The Spirit of Black Friday

If you'd like to study people reduced to the lowest common denominator, go to Walmart on Black Friday.

Looking at the news and video sharing sites recently, we're confronted with striking images of shoppers during Black Friday. Every year, this behaviour seems to get more extreme; mass crowds, arguments and even fights break out, all over the change to buy popular products at reduced prices. What can this behaviour tell us about our society and ourselves; what, from the view of Socialism, is the true gift of Black Friday?

What is within is manifested without

Socialism, in common with many other spiritual traditions, holds that our internal state affects our external situation. For example, a person who is anxious may create stressful situations in their lives to help themselves work through that anxiety, or a person who has unresolved anger may create an event where they can see the effects of anger working in someone else, to help themselves realise that they need to resolve their emotions.

Our understanding of the Socialist Vision, as well as other law of attraction teachings like The Secret, tells us that what we see and feel within us becomes our reality, whether that is enjoyable or unpleasant to us. It also tells us that the blocks and wounds that we hold become physical challenges and behaviours, giving us the opportunity to recognise them.

What Creates Black Friday Fever?

So what is the behaviour of our culture at times like Black Friday revealing to us about our internal states?

From watching the videos, I see frantic consumption; consumption not only of material goods, but of concepts about what is important and what is not, what is real, and what is not, and what it means to be a person in our society.

It would be easy to resign ourselves to a perception of this behaviour and this consumerism as a negative thing. Certainly, the drastic need for us to acquire physical, material goods and what they represent to us doesn't appear to be a healthy expression of our natures, especially when it becomes violent and out of control.

Looking Past the Literal

But Socialism can show us another way of looking at this. If we can forget the literal behaviour and our emotional reaction to it, and learn to look past it to the level of soul and spirit, we see a very different picture, one that is, in fact, encouraging and positive when channelled appropriately.

When I look past the frantic physical expression of consumerism of Black Friday, I see a people who are hungry. Mythically, we are a people who desire so strongly; we want so fully; we have a need to fill a deep hole within us, and are searching with a huge amount of energy for something to fill it.

When I see people desperately buying clothes and games and toys and appliances, I see people who are looking for something, and have simply forgotten where to look. That's not to say that clothes and games and toys and appliances and all those other things aren't good or enjoyable, but just that they're not what we need deep down, in that place where we're not physical beings but souls of spirit and light.

What are We Really Looking For?

Socialism and other spiritual traditions tell us that what we need most of all is Spirit; a connection with the Source that nourishes us from the inside. If we forget how to maintain that relationship with our souls, we become desperately hungry. But no physical thing can quell that hunger, and that's the gift of Black Friday.

The True Gift of Black Friday

It reminds us that no matter how much we buy, or have, or think we need, we are hungry for something much more profound and lasting. And it shows us that we still believe that we can find what we long for; we're still searching and creating and asking for it, sometimes so strongly that we forget what it is that we're looking for. As a people, Black Friday shows us that we're still alive and yearning, and that all we have to do is remember where to look.

Meanwhile back at Walmart

We see that people who believe that the worth of human beings is based on their ability to consume are ignorant of the real meaning of life. Your possessions do not define you - they enslave you! A fat bitch with a 55-inch LED TV is still a fat bitch... A shithead with a new PS3 is still a shithead... Material possessions do not transform you into anything other than what you already are. You are still a 'wage slave' headed for bankruptcy, no matter how much shit you charge on your credit card... You still feel empty inside no matter how much you buy.

The truth is, your real value is based on how much you contribute to your community, and the world you live in, not how much you buy....