How much is enough?
The cliche that money doesn't buy happiness is often ignored in the exodus to the nearest Walmart or local mall. It could be because people are immersed in a culture that sees the accumulation of goods as the definition of success. Media images barrage us daily with products and lifestyles of opulence and money to burn. This is something that needs to change, indeed must change, for our planet to survive. The world cannot sustain every human in the world driving their own car, for example, or owning their own monster house. The legacy we leave behind for our children is at stake.
We need to ask ourselves the question: How much is enough? Rampant consumerism will only create more problems. It's high time to look at our spending habits and reduce our consumption, and change our definition of success.
Comments
Here a couple definitions
Here a couple definitions for the word 'cliche' that google came up with:
-an expression so often used that its original power has been drained away
-avoiding the issue, missing what is important
Houdini, I think the second definition applies to your use of the 'cliche' "money can't buy happiness", and might suggest why it gets ignored - it simply doesn't reflect the reality of day to day living, at least at the level that most of us interact with it. Most of us don't know the difference between 'happiness' and 'feeling good'. And having money to care for yourself and buy things for people you care about does seem to make one feel pretty good.
'Consumerism' is not the problem. The world is one big giant buffet. We are constantly consuming and composting the world around us, we always have been and always will be. So, to answer your question: it will never be enough. The problem is in how we've been responding to the consumption impulse - designing products and solutions that are harmful and short-term and don't actually meet the deeper needs that are calling to be met.
The fear of death comment is on the right track, but in between any given surface desire, and the fear of death, is a whole spectrum of unconscious drivers of habitual (and addictive) consumption. If we're bold enough to look into what's hiding in the shadows of our psyches, we can free ourselves from consuming in an unhealthy way.
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Freud said our number one
Freud said our number one driver is fear of death. Perhaps consumerism is connected to the desire to live forever. Money represents my energy, creativity, productivity, my time: in essence, my life. So how people use their money will give you some insight - are they hoarders, afraid to share with others, or are they generous with their money and things?