What we Consume, consumes us.

We are consumers by our very nature. It starts early as we reach for that external source of nourishment. Makes me wonder about the effects of babies being weaned off of breast feeding too early. The biological wiring for breast feeding has to be so engrained in us that when it became common to switch to bottle feeding, especially formula…the effects would be more than we could have ever fathomed both on health and consumption. The mother is an extension of the baby so i think with this organic process of breastfeeding it would reinforce early wiring for seeking natural healthy sustenance. But when this organic process is culturally changed, most likely with the intention of creating unwell consumers, then we have a whole new problem on our hands.

Consumption goes far beyond what we eat or drink, with this new era of Information overload and media we truly moved away from our internal terrain of just sitting with our thoughts to the external world of mass consumption. For a large majority of the population and pretty much all of “popular culture” outside of sleeping there is a constant barrage of external information being consumed all waking hours. Tv, Netflix, YouTube, you name it and what makes it even more interesting and potentially harmful is the fact you can pretty much access whatever confirms your bias/preferences. This creates a culture of reinforcement and by that we find growing echo chambers, where people actually make a choice to wall themselves off from other ideas or views of the world. I wonder if even the possibility of breaking open these echo chambers begins to wane, and we become trapped. Such is the nature of ideology. Back in the nineties when I was coming of age it was the Christians at the time that gave me my first experience with idealogical belief systems. The difference at the time is those people, while i may have had a negative experience , they were choosing to follow their religion/faith, and they were aware of that choice. In the current era where consumption has been deeply imbedded within the development of belief systems, it becomes a whole nother beast. Like with the Social Justice cultists…they believe all of society should believe just as they do, the difference being that they are blindly unaware they are following a belief system. The scary thing is when the mass consumption reinforces the belief system. This is how cults work…its actually quite intentional and a well devised method to assert control.

I’ve often wondered..what are the traits that cause people to step back and not get swept up in their own biases? Is it their self critical nature? Their relationship to authority, as well as their peers? I’ve got theories on what might be the formula but no certainties because people still surprise me everyday.

I’ll just keep questioning everything…even that I question everything…and see where I end up.