When my needs are less, I will be able to fulfill them and remain satisfied. But then the economy wouldn't want that, because, pointing to just a handful of needs, if I say: "Look these are my needs and I feel satisfied!", the opportunity to commercialize my needs will get limited. So, in a pursuit to maximize business opportunities and profits, the industry keeps inventing more needs. And when my society starts recognizing these newly invented needs, it puts pressure on me to fulfill them, particularly if I'm someone who is using those 'needs and their fulfillment', as a measure to check if I'm okay.
This is the equation a wide majority of people have with the growing demands of their industrious society. It is commanded by the dictum of the industry with promises of a thriving economy. But, the 'thriving economy' they speak about doesn't cater to all equally. It's like a 'chariot of powerplay'. On top of this chariot, there are some proud as well insecure competitors fighting for absolute supremacy, while at the bottom of this chariot, there are people slogging out their souls to drag it, because they, at the end of the day, need money to fulfill their basic needs. Unfortunately, most of whom do not express their dissent, because they too are made to believe and hope that they can climb the wheels of this chariot, then its deck, eventually the top of it, wherefrom they can command people just like them.
Most so-called thriving economies of the world, are a house of cards, decked higher and higher with newly discovered human needs, and hollow promises. So from an economic perspective, no one would tell "keep your needs minimal" or "consume less." They would only say, "consume more" or "consume it in a new way", even if it is not necessary for the human body. We too may simply tax our metabolic system or any other system of the body trying to consume or utilize them, because someone wants to sell his product.
Earlier advertising used to be a tool, to tell people, "look I have the product that you need, you could buy it from me." Now it is the other way round: "I want to earn my profits. So now you imagine you have a need. Fantasize about the product fulfilling that imaginary need." And day in and day out, they sell this idea on televisions and other media. Those who buy the idea would eventually buy the product. We, as a society have been buying repeated propaganda like these, for several decades, and have made them into our dreams and aspirations for life.
Now, our aspirations, which keeps piling up with each new propaganda is not only hurting our fellow humans, but also the environment, because ultimately, for everything man-made the prime inventory is nature. So we keep digging the earth for minerals and drilling the sea beds for oil, exhausting resources meant, not only for this generation, but also for the future generations. If the present scenario continues, we can stay assured that our future generations will recollect us as monsters who gobbled up even the last morsel of their grain.
Once, we were upbeat about our inventions. The same we are condemning and banning today. So, those who sing the glories of modernization, by maximizing material comforts, are cult followers of the religion called industry. The industry is just another man-made institution. It has provided for human needs over the last few centuries, but it has also inflicted more harm than good. At the helm of it are people striving for more, many a time, neglecting the implication their actions will have on people, animals, plants and other lives of the planet. We are struggling to deal with even the leftovers of their actions. With the voluminous quantity of discarded food to e-waste, toxins that we create, emission we produce, we have made earth into a garbage can. Ironically, we take all the goodness of nature as our inventory, and in return, throw these human excretion onto the earth.
How long can we continue to believe that 'maximizing human needs' will make us happy? The needs of our body and its ability to consume are limited. To fulfill it may not be hard. That doesn't mean we have to starve or wear loin clothes either. We can even have a surplus for reserve. But let's not callously buy and discard things. Nations that once identified themselves as shoppers paradise with people splurging money on everything, are today talking about reducing, reusing and recycling. They are talking about sustainable fashion. We don't have to imitate any nation. But we can reason to why we should be modest in using resources.
By minimizing our needs, we will maximize life around us, as anything more we seek in excess is a resource meant for another being. So, let's aspire for everyone, not aspire for everything.