Philosophy Now Forum

Hello fellow Philosophy Now users,

First off some definitions:
Consumer culture is essentially the consumption of commercial products.
Materialism is considering material possessions and comfort more important than spiritual values.
Spirituality is a connection with something bigger than yourself.

Now my question:
Does Consumer Culture and Materialism interfere with your spirituality and spiritual experiences? After all, do you find that you are pressured to consume? Do you find yourself focusing more on yourself than your religion as a result of the society you live in? After all, I would assume that in religions around the world, consumer culture and materialism are at the forefront of otherwise spiritual events.

Examples to my own interpretation:

1. - Easter is dominated by the purchasing of chocolate

• - Xmas has become an event where people often buy material gifts for themselves

• - Shove Tuesday has become an all-you-can-eat pancake buffet and so forth.

And is forgetting the whole purpose behind the spiritual event bad or ethically wrong?

Seems as though some people have rather strong beliefs on this:

Easter has become very commercialized over the years, designed to turn people away from its true meaning, which is part of the world's effort to take God out of our lives. Secularists have brought the bunny and candy into it and as Christians know, they don't have anything to do with the true meaning of Easter. Identifying with Christ Keeps The True Meaning Of Easter Alive!

Source: http://www.victory-bible-studies.com/tr ... aster.html

Hopefully this made sense,
Look forward to hearing what you philosophers have to say,
Corey-FS

Christmas and Easter are for having time off work with pay.

I think that the idea of "spiritual" is nonsense, so <shrug>

It doesn't, unless you let it.

A few years ago I worked with a Muslim who was born in Africa to Indian parents, moved to England and then to America. His most common question to me as a Christian was "What does Santa Claus have to do with the Christian celebration of Christmas or what does the Easter Bunny have to do with the Christian celebration of Easter?" I then had to explain that they were not part of the Christian tradition but were secular additions to the Holidays. He saw all this emphasis on Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and thought it was part of the Christian tradition. Someone from outside of a particular religion can see many deviations from those religious teachings, many of which are completely wrong.

thedoc wrote:A few years ago I worked with a Muslim who was born in Africa to Indian parents, moved to England and then to America. His most common question to me as a Christian was "What does Santa Claus have to do with the Christian celebration of Christmas or what does the Easter Bunny have to do with the Christian celebration of Easter?" I then had to explain that they were not part of the Christian tradition but were secular additions to the Holidays. He saw all this emphasis on Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and thought it was part of the Christian tradition. Someone from outside of a particular religion can see many deviations from those religious teachings, many of which are completely wrong.

Santa is for everyone, not just Christians. Besides, why should Muslims be spared the hassle of Christmas?

Once Easter and Christmas provided blessed relief. Now that I'm retired, they are just days much like any other, with predictable multimedia.

These days I get excited in November when Discovery channel features Space Month; I'm a "religious" about outer space. To look into the sky and know that, even though my vision is limited, when I look into the sky that line of sight could theoretically continue more or less forever without touching a thing. The scale of it all blows my mind. The scale of the Earth and it's geology and the complexity of biology does the same.

Most people strike me as more captivated by humans and their societies than anything (daylight second). I am one of a minority who is more interested in the non-human - nature and technology. I'm not misanthropic. I'm a great fan of people in limited and controllable doses. The main issue I have with commercialisation of traditional "holy" days is the material waste at a time when we should be trying to reduce wastefulness.

Huh?

How does Consumer Culture and Materialism interfere with your spiritual experiences?

They do not interfere. How could they?

Melchior wrote:Huh?

"The evil that lurks in the minds of men is manifested in the collective evil of the beast. Understand the man and you cannot be deceived by his institutions." -from "The Ouzo Prophecy"