Yes, Ian we are all consumers. Even in eating an apple I'm consuming.

But I take your point - you mean Consumerism - which, is of course, the flip side of Productionism.

The world is engaged in producing - producing anything no matter how mindless or useless the end result that emerges from the process may be - there is all that population out there ready to buy.

This will all come to a blinding halt shortly when the Dork's realise that no one will be able to affort to turn a light bulb on which will mean a end to night shopping.

Actually I'm looking forward to that new era.

Is this article an audition for a role in Grumpy Old Men? Give me “Darren and Darlene Dork” any day in preference to the smug, judgemental, self-righteous, condescending Mr Nance.

"The world is engaged in producing - producing anything no matter how mindless or useless the end result that emerges from the process may be - there is all that population out there ready to buy."

....and using copious amounts of polluting energy to produce so much rubbish that is quickly thrown away polluting the Earth for a second time

Ian, you say, correctly, that “It would help to be aware that everything which happens in life is a result of our own thought and action; to recognise that we, and only we, control our destiny; to grasp that happiness is not dependent on others, or on material possessions; to appreciate that competition to have something better than the next person can just lead to jealousy and suffering. … Truth unmasks delusion which, in turn, is a state of ignorance that skews the truth. So how can we define and recognise reality … know what is true? … we … let greed, envy and delusion take over.”

Of course, this goes far beyond consideration of consumption, it cuts to the fundamental reason for unhappiness, dissatisfaction. The truth is that everything in conditioned existence, both material and mental, consists at the deepest level of vibrations, movement, change. More than 2500 years ago, the Buddha found, by deep introspection, that we are composed of sub-atomic particles that arise and pass away trillions upon trillions of times a second. 50 years ago, Luis Alvarez from Berkeley got a Nobel Prize for ascertaining the same thing through 20 years of research with his “bubble chamber.” Nothing is permanent, nothing in conditioned existence (where cause and effect applies) is eternal.

Yet we crave things, cling to them, refusing to acknowledge that both ourselves and outside objects are impermanent, are subject to decay. In our deluded ignorance, we develop cravings for, or aversion to, things and situations. We can never be satisfied, even if we were able to attain all we desired, remove all we loathed, they are impermanent, we can’t achieve lasting happiness.

The remedy is not to be found in books or rational thought, but in experiencing within ourselves, observing with a detached, equanimous mind, the nature of existence. This will not only resolve issues of excessive or unfulfilled consumption, but is the basis for a happy, harmonious, peaceful life.

PS: my wife is descended from Nances from Cornwall. One was P E Nance, perhaps germane to this discussion.

The author is a snob. He feigns concern about out-of-control consumption, but in his diatribe about a couple of westies reveals that his real concern is WHO is buying and WHAT they are buying.

The fact is impulse buying is not restricted to your mythical bogans living in Mcmansions and hocking themselves to the hilt accumulating plasma TVs and gas guzzling four-wheel drives.

It is just as evident among the chic, skinny, gym-toned and expensively coiffed inner urban hip set. These are people who will drop $500 on a day spa without a moment's reflection. Worse, these are the people who lecture everyone else about wasteful consumption.

Given a choice between spending an evening with the "Dorks" or the holier-than-thou style fascists of which the author of this article is so clearly a representative, I would opt for the Dorks