Is that all there is?

The best with maternity leave, pre-baby arrival, is that you can sleep in late. So it didn’t really bother me to stay up until 4 am. I was finishing off the Reapers by John Connolly. For the first time, having read all of his 9 or so books, I felt disappointed. Like an anti-climax having finished it. I was left with a  feeling of “is that all there is.”

I couldn’t help but wondering, are we becoming a generation of thrill seekers, expected to be entertained in a constant flow of eye candy, sensations and spectacular events? Is there anything that will satisfy us, for but a moment in time? And when do we realise it’s time to jump off the band wagon?

I often long for a simpler life. One devoid of noise pollution; sound bites that have been presented in exact measure and portion for us to be able to digest it; entertainment that has been designed based on data models and analysis of our reaction and attention span. Our lives have in short become computerized, where little time is spent pondering the really big questions. Instead we are kept in a constant state of hyper-tension, where all that matters is meeting the next goal, may it be dropping an extra kilo, making a million dollars, or reaping the next conquest. In a way it’s all very basic. Our caveman instincts, where food, shelter and reproduction were the immediate goals, day in and day out, have been supplanted with two other basic needs money and status and all the needs that exist around those. The preoccupation of creating an image for ourselves has long surpassed the basic pillars of our very own existence. After all we don’t need to make money in order to purchase and spend when we can borrow. We don’t need to even buy a car or a house when we can lease or rent. It’s all about NOW, not the future, not in one year, in five or ten but NOW!

I’m afraid it’s too late to stop this development. On a personal level you may. You can throw away your TV, turn off your laptop, and refuse to take part of consumerism. But as the world turns on its axis so does our artificial, steroid induced economy, and it’s impossible not to suffer its effects.

Yet, is that really all there is?