"In the contemporary world, poverty is caused by the growth and maintenance of ownership in a large concentration that take from society more than they give. Most of the wealth that is concentrated in elite hands has been accumulated through the hard work of others. Consumerism supports this cycle and robs us of precious time. Time is exchanged for money to buy things and then there is less and less time to enjoy. We spend our time working for things, and in the little time we have to relax, we spend that time in front of the television where we watch mediocre filler programs inserted in between ever more spectacular commercials whose purpose is to create more desire for more things – that we have to work longer hours to purchase. By robbing us of time, consumerism has a deleterious effect on family life. Stephen Batchelor writes: Today … as we live and work in a world of … great complexity, where the apparently simple acts of buying and selling have repercussions on people’s lives around the world, the ethics of right livelihood must be accordingly reevaluated. The implications of even driving a car or drinking a cup of coffee have social, environmental, and economic consequences far beyond the limits of our immediate experience, which we are morally obligated to take into account. From this perspective, inner spiritual transformation is just as dependent upon the effect of our economic life upon the world as transformations in the world are dependent upon spiritual re-orientation. " Yoga for a World out of Balance by Michael Stone
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 00:32:47 +0000