Why Do We Want So Much Stuff?

Capitalism would die if we didn’t, but it doesn’t do much for our spiritual life (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to this show). As "Black Friday"–the biggest shopping day of the year in the US–approaches, it’s something to think about.

In the Guardian, Heidi Moore quotes British comedian Louis CK as saying, "We live in an amazing, amazing world, and it’s wasted on the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots."

Moore quotes product designer Thomas Wensma as saying, "We want something new, something pretty, the next shiny thing."

She writes: "But as more consumers obsess this season about the ipad mini and the new ipod touch, and whether the Google Nexus tablet is superior to the Amazon Kindle Fire HD, and the virtues of the iphone 5’s lightning connector versus the old iphone 4s connector that predated it by less than a year, it’s a good time to step back and wonder how we have come to this pass. These devices, as fragile as Faberge eggs, packaged like jewels–and priced accordingly–have become, in many minds, almost immediately disposable as soon as the next device with retina-display resolution makes us salivate for the next big thing." (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to this show too!)

One place you get VALUE for your money is at unknowncountry.com. For instance, subscribers have a coupon that gets them a beautiful hardcover novel for less than $5. And we’ve reduced the price of Anne Strieber’s famous diet book so that YOU can afford to reduce too! And new subscribers who subscribe for one year will get a FREE unknowncountry.com tote bag, and if you subscribe for two years, you’ll get a FREE 2013 Crop Circle calendar!