Should We Be Consumers?

Sometimes the way things are may not necessarily be the way things should be.

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti

If we believe that our Society is profoundly sick, we must look at Why.

We must also be willing to openly question the systems that exist, and how they operate.

For instance, I recently stated that the Role of CEO is Dead, and I believe that is a good thing.

If we look at the track record of CEOs, it is fairly easy to see that it is a role that is ineffective for what our society needs and it is made worse that it can be replaced, easily, by AI.

But are there other norms that we should question?

I was listening to a video earlier today, and it made me think about this word that we call ourselves...

Consumers.

What does this really mean?

Is this a good thing?

Should we want to be "Consumers"?

Well, let's look at the word itself.

A Consumer is One who Consumes.

What does "Consume" mean?

Here are some of the definitions I found interesting:

• To Destroy
• To Devour
• To Spend Wastefully

So you could say that a "Consumer" is...

One Who Destroys or Devours Wastefully.

Is this something that is good?

Do we want to be "Destroyers"?

Do we want to "Devour Wastefully"?

It's not something that I want to be!

Yet we live in a Society that Idolizes this concept, promotes that this is an Ideal to strive for, and treats Humans as such as well.

Look at the Problems in the world of Business and we can see it.

80% of Employees are in Burnout, with many more not far behind.

Burnout occurs when Human Beings Fail to have enough Energy (Mg-ATP) left to sustain the minimum of Healthy Living.

Slowly, necessary systems shut down, causing more bodily damage the longer they are down.

Businesses are Devouring Employee's Energy (Mg-ATP), and it is fair to also say that this is being done Wastefully.

If an Employee was reaching their Potential, they would be reaching Flow States regularly.

Flow is where we have our highest levels of Productivity, Creativity, Innovation, and more.

But Employees can't reach Flow States for two reasons.

First, Burnout blocks Flow States.

Too much Dis-Stress, as people in Burnout experience, makes it so that we literally cannot attain Flow States.

However, on top of this fact, we also find that Employees are not operating within their Strengths, which is where they are most likely to find Flow States and be most Effective in their work.

Employees' Talents are being Wasted, and most Leaders have no Plans or Ideas of how to change this in their Organizations.

Then we look at Businesses within the greater Ecosystems that they are within, and what do we see?

We watch as many of these Businesses are Destroying the Ecosystems they exist within.

We see Products created that are destroying our Health.

We see Profit at the expense of Customers, slowly Destroying them through Addiction Tactics instead of providing true Value.

Not to mention the Businesses that are clearly Decimating the World around us and making the Environment worse for Humans.

Then we look at our lives as "Consumers".

Are things that good for the average "Consumer"?

Health is the worst it's ever been, despite having the best Medicine in history.

People are Lonelier than they have ever been, despite having the highest world Population in history.

Humans have more Currency than they have ever had, yet have extreme levels of Low Self-Worth.

Is this what we want?

Is this how Life "should" be?

We talk about being a "Consumer" as if it was a "good" thing, yet I don't see how that is True.

I'm not saying that everything is horrible, there are good things that exist in the World, there are some incredible things that have been created.

Yet, can we truly say that being a "Consumer" is "good" or "healthy" overall?

I think there are better ways to Live than to be One who Destroys and Devours Wastefully.

So, if this is not what we should be, then what should we look to?

Perhaps, we should be Cultivators.

A Cultivator is One who Cultivates.

To Cultivate is to...

• Promote or Improve by Labor and Attention
• Improve by Education or Training
• Promote Growth
• Foster
• Devote Oneself To

So you could say a Cultivator is...

One who Promotes, Improves, Fosters, and Devotes themselves to Grow their Ecosystem through their Labor, Attention, Education, and Training.

What would the World look like if we all truly did this, instead of paying lip service to it?

What if our Leaders sought to do this with their Teams?

What if our Businesses sought to do this with their Customers?

What if our Society sought to do this with Ourselves?

What if we worked together to Design a Regenerative Legacy?