yet, what have they done exactly to get out of their situation? Most of the time, nothing significant.
Independent people do not engage in this mindset that subtly delights in their problems, they do anything they can to improve their situation in the short and long term, as they do not expect someone or something outside to miraculously do it for them.
§2. Taking one's servitude for granted also implies the belief that purchase is the default option, which is why you hear consumers talk about "free money from sales and deals", or thinking about how they'll spend any extra money that comes to them.
Some purchases are unavoidable, and in that case the various sales are nice, but money isn't "being saved" if the purchase isn't needed in your life, in that case it's yet another strategy used by advertisers to get people to consume more.
Most things aren't important because they don't add anything in life, whereas saving money is always useful to be more independent, whether as cash to cover expenses or investments to become even more independent from a system that makes our lives worse.
In fact, life becomes far more fulfilling when switching away from solving your problems by buying, to instead making things yourself. Cooking, mending, reading, painting, writing, basic woodworking, bicycle repairs, all small projects which not only save up money - directly, or indirectly by not making you a passive consumer, in the case of artistic activities - but also build up practical skills.
§3. Consumers delay the important decisions in life. Primarily, it's because they don't have much of a sense of priority: their life is dictated by the mimetic flows of social media. This is why they are so swayed by the opinion of others, and regularly experience FOMO, the fear of missing out. You're only "missing out" if you aren't clear on what you want out of life, which does require committing to certain things and letting go of others, since humans are inherently finite but our desires are unbounded. But only those who do not truly live are tortured by the fact that they cannot do or experience everything.
Moreover, consumers are incredibly scared of anything truly different, and this fear is the main factor that shapes their life. Again, they might complain about their sucky job, but deep down they are afraid of taking ownership of their life and breaking out. Independent people on the other hand are very clear on what they want out of life. That doesn't mean that they have planned everything, since making plans in a constantly uncertain reality like ours doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but having a general strategy and a sense of one's preferences does.
It also doesn't mean they have perfect self-knowledge (is there such a thing?), but they know enough about themselves to be confident in their values, and they do not wait for an arbitrary time period to make change, they just do things.
§4. Consumers engage in all sorts of recuperating loops, for instance going on an expensive holiday to deal with the stress of one's job, which then creates the need for money, which then leads to stress by working through the job.
Independent people see through those patterns and think in terms of net 'figures', not gross. Net income of course - income after the various expenses needed for the job such as car payments, or the rather expensive flat/house you only got because it is close to a specific job - but also net free time, net energy levels, net health, net fulfillment.
A good income can quickly become rather underwhelming when you take into account how much it costs you in total: commute times, your deteriorating health, activities to recover from the stress, and that's not even mentioning the opportunity cost of not doing what you want.
§5. Consumers only think of their time as money, and not all the other unquantifiable aspects of life such as experience, developing skills and independence. They will thus say that they won't engage with an activity, such as basic repairs or cooking, unless it gives them as much money as what they would have earned from their job, invoking the - falsely applied here - notion of opportunity cost.
Independent people on the other hand realize that making things yourself comes with a whole host of advantages.
First of all, within most employee jobs, it is not even possible to work more, as you are given a certain amount of hours each week, beyond which any work isn't paid anymore. This is why the argument of opportunity cost is completely flawed, as there is a ceiling to how much you can earn from your job as an employee, and thus all money saved by doing things yourself does matter.
Secondly, learning skills leads to independence, both practically but also in mindset. This is especially useful when the systems that surround us aren't so reliable, which will only keep getting worse in my opinion. And within the systems that do work, many explicitly revolve around the extraction of customers - advertisement is about making people buy stuff they never even cared about, social media is explicitly optimizing for retention time, not quality of life, etc.
Thirdly, doing things yourself is far more fulfilling than just buying stuff, as there is something inherently valuable about this experience of learning and building something with your own hands (and mind). Moreover, no one appreciates something more than one who had to struggle for it. Suddenly, a table, a chair, an easel, a jumper, a glass, all household items we dismiss as mundane, become works of remarkable ingenuity.
And lastly, trying to do something ourselves can highlight that we do not actually need or even care about something in the first place. Trying to build a bed instead of buying one? Well what's wrong with sleeping on the floor in the first place? It is perfectly normal in Japan and a lot of people report health benefits. This is great news, because it means that fulfillment is not found in the excess or the complicated, which then leads to more freedom and lasting joy.
§6. Consumers cannot find meaning in their lives outside of work. It is not rare for people who no longer need the money from their job to nonetheless go back to being an employee. They complain that they are bored, lack connection, lack meaning, or something similar.
Independent people on the other hand laugh at the idea that someone could be so bored that they would willingly walk back into servitude. They probably have too many projects, too many things they could be doing, and an inner life that allows them to appreciate the so-called boring state of not doing anything.
Is the point of this essay to bash those who aren't internally free and consume things that don't actually add to their life? Perhaps. But more importantly, it points the way out through negative examples. Ultimately, what matters in life is to pursue what one genuinely wants, and the specifics vary too much from individual to individual, which is why I find every attempt to formalize such a path rather suspicious.
Broadly speaking, the issue with consumers is that they lack clarity: clarity about what they actually want, what matters to them, and what they can do with their time and energy. Instead, they sleepwalk through life, regurgitating answers they haven't questioned - yes of course the point of life is happiness, even though I have never questioned what is happiness and whether society distorts that notion for its own benefit - stalling important decisions as if the situation will miraculously improve, believing in the false tradeoffs that society imagines - should I pursue the 'safe' path of wage slavery or take a risk in doing what I'm interested in? - and conversely, shying away from making conscious tradeoffs, such as living on far less in order to make financial independence more affordable. 1
Developing clarity isn't just a matter of introspection, although of course it is immensely powerful to do so, but at the end of the day, journalling is utterly useless if one doesn't live. This fear of living is very likely why the consumer comes to be, and why he lacks clarity in the first place.
Rather than focusing on experience and living in the world, he turns to things, which are predictable and totally safe, he does what is expected of him, and even worse, what he believes is expected of him, since appearing different is the very last thing he wants. Instead of doing things outside of his comfort zone, he zones out in front of a screen, lying in apathy as he lets it dictate what he experiences.
This then begs the question: is life all about safety and predictability? This is not the kind of question that is answered intellectually, rather, how someone lives is the answer. I think we all have some of the traits of the consumer in us, at the very least I do, but at the same time, the voice of independence speaks inside all of us, sometimes in really quiet and indiscernible ways, but a very real voice nonetheless. One thing for sure, humans turn to dust sooner or later, and if there is one regret that comes up again and again, it's that:
I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. 2
1 That is the main thesis of 'Early retirement Extreme'. I would highly recommend the book, and at least the main blog posts which are available for free.
2 Top five regrets of the dying.
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2024-03-06