Ends of Counterbalance (10.10.2000)
To do philosophy, in essence, is to make explicit that which is implicit. Only by performing this task can the root of an issue be disclosed. When discussing the transformation of the earth in terms of human intervention, it is not enough to merely say that humans are defacing and ravaging the planet; as nothing can actually be undertaken with this statement in hand. To achieve anything from an examination of this transformation, the underlying concepts of "why" this is occurring, is necessary. As is evident from Consuming Desires, consumption is at the heart of this transformation. However, further evaluation yields several possibilities of what orients consumption, as is proposed by every author in Consuming Desires. The assumption here then, is that consumption is a strongly negative phenomenon with negative implications. The reason for this, or the problem with consumption, is that it is not counter balanced by "real" experience and focal practice. The following assessment endeavors to elaborate this problem.
Consumption does not provide us with "real" experiences. Every advertisement has one underlying message, "buy me if you want to be happy.” Unfortunately that is not the way it works. No pattern of consumption makes a person happy. Yet this strive and buying into the pursuit of happiness through consumption persists. In a society where social interaction is disseminating, Luttwak presents the consumer product as a substitute for the love which can only be attained through effort in an actual relationship. Consumerism, therefore, becomes the ersatz for love; an alternative that is quicker, easier, and safer (Luttwak). In his essay "Consuming Nature," Bill McKibben writes of having performed a study on the material available through television. He concludes that there is one underlying message on every one of the channels:
You are the most important thing on earth. You, sitting there on the couch, clutching the remote, are the center of creation, the heaviest object in the known universe; all things orbit your desires. This Bud's for you. (McKibben 90-91)
This message that is fed through the CRT may have a hypnotic effect, but it does not provide us with any form of disclosive discourse. There is no disclosive discourse with other people, with nature, or with any object. And so, without any form of disclosive discourse, there is also no correlational coexistence.
Since consumption does not afford actual centering experiences, they must be gathered in another fashion; activities other than consumption. These centering experiences can only be gathered via exposure to something beyond consumerism. In any case, however, such true experiences are necessary to bring the entirety of our lives unto one centering understanding. We need things and focal practices. Such things and practices give an opportunity to escape the spell of consumerism, and, by gathering and focusing our senses and the people of the world, they may give rise to an understanding that is beyond mere consumption. By the very nature and virtue of things and focal practices, they will provide us with the experiences we need to withstand consumption. Marty speaks of people "formerly drawing on resources of their spiritual 'moraine,'" (Marty 179). Though the "spiritual moraine" here is in a religious context the way Marty uses it, it can also be applied to the generally experiential context of individuals. A drawing on the resources of our spiritual, or experiential, moraine is what yields the centering experiences necessary. Doing this enables us to create a counterbalance.
A counterbalance is the essential concept that will provide a correlational coexistence with technology. Having actual and real experiences lays the foundation on which devices can be treated as the means which they are, and not subjectivated into ends in themselves. If it becomes possible to treat devices as means, as the devices which they are, then the ends will become so much more appreciated. As Strong writes, "The wilder and crazier response to the culture of technology, the work of placing ourselves in the world again, entails encountering, countering, and counterbalancing," (Strong 209). Therefore, consumption can be utilized to a positive end if we counterbalance the usage of devices by actual centering experiences; creating a correlational coexistence with devices by understanding the ends and the means; but especially counterbalancing the use of devices with things and focal practices.
In retrospect, the preceding assessment discloses that consumption does not provide humanity with actual experiences. Patterns of consumption produce pseudo-experiences and a notion of the ability to attain happiness through increasing amounts of consumerism.
Furthermore, it is necessary to draw upon the "moraine" of our experiences to recall previous centering experiences that enable a lower susceptibility to the lures of consumerism, as well as reveal new centering experiences. It is also imperative that further focal practices be undertaken and more "things" be utilized and discerned. The undertaking of focal practices and the discernment of focal things is what is fundamental to the counterbalancing of consumerism and the devices it generates. Ultimately, it is the counterbalance of consumerism by such things and practices that is going to bring about a correlational coexistence between the two. For, in truth, the phenomenon of consumption cannot be done away with as it stands today. It is therefore such a counterbalance that is needed to resolve the impediments which consumption gives rise to.
Works Cited
Luttwak, Edward N. "Consuming for Love." Consuming Desires. Ed. Roger Rosenblatt. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1999. 51-63.
Marty, Martin E. "Equipoise." Consuming Desires. Ed. Roger Rosenblatt. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1999. 173-191.
McKibben, Bill. "Consuming Nature." Consuming Desires. Ed. Roger Rosenblatt. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1999. 87-95.
Strong, David. Crazy Mountains. Eds. David W. Orr, Harlan Wilson. New York: SUNY, 1995.
