Hyper consumption of ‘Things’ seems to be a norm of current culture.
Greater identification with what we have over who we are, comes as no surprise when we consider that this is the first time ever where we find ourselves living in abundance.
Never before have we had to figure out the difference between having and Being.
The outcome; highly evolved, deeply engrained human tendencies draw us towards consumption.
‘Things’ are necessary and inescapable part of our lives, therefore, we need to honour and understand the material world, not despise it. However, we cannot truly honour ‘things’ as they should be whilst they’re being utilised as an illusion of self enhancement. i.e. We attempt to ‘find ourselves’ through them or define ourselves by them.
This is where the ego kicks in. It creates attachment to objects because we shape our value structures and identities around them. In doing so, the only measurement of progress is MORE, which is seriously dysfunctional.
This dysfunction is exactly what keeps the current consumer culture going – the fact that trying to find yourself through ‘things’ doesn’t work – the ego satisfaction is fleeting and so we keep consuming in an attempt to quench the thirst.
This for me is where the darker side of the fitness industry weighs in: Luring folk onto the hamster wheel of dependency – creating deeper attachments and identification to a number on the scale, a weight on the bar or a certain aesthetic, making ‘things’ the beacon of success rather than a by-product – guiding folk away from Being and towards more ‘having’.
The fitness world is upside down, and having sat around a table with some of the most influential people in our industry yesterday, it frightens me to death that whilst they know a shift is required, they don’t really know why.
The game needs to change… we’re trying to figure out how, but whilst we do we’re gathering some army to fight the good fight alongside us.