ENT.7 Addicted to Desire

What are we addicted to, the consumption and gratification of things or the act of wanting them? How many times do our desires for something drive us to purchase it only to lose our fascination with it once we have it? Then it becomes, like the cliche has grown to state, “On to the next thing”. Always chasing what is next and never being satisfied with what we have now. There is, and there will always be something new, something different, something unique. We as a species are enthralled by the new, different, and unique. So much so that it drives so many things that we do as a culture, from prejudices to fame and popularity. It is fascinating how uniqueness and the ‘other’ are both idolized and repulsive depending on their given context. We are encouraged to be different, to be unique, when in reality the top percentage of individuals are idolized for their uniqueness, and the rest are stigmatized when they branch out from the norm. Unless they are successful within the norm first, then their uniqueness is idolized due to their success. This culture we have created enforces dissatisfaction. Those the world idolizes wish themselves to break from the burden of society's attraction, while the rest of society is enticed as pawns of consumerism. 

This is not a rebuttal to capitalism or a recommendation for a different form of societal structure, but rather a discussion of part of the reality of the capitalist world we live in. As innately social creatures, we are ever aware of what society thinks of us, whether we like it or not. This societal pressure system has intentionally been used to catapult our capitalist society into mass consumerism. One may be able to say that mass consumerism is itself peak capitalism. It is hard to imagine a life and a society devoid of all stigma or prejudice.  Stigma and prejudice are, in a sense, the very basis for the societal norms that we follow. The societal norms that dictate the functioning of society as a whole. The roles and norms of interaction that we agree upon are, at a minimum, reinforced implicitly through stigma in their absence. However, somewhere there is a distinctive line between the breaking of societal norms as being attractive or repulsive. It is right on that line that we are marketed to. That line is where consumerism flourishes. 

Like a salty snack always leaves you wanting more, we are left continuing to desire the act of pushing the envelope of societal tolerance. To push the acceptable and desirable edge of what is socially tolerable is to define what is culturally considered new and exciting. This has happened in different forms of human experience and expression, from art to music to entertainment or even technology. Pushing the social boundaries seems to be what we are all about as a society. However, do we stop and think of the implications for our fanciful dream of continued progressive ambition? Soon, there may be no line to continue to push. Even more so, will we not be left continuing to want more? Desiring the next technological advancement, the next mass production craze product, or the next level of new and exciting experience. In such a rapidly advancing society, we always continue to want more. We are never content. The thing never fulfills our desires because it is the desires themselves we are addicted to. We thrive on anticipation. We thrive on wanting. In fact, the anticipation of wanting something often drives us to do more to get that thing than the value it brings. In this way, we will never be satisfied. Addicted to desire is a spiral of never-ending despair that can never be fulfilled. 

How do we go on from here? Now that we are addicted to desire, how do we learn to be still and satisfied with what we have? How do we function, without addiction to desires, within a society that functions on addiction to desires?