Saturday, December 6, 2008
Advent [5]: Consumerism as the New American Religion
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I listened to a few podcasts from The Advent Conspiracy today, and one discussion was with William Cavanaugh, whose book addresses the idea of consumerism as a type of religion. It's been said that shopping malls are the new cathedrals, and Cavanaugh points out that a kind of liturgy emerges from the regular actions and movements we go through as we shop. Another profound connection involved the inherent restlessness within spirituality. Every human has experienced this internal restlessness, and Augustine put it best by saying, "Our souls are restless until they find their rest in You." Consumerism similarly aims to meet our needs, but in a never ending cycle of creating desire for a product, satisfaction by owning the product, and then additional desire by inventing a new product. This process can never provide lasting satisfaction - in fact it is designed to not satisfy, otherwise the process would end and Americans would stop shopping and Cavanaugh even quotes car manufacturers as saying that they were in the business of "the organized creation of dissatisfaction."
During the Christmas season, our "consumer religion" is at an all time high. Cavanaugh brilliantly points out that our obsession with the material world, which can never bring us the lasting spiritual fulfillment we so deeply long for, is incredibly ironic given that Christmas is a celebration of the Incarnation - the fusion of the eternal with the transitory. The immaterial with material. The spiritual with physical. The divine with human.
Most American Christians have succumbed to the subtle persuasions of the consumerist culture. But Christianity is not a religion that is separate for the material world; it is not so "other-worldly" that it has no connection with every day life. In fact, it is just the opposite. The every day stuff of life, death, birth, eating, sleeping, working, is infused with meaning because God himself, the divine, has lived this same life and walked this same earth.
So during this Advent season, we shouldn't look to find meaning and purpose in the transient and ultimately hollow cycle of consumerism, but rather find new spiritual life in the midst of the physical life we breathe in and out with each moment.
Check out the podcast here. Pictures taken from TIME pictures of the day.
I listened to a few podcasts from The Advent Conspiracy today, and one discussion was with William Cavanaugh, whose book addresses the idea of consumerism as a type of religion. It's been said that shopping malls are the new cathedrals, and Cavanaugh points out that a kind of liturgy emerges from the regular actions and movements we go through as we shop. Another profound connection involved the inherent restlessness within spirituality. Every human has experienced this internal restlessness, and Augustine put it best by saying, "Our souls are restless until they find their rest in You." Consumerism similarly aims to meet our needs, but in a never ending cycle of creating desire for a product, satisfaction by owning the product, and then additional desire by inventing a new product. This process can never provide lasting satisfaction - in fact it is designed to not satisfy, otherwise the process would end and Americans would stop shopping and Cavanaugh even quotes car manufacturers as saying that they were in the business of "the organized creation of dissatisfaction."
During the Christmas season, our "consumer religion" is at an all time high. Cavanaugh brilliantly points out that our obsession with the material world, which can never bring us the lasting spiritual fulfillment we so deeply long for, is incredibly ironic given that Christmas is a celebration of the Incarnation - the fusion of the eternal with the transitory. The immaterial with material. The spiritual with physical. The divine with human.
Most American Christians have succumbed to the subtle persuasions of the consumerist culture. But Christianity is not a religion that is separate for the material world; it is not so "other-worldly" that it has no connection with every day life. In fact, it is just the opposite. The every day stuff of life, death, birth, eating, sleeping, working, is infused with meaning because God himself, the divine, has lived this same life and walked this same earth.
So during this Advent season, we shouldn't look to find meaning and purpose in the transient and ultimately hollow cycle of consumerism, but rather find new spiritual life in the midst of the physical life we breathe in and out with each moment.
Check out the podcast here. Pictures taken from TIME pictures of the day.
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2 comments:
Would you be willing to have this posted at Twoshirts as a featured article? I was planning to put something up about Advent Conspiracy anyway, and I think you've done a nice job here of summarizing and reflecting.
Sure. I'm honestly surprised because I didn't feel I communicated very well in this particular post - I really took a lot straight from the podcast, so please be sure to reference Advent Conspiracy.
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