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Our consumer culture (1) first breaks our natural connection to one another and busies us with the circular tasks of producing and consuming, leaving us alone and exhausted; then, (2) it sells us distractions from the isolation and the fatigue it has created.

What happens when advertising bombards us with the message that happiness is found in increased consumption, and not in social connection? Can we escape the work-more-to-purchase-more world advertising encourages us to reside in?

What happens when a society enjoys so much wealth that it can free its entire citizenry from scarcity? Would it allow everyone to work less, ensure everyone has enough, and create time for family and community? Would it surprise you to learn that in a consumer culture, when it arrived at just this place by the 1980s, instead had its citizens work more than ever before?

In the midst of their great extinction, American Indians warned us: “What we do to the Red Man we will ultimately do to every man.” Beginning with the decimation of native peoples, we’ve been continuously breaking down entire communities, forcing them into consumerism. This is a consumerism that demands each of us survive on our own.

What happens when we live in a world defined by consumerism? We‘re meant for community and we flourish in community. Yet today’s world devalues community, diminishing those places where we can discover our sense of worth in deep social connection.

What if I (as a therapist who studies cultures) told you there is something invisible at play in our world, something hiding out of sight, hidden just beneath our everyday lives? Would you be surprised to learn that our consumer culture is propagating a manufactured reality, one limiting our imagination and our future?

We’ve all fallen in love with the story of the heroic young child living an impoverished life. This is the tale that begins with a boy finding himself with penniless parents, caregivers failing miserably at their task, demonstrating only cruelty and mistreatment. As the child grows, he discovers a mysterious object that changes everything.