(Original image here)
Goodness me,
I have been having an extended break from this blog. Five months is a huge
chunk of time to remain silent. This is partly because I have been busily
writing elsewhere (my new book – edited with Samuel Alexander - Simple Living in History will be out
later in the year) and partly because I haven’t quite defined what this blog
should be about. I have been feeling somewhat directionless and without a sense
of purpose.
Events of earlier
this year saw me re-evaluate many of my aspirations and forced me to think
about things in a more holistic, long term way. I keep coming back to the idea
of abundance as it has, and continues to, inform my life and work. What I am
essentially interested is a different kind of abundance than the one usually
associated with material wellbeing which has all kinds of negative connotations
connected with over-consumption.
I want to
explore a more authentic kind of abundance – something that goes beyond
material acquisition that puts people, animals and the planet first. I’m not attracted
to new-age-ish abundance, one that is sold to consumers as an alternative but
is, in reality, driven by the same materialistic values that it purports to
reject. Neither am I interested in a religious spiritual awakening.
I’m
interested in lifestyles that don’t require participation in special workshops
or retreats, special diets or superfoods, or clothing or likeminded proponents
and gurus. There are no magazines or journals that target this market segment,
because such a market segment doesn’t exist.
Real
alternatives to a life defined by consumer culture are not easy for marketers
to co-opt, brand and re-sell the purported benefits back to consumers. Much has
already been said about choice and the extent to which consumers have the power
to ignore or repel advertised and marketed messages. Much has also been made of
consumer’s power to choose. I want to ask that if consumers have the choice to
buy or not to buy certain products whether it might also be possible for them
to opt out from the consumer market altogether. I tend to think so.
The answers,
I imagine, will not be straight forward or easy to come by but this is hardly
surprising because the questions themselves are far from simple. But they are
well worth asking.
I hope that
this blog will examine these and other questions as I consider what it is to
pursue the ‘good life’.
