The night after we hiked out from Point Reyes (see "About a Web" below), my friends and I spent one more night in San Matteo before heading our separate ways once again. Of course we spent the evening telling stories about friends and family after taking showers and having some yummy Chinese food. My friend A.'s story about someone close to her has set me off thinking about the nature of alienation in modern society, particularly as it is embodied in consumer culture.
A. told the story of a young man who, after graduating from college was doing quite well for himself in corporate America. After several years of pursuing the American dream, he decided to take some time off and do the quintessential American odyssey and take a month long motorcycle trip. A month turned into two months, then six months. Finally two years later, he returned to the U.S. having toured South America on his motorcycle and marrying a young lady from Columbia. She describes the trip as his escape from the golden chains and silken ropes of the consumer capitalism trap. "I was starting to shop at Pottery Barn!" she quotes him as saying.
This statement immediately resonated with me in a way that if he had said, "I was starting to shop at Wal-Mart" could not have. After I came home, it started me reflecting on the nature of social, spiritual, and creative alienation here at the dawn of the 21st century. So why would the idea of shopping at Pottery Barn trigger such a response? On some levels, Wal-Mart and Pottery Barn are the same. They are retail outlets that sell imported goods in brick-and-mortar stores as well as over the internet. Pottery Barn also publishes a paper catalogue, but then so does JC Penny and Sears – neither of which would have resulted in anything more than a shrug in this circumstance. Pottery Barn isn't even a real company – it's actually just a brand that belongs to the Williams-Sonoma Corporation. I tried to find out how large Pottery Barn's sales were last year, but they were buried in the Williams-Sonoma financial data. Williams-Sonoma, which has several brands including Williams-Sonoma, had a total of $3.7 billion in sales in 2007, and a net income of $208 million after taxes. (They were apologetic in their annual report for not having done better especially with the Pottery Barn brand – but I think that's another story – see http://www.williams-sonomainc.com/inv/anr/WS_06AR.pdf). By comparison, Wal-Mart had gross sales of $375 billion and net earnings of $14 billion (http://www.valueline.com/dow30/f9638.pdf). Wal-Mart being 100 times larger than Pottery Barn's parent company is significant for my story because it illustrates the nature of Wal-Mart's business. To sell $375 billion worth of stuff, Wal-Mart has to be able to reach into our everyday purchases continuously. You have to need Wal-Mart. If you think about it, you could live solely on the stuff you could buy from Wal-Mart – especially if you happen to live near a super Wal-Mart. You can buy your jeans, a head of lettuce, a futon, and the oil for your car all in the same shopping trip. If you need it to live, you can buy it at Wal-Mart. The converse could be said for Pottery Barn – if Pottery Barn sells it, you probably don't need it to live. But does it necessarily follow that we don't need Pottery Barn?
The idea of alienation plays a central role in Marxist philosophy. Marx's idea, as I understand it, is that through the process of division of labor, we have lost touch with something essential in our being that flows from the wholeness of life. By dividing tasks and only focusing on one small, disconnected part, we become isolated from ourselves and from others. This effect of isolation is what he refers to as alienation. I think if you watch a show like "The Office" or read Dilbert comics, you quickly get an idea of what this means. Alienation is a significant source of dissatisfaction with life, and leads to a loss of meaning.
Marx wasn't the first to express this idea of alienation. Born in about 250 AD, the Neoplatonist philosopher Plotinus also wrote about the idea of alienation, though he did not use this word. In Plotinus's ontology, there was one transcendental being he referred to as "The One." His belief is not all that different is not all that different from what many New Age believers espouse today. He believed that through contemplation and appreciation of beauty, an individual could get closer to "The One", and it was only through contemplation of the transcendent essence of "The One" that we could be truly happy. Since ultimately the only real thing was "The One", and we were all a part of "The One", the farther from our understanding of the transcendent we were (i.e., the more alienated from the transcendent we were), the unhappier we were.
