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Héber S

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In the actual society, all can´t be material consumption. We must replace the material consumption by spiritual consumption.

In the actual society, all can´t be material consumption. We must replace the material consumption by spiritual consumption. We are willing to pay a lot of money for a diner in a good restaurant or a good wine but... for a lecture or a poetry reading? Poetry is at the summit of human evolution. Would you pay 30 $ for someone recite you poetry? I do not know, maybe. I Could say that poetry as art, dance or anything else. The new economy has to be less and less material and more cultural and spiritual. At the end, Happiness is not in material things. You can have all the things of a mall and in a few days will not be happy, because when people have a void not filled with anything material. Is an spiritual void. I think that we can not continue to growing as it is doing now.

Topics: Earth Economic Growth consumption spirituality
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    Harald Jezek 50+

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    Apr 14 2011: Heber, these might be your views, but don't expect that everybody shares them. For example, I don't care much about poetry and I'm one who prefers to spend the 30 bucks for a good dinner instead of a poetry reading.
    Tastes are different, and everybody should be able to make the choices that result in his/her happiness.

  • Revett Eldred 10+

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    Apr 13 2011: Anybody who feels the world is too materialistic is free to stop acquiring material things. Problem solved. Go ahead: read some poetry, dance, meditate, whatever makes you feel good. Why worry what anybody else thinks?

    Personally, I kinda like material things. Zipping down a twisty road in a BMW M3 with the top down on a sunny day is as spiritual as it gets, but the BMW doesn't come free.

    • Héber S

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      Apr 13 2011: For example. I personally would pay for a good conversation. A conversation is not material. I prefer one hour of a good conversation that driving an hour with my "BMW M3 with the top down on a sunny day" . Would have people better and happier if everyone had a BMW M3? I do not know ... How long would resist the planet if everyone had a BMW M3? I do not know ...

      • Revett Eldred 10+

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        Apr 13 2011: My point wasn't that everyone should have an M3. My point was that if you don't want to rely on material things, go ahead and don't rely on them. Different strokes for different folks. Chaqu'un a son gout. One man's meat is another man's poison. And all that.

        • Héber S

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          Apr 13 2011: I agree. Are Chaqu'un to gout. The problem is that the way wealth is distributed many people have the ability to do what he likes. I wish the rich would be better distributed. I know very rich people who are not happy. If people had less material consumption, could be happier? What I do believe is that if wealth were more divided, people that had no money to cover basic needs could perhaps be happier.
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          Harald Jezek 50+

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          Apr 14 2011: Heber, wealth neither is a guarantee for happiness nor does it prevent it. There are very poor people who are happy and very wealthy people that are unhappy. So what does that tell you ?
          The only minimum requirement for happiness is coverage of your needs. In other words, you will not find happiness, if you are starving, or if you are in poor health, etc.

      • Revett Eldred 10+

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        Apr 13 2011: Héber: You talk as if there is a finite amount of money and if one person has more then another has to have less. Not true. Just because one person is rich doesn't mean others have to be poor. On the contrary, when someone becomes rich it is often because they created wealth and made a lot of other people better off as well. Take Bill Gates. Not only did he and a dozen other Microsoft people become billionaires, over 100 employees became millionaires, thousands of partner companies made a lot of money, and millions of people changed the way they do their work and perhaps became better off at the same time. At no time did Microsoft's success make anybody poorer -- except perhaps a handful of competitors. Same with Apple, same with Google, and so on. They all CREATE wealth. And now millions of Africans are benefitting from Bill's generosity in sharing his wealth, so it seems to me that everybody wins here.

        I also know rich people who are not happy, and poor people who are happy, but that's another conversation.

      • Revett Eldred 10+

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        Apr 14 2011: That year-old video is about KYE, a subcontractor to Microsoft. They also manufacture stuff for HP, Samsung, Best Buy, Acer, Logitech, and Asus, and they make stuff under their own brand name of Genius. They have plants in China, the US, Germany, the UK, Taiwan, and HongKong. In response to the allegations about conditions in just that one plant, Microsoft sent auditors to the factory in Dongguan to get the facts. The Dongguan municipal authority has disputed the facts and says nobody under 16 was employed, overtime is paid, and there is no evidence of sweatshop conditions.

        Whatever the truth, it is extremely unfair to point fingers at Microsoft for this!
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    rabia tariq

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    Apr 13 2011: I too at times feel that we hav become too materialistic.Money is imp but now ppl THINK tht lives hav bcm pretty busy and there is no time for spiritual and cultural growth.We can't impose anything but the parents and the teachers shd make children realize its importance without making it a bore subjct.Media as well can play an imp role and set examples for thm.Implement sch thing in practical life and if done in a good manner children would surely love it.

  • Héber S

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    Apr 13 2011: In the last 100 years world population has grown at an unsustainable rate. No one can grow infinitely in a planet of finite resources. We must find other ways of economic growth without relying 100% on material things.
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      Fionn tolster 10+

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      Apr 13 2011: You contradict yourself.Economics is all about the sale of recourses intellectual, physical or otherwise.You can't grow an economy without something to sell.

      • Héber S

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        Apr 13 2011: One of the problems of the current crisis is that banks have grown up without selling anything. Many large fortunes have been created by speculation. Money can not make money without doing nothing is right. Great fortunes have been created by speculating in commodities (such as the copper price will be in 5 years, or as has happened now with the housing bubble) Now, 20% of the population has 80% of wealth. What I am proposing this conversation is to find ways to distribute that wealth to avoid material things. There are people who have no resources but can provide other things to the society. I do not think you should grow exclusively through the consumption of material, but we should be creating other types of consumption. For example. Would Personally I pay for a good conversation. A conversation is Not material.Could a person in a rich country to pay money to a person from a poor country for a good conversation? It could be a way to spread the wealth.Could be a way to grow the economy of the poor? I do not know
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    Fionn tolster 10+

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    Apr 13 2011: I'm going to make the point that poetry is still material,it's just seen to be less tainted by society as its imagined to be something pure,from the heart etc.,when in fact it is benign but banal.
    Poetry preaches a message,a story,a moral,or to put it in different terms poetry has a message,a story,a moral.
    That taken into account can you then say that things in the world are material and dampening or degrading to the metaphorical soul?
    No,You can't,That box that your washing machine came in,It came from a tree in the Congo basin,The metal that compromises the components of your washing machine came from Russia,That metal went through a lot of sore and painful experiences to reach you,So did the poets poem,That wood went through separation form its siblings and essentially murdering of it offspring to get to you,Can you still consider it a material possession solely?
    No you can't.Society does not need to move away from material things it needs to learn to read a book rather than just glance its cover,to read between the lines,under the lines,above the lines and sideways across the lines.
    Essentially to grasp the idea that despite appearances this world is beautiful and that inspiration is all around us,if we would just open our eyes.
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