Reflections On Modern Living

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ON CONSUMERISM If you work to earn a living, why would you spend your life working? Doesn’t it ever strike you as odd that, as a generation, we are working longer shifts than ever to be able to afford the latest throwaway product, corporations deem unfashionable or which are set to expire after a short amount of use? When you’ve had enough of your long day at work, whether it is office work, manual labour, or any other type of job. When you finally get home, do you kick back and watch television? Of course, you deserve it after a hard day’s work. But when you’re plugged into that tube you’re still being bought and by sitting through their advertisements, seeing the latest trends and the latest must-haves.

There are but three ways for the populace to escape its wretched lot. The first two are by the routes of the wine-shop or the church; the third is by that of the social revolution 1 Modern technology isn’t always a sign of progress and it isn’t always beneficial to society; it’s frequently

believe there is a “wrong way” to live. But, we could

ON DIRECTION

How much time do you spend commuting to and

just be. Isn’t that what a free country really is? The

There is no guaranteed path to follow through

from work? Does the company take into account that

trouble with a social structure like this is that there’s

life that will lead to the binary certainties of either

powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round and it However, every line drawn has to end somewhere. has thrills and chills and it’s very brightly A man who dares to waste one hour of colored and it’s very loud. And it’s fun, for a time has not discovered the value of life 5 while. Some people have been on the ride Today’s social trap is that we spend forty-five to fifty for a long time, and they begin to question: years working to enjoy our retirement years and sadly, ‘Is this real? Or is this just a ride?’ 6

you’re spending that much time each day getting to

always a social model that you can fall into even if you

“Success” or “Failure”.

the place where you’ll spend eight or more hours of

believe you’re being “abstract”. It’s a façade in which

is now. Tomorrow never exists, so why plan for it?

your very limited time and so pay you for it?

you’re not being a victim of your culture.

purpose, such as turning paperback books into a pure-

that exact way of life. And not only that; they also

differences. And, most of all, this model is flawed.

how much of it there is left. It’s an abstract, non-

white, plastic electronic tablet that needs to be plugged

made life look incredibly entertaining. Imagine growing

It has enormous contradictions. We’re cutting the

linear theory that civilization has given a linear format.

in every few days to be able to carry on serving its purpose. And yet they’d have you believe that this

up in a society that advocated a freedom to be who

earth from beneath our feet and poisoning the air

you want to be, instead of offering up examples of

we breathe. This is not intelligent behaviour. This is a

technology is an advancement of modern living.

how it should be at every second glance. Never

culture with a bug in its social model.

ON SOCIETY

knowing what the “right way” to live is, you’d never

Modern society has given birth to a new class of

It’s fear of the unknown. The unknown is worker: “The Commuter”. Two-and-a-half million what it is. And to be frightened of it, is what people in London alone spend an average of three and a half hours per week travelling to and from sends everybody scurrying around chasing work.* Three and a half hours of your very limited dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, time repeating the same journey, week in, week out, all that–it’s all illusion. Unknown is what it and often without even communicating with the person sitting next to you sharing the same journey. is. Accept that it’s unknown and it’s plain sailing. Everything is unknown–then you’re Society has always seemed to demand a ahead of the game 3 little more from human beings than it will So, what’s wrong with the social model we have: get in practice 2 “consumer capitalism”? Basically, it doesn’t work

The endless pursuit of money, possessions, objects and status is a very fickle existence. Money and the economy, as shown more recently than ever, can be worryingly unstable. What’s more valuable than money is your own human experience. This is valuable because this is truly yours, nobody can buy it from you and it is truly up to you how you enjoy it.

It is a good viewpoint to see the world as a dream. When you have something like a nightmare, you will wake up and tell yourself that it was only a dream. It is said that the world we live in is not a bit different from this 4

just another outlet to fabricate expensive consumer products that we’re manipulated into buying. Millions

Do you know why people grow up striving for a

in making the human being happy or in any way

“career”, for “success” and for the ability to buy things?

enlightened. It’s messy; it damages the environment

Owning things does not make you a “somebody” and

of pounds a year are spent on the latest consumer

It’s because we’re a generation of human beings that

and wastes human resources. It runs on stereotypes,

owning nothing does not make you a “nobody”. Time

when in fact the true glory is in everyone’s individual

is priceless, and it’s priceless because no one knows

technology that performs a simple, yet unnecessary

grow up watching television shows demonstrating

not everyone lives long enough to enjoy them. Life

You’ll never be perfect; at least not in the way we’ve been told to strive for through advertising and media for the past six decades. Find satisfaction in the infinity of careless freedom. If you were to stop the conditioning, stop the thought subject we have, you’d be surprised how much would become clear in just seconds, dissolving ordinary cultural values and trusting your own values. Reclaim society and fulfil a higher sense 6of modern living. Society has lost a sense of real purpose, having us work jobs we hate to buy goods we don’t need. The meaning of life is obviously unknown, but life is a piece of stone that with the right inspiration, you can carve whatever you want out of.

This writing is not encouraging a non-working class belief, nor is it inspired by or inspiring a lazy attitude to the role of a worker in Western society. It is purely trying to inspire the realisation that there is much more to living than capitalist gain; working long hours to make the boss richer and be able to afford “things”. Working is a necessary part of Modern Living. It is necessary to earn money to be able to survive in your environment. However, start to experience the full potential of life and get out of it what you want. It’s always easy to procrastinate a little longer; being “too busy” is seductive. Start something unique now. 1- M. A. Bakunin 2- George Orwell 3- John Lennon 4- Excerpt from Hagakure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo

The world is like a ride at an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it, you think it’s real, because that’s how

5- Charles Darwin 6- Bill Hicks * Figures taken from advertising company KBH Transport Media


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