Of Human Consumption

The long arm of consumption has afflicted our Western nations ever since the Industrial Revolution and some of my readers may discern that the title of my essay bears some resemblance to the much more famous novel by the English novelist Somerset Maugham, “Of Human Bondage.” Since wasteful consumption is both very human (life in the wild does not waste) and holds many millions of human beings in unquestioning servitude, the title of my essay could also well have been, “Of Consumption Bondage!” 

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, the shadow of that arm hangs even heavier over us, a beguiling shade that blocks out the Babe in the manger who is described in the Bible as “the Sun of righteousness” and “Dayspring from on high.”

The gifts of Christmas are supposed to be reminders of that great Gift which visited our troubled earth, our vale of tears - and lived and moved and wept with us on His way to the Cross. And so it is, that this incomprehensible Gift of love has inspired and moved the greatest artists, the greatest musicians, the most gifted writers, for it occupies the pinnacle of that noblest and highest of all human striving for beauty and truth. 

But artists and musicians and writers found both beauty and truth in a stable, wrapped in simple, swaddling clothes and with even the magnificent wise men from the East being found in the paintings of the masters in the company of humble surroundings, straw and farm animals.

When is it that we as a people became convinced that multiple, different gifts for multiple different people, exchanged many times over, best brought home the meaning of Christmas? 

Poor St. Nicholas certainly cannot be blamed for this revelry of wrapping paper and the many thousand tonnes of trees and wood and colouring inks consumed in rich homes of the richer countries by a small minority of the worlds population, with the wrappings torn apart with savage glee on Christmas Day - and cast away in many shreds the day after. All we know about the fourth century Saint himself, describe Nicholas as having given up all that he owned in order to feed and clothe the poor and hungry and having carried out all his good deeds in secret, to people he did not already know.

But the Saint’s illustrious and modern successor lays claim not only to direct descent from Nicholas, but to a chimney, a herd of deer, a free floating carriage that carries gifts and to being a particular friend of children.

We may say with the journalist Francis Church, “yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” but the man in red has come to mean many things to adults too. The image conveyed by the corporations who make us consume enormous quantities of goods at Christmas has progressively changed from a kindly, delightfully eccentric and rather energetic man who visited simple homes on Christmas Eve (and yes, through the chimney too), to a round and portly figure with a paunch (who can barely fit through any chimney). 

The modern Santa Claus is responsible for all kinds of things that his saintly ancestor would have regarded as abominations and “works of the flesh.” With the (snow) dust barely settled on the feast of Christmas, the man in red organizes an annual, “American International Toy Fair” in February each year, to which thousands of corporate types descend and decide what Santa Claus should want children to bring for them 10 months later! Billions of dollars and another massive cycle of consumption later, many of these latest and greatest toys are returned (to Santa, presumably!).

For those of us who don’t believe (any longer) in Santa Claus, the business corporations have invented a rather clever little day that does not even pretend to be a bearer of light and joy and good news at all! In fact, it is called (appropriately), “Black Friday.” What we thought we might want for Christmas  and what we believe we should want are all merged into one, amorphous, frenzied mass of longing for even more consumption on this “black” day, that conveniently occurs about 4 weeks before Christmas. 

After Santa Claus has had his fill with us on “Black Friday,” he is back to his tricks again, making grown adults ask each other, “what is Santa going to get for you this Christmas?!” And then multiple pangs of guilt are unleashed in parents, brothers, sisters, children and friends, who are soon scurrying in and out of our overflowing stores again, in a prolonged orgy of consumption leading up to Christmas Day. 

It is a gift that keeps on giving, since after the other big corporations have had their say with us, big-pharma then rides in with a slew of medications ready for the anxiety and depression that inevitably precede and follow the season of hyper-consumption.

Santa’s work is now done - but when we return from our holidays and meet other human beings again, Santa is already getting ready for the next December and the next Christmas. His disciples almost all heavier than two weeks ago, staggering back to work and finding it impossible to remember every one of their gifts, must still answer the question (from adults no less, to each other!), “was Santa nice to you?” 

The consumption to which we have been conditioned for Christmas, is not unlike the conditioning by fear that happened to millions of people during the covid pandemic. Conditioning by greed and materialism is a practiced art and may well be more fun for the corporations and their globalist masters!

The Christmas tree, a rather late (16th century) and once simple German addition to Christmas celebrations, has now become large, expansive and imposing. Under its sheltering branches are now to be found multiple small and large packages, with several multi-coloured stockings hung nearby, bulging with pregnant expectation. Before the era of the internet, Sears catalogues, popular magazines, newspapers, Hollywood movies and TV replays of Hollywood movies all displayed this latter day Christmas tree, often with a roaring fire nearby. 

With the advent of the internet, the true Advent became even more obscured - with “targeted” ads popping into our screens with even larger trees and even more, “must have” presents. Mr. Claus and his business masters have done a marvellous job of conditioning us to ever expanding levels of consumption - and most of us have probably not been paying any attention at all.

Lest I be accused of writing a sermon, rather than an essay, I should point out that most churches and their parishioners in rich countries are also caught up in this destructive cycle of consumption. Very many parsons and priests have been recruited by Santa Claus and have become willing soldiers in his army of materialistic consumption (this was not very different during the covid pandemic). The size and extravagance of the Christmas trees in some of our churches must cause great rejoicing in Santa’s workshop (wherever it is) and he and his elves probably are doing the East Coast jive as I write this!

The real Christmas of course, was very different. The God of the Universe humbled Himself and became man - and was born in a manger because there was no room at the inn. 

The old English carol, “God rest ye merry gentlemen” describes the arrival of the bewildered, humble shepherds at the manger:

“And when they came to Bethlehem

where our dear Saviour lay,

they found him in a manger

where oxen feed on hay;

his mother Mary kneeling,

unto the Lord did pray;

O tidings of comfort and joy,

comfort and joy

O tidings of comfort and joy.”