By now most of are aware of the destructive force of consumerism. Its been well documented that mass production of unnecessary goods converts quickly to landfill and contributes additional toxicity to an already dangerously polluted planet. We know that the consumption demands of wealthy countries like our own perpetuate the mistreatment of the people of poorer nations. These are examples of just a couple of the negative effects of consumerism. But since these issues are well covered by a host of thinkers, I thought I’d spend some time focusing on the consumer, you and me. More specifically what we have lost along the way and what there is to gain by wrestling fee of consumerisms hold.

Larry Harvey, founder of Burning Man (the utopian experiment held annually in the Nevada desert) pointed out in his speech at Cooper Union Hall in NYC (2003), that less than a hundred years ago what people owned is what they created or what someone they knew created for them. Objects conveyed meaning, creativity, and a person’s experience as collaborator with the divine. They were imbued with stories and would not likely be tossed to the the trash like the heaps of plastic that line our streets and overload our landfills today. These objects were made of sacred stuff. Industry has done its best to turn the sacred the into myth. Trend molests meaning. Little plastic buddhas swim down factory conveyer belts. Music, culture and art have been pumped through the commodification grinder. Burning Man is in itself a vehicle for transcendence from a culture void of meaning. The event delivers a fleeting moment amongst the sacred in a city created by it’s inhabitants.

In bourgeois society the making of things is believed to distance one from having leisure time. Why spend an hour hemming your pants when we you can pawn it off on someone else and obtain more time for yourself. And what does one do with all this leisure time? They shop. The consumer engages in an entirely uncreative endeavor that offers packaged promiseds, false experiences and a multitude of ways to escape understanding oneself. Behind mass produced products one will find no care, no love, no intention and no self. These products are imbued with our fears and unhappiness, each one a small and impotent band-aid applied to fast spreading disease. Branding that comes attached to these goods divides people into socioeconomic stalls that reflect the size of their wallet rather than the expanse of their creativity. Is is no wonder our ’stuff’ can only fill our apartments and not our hearts.

Perhaps the sacred lies in our relationship with creativity. It is up to each individual to break down the barrier between consumer and creator and reclaim the creativity that has been lost to industry. This begins with the making of things and with a willing detachment from our junk. Just as children graduate from their toys we Americans must let go of our cheap plastic crap. The ease or difficulty of these transitions is proportionate to the level of our attachment. In the journey of life as we continuously move from the unmanifest to the manifest state. Objects, property and even living beings come and go. But any journeyer knows that too many things weighs one down and makes travel difficult.

The sacred is never lost, it waits in the wings for you to bring life to the world around you. An object begins to speak when it is the bi-product of your intention and your effort. The ways from consumer to creator are many. A group in San Francisco is making a reasonable attempt at buying nothing but underwear, food and medicine (http://sfcompact.blogspot.com). Numerous others grow their food and make their own goods with great commitment. Or you might join the 35+ thousand people who make the pilgrimage to Burning Man each year to build Black Rock City. But ultimately the change must occur at home and in your daily life where you can rise above what you once valued most and learn the real value of things. What we renounce is a mirror of our evolution.

This week Swap-O-Rama-Rama takes place in Williamsburg Brooklyn, it is my invitation to you to reconnect with your creative nature. Please drop in and enjoy the communal process of reuse with a growing community of makers: http://www.swaporamarama.org .

“He who wants anything becomes smaller than the thing he wants; he who gives away anything is greater than the thing he gives up.” - Hazrat Inayat Khan