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The curse of consumerism

I was reading Mahabharata, one of the greatest epics ever written. There are so many things I find still relevant today as they were during the rule of the Kurus.

One of the things that caught my mind was the succession plan and the way kings retired in those days. They handed over the reins of the kingdom to the heir and retired in the forests amidst austerity. In other words, you slowed down the machine called human body by forcing it to consume less, to lose yourself in search of spirituality and you offered yourself in the company of people who were of your age.

Then happened consumerism. The thirties became the new twenties and the forties became the new thirties. So on and so forth.

And thus humanity's struggle with age to look younger and sexier began. The rise of cosmetic world overshadowed the spiritual world. We may now be a fine looking corpse today. But it is assured that we will be corpses one day. We still have not found a solution to that.

Consumerism has led us to consume more than we need. It is draining our resources - financial, environmental and psychological. Leaving us good looking hollow people. Who just look good but feel terrible most of the time.

We have forgotten to smile in order to save for a life we may not live to please people we don't like and to live a lifestyle that makes us sacrifice the little things that makes us most happy.

I think it's time to reorient ourselves,  benefit from the age-old wisdom and live like those legends who lived really long and healthy...

Consumerism must die if we are to live

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