What do you think?!

In our Western societies, we equate "success" with the external trappings of material wealth: bigger houses and cars, longer and more exotic holidays, more of them all, and so on; and of course, the higher incomes needed to fund all of this. Our whole economic system is structured on this premise: progressive economic growth is what we are striving to achieve. And our societies reflect this bias. Consequently, when we stop consuming, the economic system faces collapse, as recent events have shown. The recovery of our economic system and indeed our entire societies seems to be based on the requirement that we (or failing that, people overseas) start to consume more once again.

But have we not reached the logical and/or sensible limits of this process in the West? How much more consumption can we do and perhaps even more importantly, how much more consumption can our planet sustain? Where does this viscous circle take us ultimately? Are we aiming to make everyone on the planet as materially well off as the average American? What sort of environment (and society) would this eventuate for us all? And then what?

It seems that many people can see the fallacy of this model, but not what might replace it. If everyone in the affluent Western societies accepted that they are (by and large) materially OK and do not need to strive to consume ever more, then the economic model that we currently rely on so much would never achieve continual growth and hence "success". And for us as individuals, how would we then measure "success"?

Answering this fundamental question about the meaning of our lives, is I believe, a highly personal one: each of us will have our own answer to it. But I very much doubt that the continual acquisition of material and financial wealth is what genuinely makes most of us happy or contented. For the vast majority of us, having lots of money is in itself, meaningless and pointless: it's what we can DO with it that gives it meaning. So once again, however wealthy we are, we are faced with how to use the wealth and opportunities that we have. Surely we must each take the time and effort to contemplate our own individual answer that question? So, what is your answer?!