The Psychology of denial in the age of Consumerism
http://www.countercurrents.org/james031108.htm
Excerpts:
In the past fifty years the rich countries (including us) have used more resources than every human who ever lived before. We are the throw-away culture and that is only because we are producing so much we can afford to throw things away.
In a recent survey of people who voluntarily cut back their consumption, eighty-six percent said that they were happier as a result. Only nine percent said they were less happy.
In my experience most of us take whatever frightens us or makes us uncomfortable and push it out of sight. This puts it into the unconscious. It does not disappear, but just lies in waiting like a faithful hound until let out.
It is an essential aspect of growing up that we suppress who we really are in order to be accepted and loved by mum and dad.
In our society we use material goods and social roles to cover up the black hole of grief. By surrounding ourselves with pretty and expensive things we tell everyone else that we are really OK. This is, so I learn from my clients, the major cause of going shopping, going on buying sprees and being consumers. We have come to believe that bright new things will fill the empty spaces inside.
John James is a therapist, architect, philosopher and medieval historian.