A Psychedelic Critique Of Consumerism

I went to a consumer electronics store on acid.

A few days ago I strolled throughout the city with a few friends, some of us dosed with just a little bit of LSD. The wonders of modern civilisation, but also the absurdity of a society entirely lost in abstraction hit several deep chords within me.

In fact, we actually visited a large store for consumer electronics, because the one sober member of our troop was in need of a laptop case. What could be a setup for a perfectly hellish experience on a larger dose of a psychedelic turned out to be extremely fun and eye-opening. I felt like a countercultural explorer, seeing all of marketing’s illusions rendered transparent and utterly laughable, using the setting of this consumerist sacred site for a very unique experience that had nothing to do with what the store was actually intended for.

The section for TV screens hypnotised us with its vivid imagery of nature scenes, Van Gogh paintings and overly edited microcosmic phenomena such as paint swirls and drops falling on water. We revered in awe of the most beautiful scenes and laughed at the absurdity of the most artificial and ridiculous ones. Then there was this massive screen in front of which I sat down with my friend. They showed a guy meditating, they showed people adventurously exploring forests, they showed movement, excitement, human connection, novelty, beauty.

The true phenomenology of both television and marketing then dawned on me. They are trying to sell you a TV screen by associating it, through imagery, with that which you actually want to experience. We, as a culture, are more and more replacing the vividness and immediately felt truth and meaning of actual experience with symbolic representation. Immersing oneself in representation takes way less effort, but it ultimately feels to some extent hollow, empty, and meaningless. Just as life does for many of us. I got a sense that we’re trapped in our dopamine cycles, which keep us comfortably unhappy.

Nowadays, companies constantly create artificial, previously non-existent desires through marketing. They do it by connecting products and services through words and imagery with aesthetic and emotional values. They create an aura around the thing they’re trying to sell that makes it seem directly connected to fun, warmth, love, adventure, and beauty. Only it isn’t. So we’re left to constantly buy symbols of happiness, all the while subtly or not so subtly, unconsciously or consciously falling into desperation about the meaninglessness and alienation of late-stage-capitalism.

I believe that a major factor of modern unhappiness is a deep feeling of disconnection from others. During our drug-fuelled adventure in the store I was struck by the store’s employees and how we usually reduce them to soulless avatars of their role. Yet each human being I encountered that day seemed to brightly radiate the same innocent and vulnerable desire for basic happiness. In our competitive and therefore isolating structures, we all seem to have developed a deep sense of mistrust towards our fellow capital-accumulating robot-people. We have outsourced our innate desire for connection and cooperation to abstract structures such as corporations and financial institutes, which operate in a manner so disconnected from our original drive for love and safety, that we can only end up feeling lost and alienated from both others and ourselves. What we call depression, anxiety, and social anxiety is just an extreme form in which sensitive people experience the inner and outer alienation we all suffer from.

It’s hard to grasp how deep this conditioning runs, because if it weren’t subconscious, it wouldn’t be conditioning. Psychedelics allow us to briefly see the world with fresh eyes, which enables us to make some of that conditioning conscious. Only through making it conscious can we free ourselves from it.

Our psyche is as much in desperate need for some sort of revolution as our planet’s ecosystems are. As ecological, social, and psychological crises are converging, something grand is happening. Something new is being born. And I believe it has a lot to do with an evolution of human consciousness. A rediscovery of our interconnectedness could organically spark a systemic revolution, where all the useless, destructive and sad structures become obsolete and fall away, as communities become stronger through love rather than fear, control, and competition. If a somewhat utopian world were possible, I sense it could only be reached through freeing our minds.

Critiques of capitalism can often seem a bit simplistic, as the root of all problems is ascribed to a somehow evil, external structure. It is important to recognise that each one of us embodies many of the mental patterns that create and sustain capitalist structures. So while political activism is a worthwhile driving force that can avantgardistically point towards the new, the true revolution happens from within. From within the consciousness of the individual and from within the collective that becomes increasingly aware of alienation.

Free your mind by getting in touch with your inner truth. We can look on the inside through psychedelics, meditation, or similar methodologies. But another approach is to cultivate radical honesty. Only through courageously expressing your truth and vulnerability can you reconnect to yourself, and only from that mental space can you truly relate deeply to others. Relation is where revolution happens.

Related posts:

Owning a Nissan Navara is an exhilarating experience, whether you navigate rugged terrains or cruise through city streets. However, to truly unlock its full potential and elevate your driving…

1st October 2022 Bangla Current Affairs Quiz :- 👉 Click Here 👈 PDF Link :- 👉 Click Here 👈 2nd October 2022 Bangla Current Affairs Quiz :- 👉 Click Here 👈 PDF Link :- 👉 Click Here 👈 3rd…

Do you picture yourself in a grand big house, playing with your kids, driving that dream car, or being with that special person? You see, we often associate happiness with something that is external…