We Just Don’t Buy It
Against this backdrop, the Wellbeing Imperative is fuelling a return to civic values and a shift away from what Oliver James calls ’selfish capitalism’. The thirst for Wellbeing has not been quenched by needless consumption and there is increasing evidence of a backlash, which we explore in more detail in Chapter Six.
As Clive Hamilton wrote in Growth Fetish: “The greatest danger to Consumer capitalism is the possibility that people in wealthy countries will decide that they have more or less everything they need.”Already, we are beginning to see a shift towards lower-consumption as Wellbeing issues emerge as our only true Need.
Many have written about the changing nature of consumption and the implications for Business. Recently, a diverse group of depth-psychologists, marketing executives and environmentalists [disclosure: Jules Peck was one of the participants] spent two days working together to examine the role of stories in shaping self-perceptions and the way in which we respond to the challenges that confront humanity as part of an initiative called “beyond green consumption”. They invite you to join the debate at awakenings.wetpaint.com.
The group recognised that movements for social and environmental change need to engage psychologically with the stories we tell ourselves about who we are – stories that come to define how we see ourselves. These movements need to contribute to the dissemination of a new story for life amongst all people.
The group examined the story which gives rise to the “Consumerist self” (the self that is identified in terms of material objects and aspirations mediated by material objects). It also tentatively developed an alternative story for life, which was instigated by honestly responding to the recognised fundamental truths about the human condition and the global situation.
Here is the story that emerged:
- Human beings can be awakened through an honest examination of who we are, and the nature of the world in which we live. Through a better connection with others, ourselves and our natural world, we move closer to those things that we know to be true.
- Our world-views are held within a social context – individualism and a belief that we are separate from nature is part of the old story. In sharing our understandings of who we are, we can shape and enrich a new understanding.
- “Awakening” and experiencing the truth about ourselves requires us to lay our current worldview to rest (and this is likely to entail grief, through which we must help one another). Consumerism and unfettered individualism frustrates this awakening.
- This process is helped by the inevitability of dramatic change – as a result of a range of challenges, such as climate change. The world as we know it is drawing to a close. The question is: what will we embrace in its stead?
- Collectively our common values can give us a vision. Only by coming together can we begin to meet the challenges that face us in a positive, as opposed to a nihilistic, way.
There is nothing new here, perhaps. But what enthused this group was the process by which this perception emerged amongst a collection of disparate people with little preconception for what arose.
The group plan to broaden this dialogue to include key opinion-formers in the environment movement and business, before moving to engage those who seem at present to be remote from discussions about how we achieve a different future.
