Consumerism and life time

I have thought a lot about that. I spent over ten years in solitary, in a hole. Plenty of time to think... I spent seven years without one book! That left me time to think. And this is what I discovered: Either you're happy with very little, free of all that extra luggage, because you have happiness inside, or you don't get anywhere! I am not advocating poverty. I am advocating sobriety. But since we have invented a consumer society, the economy must constantly grow. If it fails to increase it's a tragedy. We have invented a mountain of superfluous needs. Shopping for new, discarding the old... Don't be mistaken. What we are spending is life time! Because when I buy something, when you buy something, you're not paying money for it. You are paying with the hours of life you had to spend earning that money. The difference is that life is one thing money can't buy. Life only gets shorter. And it is pitiful to waist one's life and freedom that way.

-José Mujica