Another reason for my 180 on this issue is the contempt with which these companies whose products we wear levy upon us. When you wear a NIKE t-shirt, with the predominant symbol plastered across your chest, the actual meaning behind the placement of it is to advertise to other people who made the t-shirt or whichever item it is you maybe wearing. So in vulgar language, you’re really a walking talking prostitute, except you are paying for the privilege instead of the benefactor.
Now, I am not going to throw away all my old clothes, but all future purchases will preferably be absent of glaring in your face, look at me logos. I don’t mind small inconspicuous advertising, so I may also purchase some brand names. I will however, make exceptions that enhance/augment human functionality. An example would be Vibram Five Finger shoes, the advertising on it is small, but I would wear those if it came with a flag to plant above your head. Some things deserve screaming them out, most things don’t.
Another reason also, is the fact that a lot of the big name brands use sweat shops in poorer countries from South East Asia and some Middle Eastern countries. So by buying these clothes, which they make for cheap, and sell for much more than they are worth. You encourage the company to do more of what they do. I don’t want to be part of that.
I realize I am not changing anything, except on some miniscule immeasurable scale, but it’s more about the principle of the matter.
Posts
"Anytime you're practicing renunciation, you're deluded. How about that! You're deluded. What are you renouncing? Anytime you renounce something, you are tied forever to the thing you renounce. There's a guru in India who says, "Every time a prostitute comes to me, shes talking about nothing but God. She says I'm sick of this life that I'm living. I want God. But every time a priest comes to me he's talking about nothing but sex." Very well, when you renounce something, you're stuck to it forever. When you fight something, you're tied to it forever. As long as you're fighting it, you are giving it power. You give it as much power as you are using to fight it.
ReplyDeleteThis includes communism and everything else. So you must "receive" your demons, because when you fight them, you empower them. Has nobody ever told you this? When you renounce something, you're tied to it. The only way to get out of this is to see through it. Don't renounce it, see through it. Understand its true value and you won't need to renounce it; it will just drop from your hands. But of course, if you don't see that, if you're hypnotized into thinking that you won't be happy without this, that, or the other thing, you're stuck. What we need to do for you is not what so-called spirituality attempts to do - namely, to get you to make sacrifices, to renounce things. That's useless. You're still asleep. What we need to do is to help you understand, understand, understand. If you understood, you'd simply drop the desire for it. This is another way of saying: if you woke up, you'd simply drop the desire for it" - Anthony De Mello
This is from a book called "Awareness" hence all of the references to being asleep/waking up. The section is called "Neither is renunciation the solution," and I just so happened to read it the same day that I read your post. Just found it interesting.
-Tom