Our Lifestyle
We live in a broken society on all kinds of levels; broken relationships, broken identities and safety issues. Instead of Love with commitment (ÁGAPE) we find selfish and sentimental love; instead of divine values, we find injustice and sentimental guilt; instead of honest and humble examples we find shady success heroes; instead of leaders who work for a common well-being, we find manipulative power hungry people.
We live in a society where too much importance is given to what one HAS; the pattern is ambition, possessions and consuming. There are already so many addictions (drugs, alcohol, technology) and now there is a new one; Consuming; it defines our value, our identity and our safety, giving us a superficial and egocentric happiness, while we are seduced by marketing with its emphasis on physical beauty and self-fulfillment
The consequence of this individualism and materialism is the exploitation of the earth and of poor people. To satisfy the lifestyle of this kind of mega-consumer, millions of modern-day slaves (and in many cases children) are working for unfair wages in inhumane conditions , leaving also a massive eco-footprint (it would take up to 7 planets-earth to satisfy this lifestyle is all people would live like this.
The gap between consumers and producers is getting bigger and this is disconnecting the population form the reality, this has the following consequences;
1. Creation of mega-consumers who don't realize where the products come from not the effort it to to create them.
2. Need for Instant gratification, without realizing that we are loosing our patience, self-control and respect for boundaries.
3. Too much information without a direct connection to reality; we start living a virtual life of images, without real experiences.
Richard Louvre, in his book "The Last Child in the Forest, warned us about deviant behaviors in children and youngsters who are living a virtual life, completely disconnected from the real life, experiences and contact with the countryside and nature. he identified a new disorder; Nature Deficit Disorder.
We need a reflection about the values of this lifestyle, because our identity and worth are should not be in what we HAVE, but in what we ARE. we were made at the image of our creator to care, respect and protect. Someone entered History 2000 years ago to restore our relationship with our creator, to restore our relationships with each norther and with the creation itself . Unfortunate this Person got wrapped into a religious cover. The psychiatrist Augusto Cury says we need a shock to wake up and know Jesus as he really is and live a life of peace and justice instead of stress and corruption and collecting possessions.
Our principles for a sustainable lifestyle (the economy of the enough) are based mainly on commitment. A life of respect, responsibility and integration is linked to respect towards the creation, which reflects through the following; ethics in the use of resources, not wasting food, water, electricity, fuel, buying local products, fair trade and biological products, live with the essential, and not luxury, being creative and generous and use the power the consumer has to promote social justice and taking care of the environment.