The real solution here is simplicity, a spiritual discipline. When we are running to and fro seeking out the latest material pleasure we neglect the beautiful that is present in everything, everywhere – we never “lieth in green pastures” or “stop to smell the roses.” The less we consume, the less we need to work. I am not calling for a life of idlelessness, but rather a life with more room to breathe, and more silence to find real peace. When we constantly divert ourselves in seeking out greed’s callings, we lose sight of eternity, which is found only in the present. We are a nation of consumers, the great rapists of the modern world, who find it impossible to conceive of a day without buying something – because we have been programmed by the media, etc. to believe that we have about thirty seven times the needs that we actually have. We cannot be content unless we have all that we are told we need, which for most is far beyond their means. People make $100,000 a year, yet still spend themselves into debt. SHARING what we have can open up so many doors. The wealth of our middle class compares with the kinds of five hundred years ago. We need to stop turning to further destruction as diversion from the crises at hand – ignoring them will not make them go away. We need to be very skeptical about things like biotechnology and cybernetics, not only because they are blasphemous, but because they may run amok. We need to stop and think about what we are buying before we buy it. Do we need it? Has it or will it hurt the environment? Why do we still use Styrofoam? Why does everyone have to own a car?

We are part of nature – meant to guard it, not destroy it. The rampant consumerism of the Americonsumer is terrorizing the world and its people. Our sickness is spreading to the ends of the earth.