"Hungry Ghost" is a concept from Buddhist mythology and iconography, referring to the denizens of one of the three lower realms of Samsaric being, into which we may be reborn if our karma lands us there: Animals, Demons (or "Hell-beings") and Hungry Ghosts. In the iconography, hungry ghosts are generally depicted as having large, distended bellies and tiny necks, signifying that they are insatiably hungry and destitute (as in the Japanese scroll above). More generally, they are a good metaphor for alienated, lonely, hollow-eyed, and insatiable people who are a prey to their addictions, yet who frighten and alienate others as well, and thus make compassion difficult--e.g. panhandlers on the streets of every city these days.
Our global corporate consumer culture (for which I have coined the term "Glomart") could be thought of as a "hungry ghost generator." The focus of 24/7 advertising and endless distractions is to keep us all alienated, demoralized, and full of insatiable addictive cravings for more stuff and more distractions. Even if we are not (yet) homeless and destitute, many of us feel that way, especially when we are caught up in addictive distractions, whether on television or on the internet, or even "grazing" the pantry and refrigerator for cookies, nuts, or chips. But our alienation is a source of endless, growing profits for Glomart, which wants us to alleviate and exacerbate this hunger by going shopping or watching TV ads and infotainment. Here are some possible antidotes to the hungry ghost syndrome:
1. Glomart seeks to transform active citizens into passive consumers. So let's become active citizens again.
2. Glomart seeks to transform communities into "markets"--so let's restore a sense of community, starting in our own gardens, neighborhoods, and peer groups, caring and sharing, rather than simply getting and spending.
3. Glomart seeks to transform our magnificent living planet into nothing but "resources" with no value at all until they are turned into commodities--sliced and diced, dug up or chopped down, and sold on the global market. So let us honor and restore living systems whenever and wherever we can--practicing Permaculture in our own backyards and communities, and pushing back against the ecocidal predators who would log, frack, mine, and poison everything.
2. Glomart seeks to transform communities into "markets"--so let's restore a sense of community, starting in our own gardens, neighborhoods, and peer groups, caring and sharing, rather than simply getting and spending.
3. Glomart seeks to transform our magnificent living planet into nothing but "resources" with no value at all until they are turned into commodities--sliced and diced, dug up or chopped down, and sold on the global market. So let us honor and restore living systems whenever and wherever we can--practicing Permaculture in our own backyards and communities, and pushing back against the ecocidal predators who would log, frack, mine, and poison everything.
In short, whatever Glomart wants us to be and do, let us be and do the exact opposite.
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