We live in a consumerist society. Life is about buying buying and buying yet more. We have so much STUFF! Furniture, clothing, books, utensils, machines, gadgets, cosmetics etc. etc. Many of us live in huuuuge mansions. 3 floors. Multiple rooms. Beds. Bathrooms. Backyard. Front yard. 1-3 cars. And the list goes on and on. I am not judging the phenomenon, just describing it. [I don't get paid enough to be a judge].
Why do we buy so much? We can't live without things that didn't even exist 5-10 years ago!! A study found that the average worker spends almost TWO HOURS A DAY shopping on line at work. In addition, according to the Time Use Institute, the average shopping trip takes 41 minutes. If you multiply that by the 1.5-trip per week average, that's over 53 hours per year you're spending in the grocery store. Then there is the time spent in countless other types of stores. Cleaning for Pesach is so difficult partially because of our overabundance of stuff. And then we have to deal with the countless items on the market that claim to be kosher la-pesach and we have to navigate our way through everything.
Part of the reason we buy so much is that we are bombarded with advertisements telling us what to buy and how much better our lives will be if we just purchase this or that item [or go on this vacation, or have this cosmetic surgery, or subscribe to this newspaper or magazine etc. etc.]. The methods they use to brainwash us are very sophisticated and very successful. When I receive one of these advertising booklets on my doorstep [which they cunningly call "news" or "what's up" of the like, as if it isn't all just hundreds of attempts to get our money. But "Trying To Get Your Money Booklet" wouldn't achieve the stated goal], I throw it in the garbage before it can get in my house. If I couldn't think of anything I lacked before reading these ads, I don't want any new ideas. Money is not unlimited and I already know what I HAVE to spend on: [High] monthly rent, taxes, food, health insurance, tuition, clothing, food food food, transportation etc. etc. etc.!! Why do I need more ideas about how to squander money?? But not everybody throws these things out and even when one does - the advertisements are ubiquitous and are constantly overloading your subconscious with messages that you need yet more.
But there is a deeper reason we buy so much. That is because our souls are feeling empty. We need to fill that empty space, that "black hole", if you will - so we fill it with STUFF. A better way would be to fill it with LOVE, CARING AND OTHER SPIRITUAL QUALITIES. If we did then we would still buy stuff from time to time, but MUCH MUCH LESS and only what we really need to fulfill our purpose of spreading love, caring and spirituality.
If you have Hashem, you lack nothing. If you don't have Hashem, you lack everything.
