STOP BEING MIND CONTROLLED

Ecclesiastes 1:2 "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher; "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."

There is a war being waged for your mind. Do you know that?

Our culture. Mainstream media, news and TV. Social media. All of those are carefully engineered experiences designed to make you feel like you don't have enough. The algorithm knows your insecurities better than your closest friend. It shows you everyone else's daily travels around the world, the cool cars that 12 year olds are buying for their parents, the views from the condos people stay in, the makeup, APs, jets and yachts that tell everyone "Look at me! I've made it!"

And then all of a sudden you're not just watching anymore. You're wanting. "I don't want that much," you think to yourself. "I don't need 5 private jets and 2 yachts, I only need 1 of each and a vacation to Europe every week. That should be bare minimum!" Mind control is successful.

It's not an accident. Who profits from mind controlling everyone this way? All the most profitable companies on earth. Entire countries built on tourism. Luxury brands with high profit margins make you question if their product is real, but it is very real and billions of people love it. Advertising companies need their customers to see a return on advertisement spend so they continue to invest. They are very much interested in mind controlling the entire population of earth to be consuming zombies.

So what happens when you want these things? Well, first you might blame your parents for not owning a large cap company (def: business classified by the total dollar value of its outstanding shares). And then you might either be really unhappy for the rest of your life, or... you might work really hard. You'll work really really hard to get money. And if you have a partner they'll probably work really hard too. And we're told that that's good! Ambition is good! You'll start to sacrifice your health, time, morals, peace, and family, all so you can buy 1 more yacht. Or maybe it's something else, like traveling every year, makeup / skincare, clothes, Grab food every day, cars, houses, etc. Be honest. How much of what you're chasing do you really need? As you're chasing these things, the voice of God gets smaller and smaller. What's the net worth of the influencers you respect the most? The ones you see living the life you want? Well, the net worth of my favorite influencer is 2 trillion USD. At his peak, King Solomon had, by conservative purchasing power adjusted estimates, more than 2 trillion USD in assets. What do you think he had to say about chasing a luxury lifestyle? I'll let you study the book of Ecclesiastes yourself. But here's my favorite verse in the Bible: Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. Those were the words of the wisest and richest man. He tried everything. Luxury, pleasure, achievement, and he described those as chasing the wind. The possessions and the prestige left him empty. Are we on the same path?

Now think about the Good Samaritan. Here's something people miss about that story: the Samaritan wasn't broke. He had oil, wine, a donkey, money for the inn, and enough financial margin to tell the innkeeper "whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back." He could help because he wasn't stretched thin. He wasn't skipping the wounded man because he had a car payment due, because his savings were wiped out from a holiday, or because his monthly loan repayments or credit card bills cleaned him out. He had a margin. And margin is where generosity lives. When we burn our resources on lifestyle: the luxury condo with the taxes, maintenance and mortgage to match, the car loan, the debt we took on to look a certain way; we are not just spending money. We are spending our capacity to do good. The next time you're about to commit to a big financial obligation just to look the part, ask yourself: am I about to spend my ability to be someone's Good Samaritan?

What if we removed the noise? What if we took time to be honest with ourselves and ask what we really want in life? What really makes us happy? Difficult question? Too deeply mind controlled? Well the Bible has the answers. Fear God. Keep His commandments. Love God. Love your neighbour as yourself. And loving your neighbour costs time, effort, and potentially money. If we focus on these things, perhaps we would have the time and resources for what really matters. Maybe it's the emotional well-being of our children. Maybe it's spending time with our loved ones. Maybe it's helping someone in need financially. I don't know. But I know that the meaning of life isn't in seeing who can look the nicest. There's a lot of nuance to the topic of Christian living. I want to write a lot more, especially about how Christians should view and manage money. But I'll save that for another day. Thanks for reading, let's live our best lives for God.