In our last video we were talking about the need for a person to become more aware how the mind works and suggested that one should not blindly follow all the demands and desires that arise in the mind.
In the last few decades society has been very strongly promoting this idea that people should not have any restraints and just follow any desire or idea that comes up in their mind. Why are others so eager to tell us what we should do? Is this for our benefit? Or is someone else benefitting when we cannot control our mind and desires?
For many thousands of years people lived in a very different way where life for the very large majority was very simple. They did not travel long distances nor were they shopping often or using many services. After World War I, corporations considered how they can overcome the threat of overproduction. They developed a manipulative psychological strategy. Paul Mazur of Lehman Brothers stated,
"We must shift America from a needs to a desires culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things even before the old had been entirely consumed. We must shape a new mentality in America. Man's desires must overshadow his needs."
This conspiracy, enabled by new sophistication in advertising and supported by the government, was shockingly effective. Within a few short decades and with the help of credit being given to almost all adults, consumerism had taken over America. This new consumerism had completely replaced the old mentality of saving money before one would buy something new.
Many people would argue that having so many choices of products to buy and things to experience is certainly better than how life used to be before, isn’t it? It certainly is more stimulating. But have people really become happier?
For thousands of years society looked upon the qualities of greed and envy as something very undesirable. But with the rise of advertising in the 20th century, people were increasingly encouraged to want more and more, to become greedy and to desire what other people have. When we look at what tends to happen to most people is that they are never satisfied even when they get what they desired. Instead they always want more and more. It is never enough.
The advertising industry knew one thing very well, and that is that people felt some inner emptiness, that something was missing in their lives. This is why they always promise to fill this emptiness with their products and services. Some commercials very blatantly make such promises, e.g., Coca Cola promising “Coke is it!” Coke is what? They imply that Coke is what you are looking for.
We even feel that it is my desire to buy this new car. When in fact yesterday I did not have this desire, and if I had not seen this TV commercial, then surely this desire would not have arisen in my mind. So it becomes clear that many desires that pop up in my mind are actually not really my desires. Rather we are being moved around like puppets. We are not very much aware of how much others influence us in our daily lives, and it is usually not for the better.
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