Powaqqatsi – The Myth of More

From Yahweh

Moses looked at the entire enslaving Egyptian civilization and realized, this is wrong. Jesus looked at the entire social order around him and realized, this is wrong. Buddha looked at the abuses of Hinduism and realized, this is wrong. Lao Tzu looked at the entire stilted, formalized world around him and realized, this is wrong. Martin Luther looked at the entire political and religious order around him and realized, this is wrong. Galileo looked through his telescope and realized that the entire flat-earth cosmology of the day was entirely wrong. Gandhi looked at an entire society of imperialist oppressors and realized, this is wrong. Martin Luther King looked at the entire racist society around him and realized, this is wrong.

All wrong. Entirely wrong. Sometimes, when balance has been entirely lost, God lets a person know that everything around them is wrong, entirely wrong. Each and every single thing they had ever been taught, the prevailing world view of their birthing social order, was completely, utterly, and totally wrong.

They knew this in their core. Knowledge beyond belief. And it tortured them. I know no greater pain. Their reward? The measure of success? Ridicule. Self-doubt. Confusion. Persecution. Excommunication. Execution. Such are the rewards granted to those who would speak out against the status-quo. No matter how right they are.

All interests become vested. It has never been otherwise. And they are driven to maintain themselves. Usually at any and all costs.

The instinct for survival appertains not only to beasts and bio-organisms, but to people and businesses and governments and religions and philosophies. Indeed, to every structure known to us.

Po-waq-qa-tsi (from the Hopi language, powaq-sorcerer + qatsi-life) Noun: an entity, a way of life, that consumes the life forces of other beings in order to further its own life.

Make more money. Own more things. Do more things. Go more places. Eat more. Exercise more. Invest more. Spend more. Grow more. Control more. Buy more things, each promising more convenience, so that we can have more leisure time. To do more of what we want. More. More. More.

Two thousand years ago Jesus asked us why we spend our money on what does not nourish or satisfy. We need to start asking ourselves the same question today.

Are we at peace with our consumer society? Does the endless quest for more, more, more satisfy us, or bring us any peace of mind? It is my experience, and what I have observed from all those I know, that the answer is No.

The Myth of More infuses each and every tiny part of our society. In countless ways. Most of them we do not even notice. That is intentional, because systems are most effective when they persuade us on levels of which we are not aware.

Is more really more, or have we somehow gone wrong?

As of the time of this writing, June of 2001, the present value of all stock traded on the New York Stock Exchange is $18,000,000,000,000. That’s 18 trillion dollars. That’s 18 million million dollars.

The average American (I cannot speak with authority about other nations) is bombarded with 1,500 advertisements each and every single day. Sustained by endless sales people and companies and an entire social order that must sell you what it needs you to buy, regardless of whether you will benefit from it.

We use money we do not have, called credit, to buy CDs and DVDs and movies and entertainment and fashion and hair conditioners and and and… So that we might have more, more, more. Debt is at an all-time high. The average American spends 14% of all take-home pay just to cover the interest on non-home mortgage debt.

The controlling agents position themselves as benign providers. Please, if nothing else, understand that they care nothing about you except that you continue to consume. And that means, ultimately, they have consumed you.

The universe was created for joy. Despite all evidence to the contrary.

All of the great prophets have found God in the comfort and challenge of solitary confinement. The desert, the monastery, the pilgrimage, the mountain, the cave. The life of simplicity.

More is, indeed, less. The only antidote to Powaqqatsi is the death of self, as Jesus taught us. Less is, indeed, more. Only nothingness is infinite. If you seek to save your life, you will lose it. But lose your life, and you will gain it eternally. This is all I have learned.

Ahyh, June 19, 2001, Valley Center, California.

Reposted from yhwh.com