In
the story of the great Tibetan yogi, Padmasambhava, he encounters a
monstrous character who is known as Black Salvation and also as
Matarangara, which means 'the one who devours his mother'. The
depiction of Black Salvation is a description of everything that is
repulsive and revolting and monstrous and it is a symbolic way of
saying that Samsara is repulsive and monstrous. It is a way of saying
that what we have to overcome on the way to spiritual awakening is
something that has tremendous power and energy and fills our world, a
huge monstrous presence.
For
our society I think the great monster is what is known as
consumerism, or the idea of progress through consumer led growth. Why
is consumerism monstrous, a Matarangara, one who devours his mother,
a Black Salvation? The view, put very simply, is that happiness and
fulfilment are a product of economic well-being. Your security, your
contentment, is dependent on the possession of a sufficient amount of
money and goods. And as our irrational minds engage with this view,
our natural craving assumes that greater happiness and fulfilment is
achieved by a steady accumulation of money and possessions. Also an
offshoot of this view, is the view that choice is a supreme good and
having choice is the equivalent of freedom. The more choice we have,
the more freedom we have.
Another
head of this many headed monster says everything is something to be
purchased and appropriated whether it's a smart phone, an overcoat, a
car or meditation, yoga and Buddhism. Individualism is also part of
the logic of consumerism. Individualism leads us to consider
ourselves as somehow separate from and unconnected to others.
Consumerism also encourages narcissism; the tendency to see
everything in terms of how it affects me and the self-centredness and
vanity that goes with that.
In
a culture of consumerism we are consumers before we are anything
else. Before we are citizens or family members or adherents of a
religious doctrine. Above all of that we are consumers, that is our
identity and if we refuse that identity we will find ourselves pitted
against the many headed hydra of consumerism. In Greek mythology when
one of the heads of the monster Hydra is cut off, two more grow in
its place. That
would suggest that in encountering the many headed demon of
consumerism we need a more subtle and intelligent approach. Cutting
off heads that regrow doubly is no solution. In the work of
overcoming the demons of the mind and the demons of the marketplace,
we need intelligence and awareness, alertness and love.