Jain Spirit 2001 06 No 08

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 33

LIFESTYLE of 163
DYING OF CONS
George Monbiot satirises the logic that consumption equals happiness, pointing to the wisdom of aparigraha (non-possession)
32
HE MODERN INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY WORKS LIKE THIS:
resources are dug from a hole in the ground on one side
a hole on the other side of the planet. This is known as the creation of value. The creation of value improves our quality of life. Improvements in our quality of life make us happier. The more we transfer from hole to hole, the happier we become.
Unfortunately, we are not yet transferring enough. According to the Worldwatch Institute, we have used more goods and services since 1950 than in all the rest of human history. But we still don't seem to be happy. Indeed, over the same period 25year-olds in Britain have become ten times more likely to be
Jain Spirit June-August 2001
Go wob
afflicted by depression. One in four British adults now suffer from a chronic lack of sleep and one fifth of schoolchildren have psychological problems. Over the past thirteen years, mental health insurance claims have risen by 36 per cent. American studies suggest that between 40 and 60 per cent of the population suffer from mental illness in any one year. The World Health Organisation predicts that by 2010 depression will become the second commonest disease in the developed world. Unless we start consuming in earnest, we'll never experience real joy.
During preparation time for Christmas the rate of consumption rises dramatically. To make ourselves