Christian doctrine was being formalized around the time Plotinus and the Neoplatonists were writing. In fact, there is clearly a heavy influence from the Platonists and Neoplatonists on early Christian doctrine. The idea of separation of the body and soul, for example, arguably is an idea that comes from Plato. But going even farther back, the Apostle Paul, also a Greek, while imprisoned in Rome in about 60 AD wrote to the Colossians: "And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight…" (Colossians 1:21-22). Paul is a pretty tough guy, but he's dealing with a tough subject. What I think he's saying is that we can become separated from our true selves by sin, but through prayer and creating a relationship with God, we can overcome that alienation.
We can even leave the Western canon altogether and see alienation in the practice of Zen in the East. Zen in simple terms is the seeking of enlightenment (called "Satori") by being completely awake in the present. "In the moment of enlightenment, you have a keen sense of being alive, a keen appreciation of everyday reality" (http://www.ljhammond.com/phlit/2001-06.htm). A key element of achieving Satori is overcoming the rational – something we in the West do not do well without external aids. It is the rational that approaches life with analysis – the process of breaking things down into component parts so that each piece can be understood. Eastern thought in general is more holistic, and Zen's emphasis on overcoming the rational is an effort to bring together the many pieces of life that our rational processes make of "The One."
So what about Marx, Plotinus, Paul, Buddha, and Pottery Barn? I think the common thread in the literature of alienation is the loss of the beautiful. An alienated life is a life without beauty or grace. I believe artistic expressions of beauty help unify our minds and overcome the natural tendency to a splintered soul.
The existence of "The Artist" is one example of the division of labor that Marx thought brought about alienation in modern life. By having artists and non-artists, we disconnect the non-artists from the process of creating beauty. Non-artists are alienated from beauty in the same way that non-farmers are alienated from food. But if everyone reverted to a state of nature where there was no division of labor, we would rapidly spiral down to a quality of life that is barely above that of wild animals. It is precisely the rational division that enables us to exist and thrive. Take it away and there is only suffering and death.
All that said, there is something special about being connected to the creative process. Here I mean creative in the sense of any activity that makes something beautiful – whether it is art, artisenry, or agriculture (if this doesn't make sense yet, you should read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"). It is why despite the fact that we can buy sweaters at Wal-Mart for less than an hour's wages, people still learn to knit. It is why despite the fact that we can buy a table and chairs at Wal-Mart for less than a day's wages, people fill their basement workshops with woodworking tools.
Like many of you, I have young children. Inevitably my house is filled with refrigerator art. Marx would have liked it, I imagine. (Or maybe not, given the historical Marx wasn't much of a father.) I like it. I value each of those pieces because of their context.
When we were camping at the beach out at Pt. Reyes, one of the things we did was collect rocks. The rocks on the plate with the candles are the rocks I found. I'm no geologist, but I think they must have been some sort of igneous rock, because they are all layered with the same type of minerals. The black layers were harder than the grey, so over time the ocean had worn the grey away, leaving a a rippling effect. They are interesting. But they were also meaningless. Were meaningless that is until I picked them. Then they were meaningful. When I put them on the plate with the candles, they became beautiful as well.
When you walk through the sliding glass doors of a Wal-Mart and the semi-retired guy smiles at you and says, "Welcome to Wal-Mart" your first response probably is not to stop and say, "I am now surrounded by beauty." I would argue that you might be, but it would be hard to be sure. Wal-Mart doesn't deal in beauty (the beauty section with all the cut rate make-up and hair products aside). It deals in the minimally acceptable. There is no shame in this. There is a place for the minimally acceptable. That place is where your heart is not. My heart is not in my athletic socks. It's not in the rug I put in front of the toilet in my bathroom. It's also not in the pack of 50 cd's I bought to burn my mix of 80's tunes. These are efficient purchases.
Walking into Pottery Barn is a completely different experience. Pottery Barn is about beauty (and now you can replace "Pottery Barn" with the upper-middle end store of your choice if the Arts and Crafts style isn't for you). But Pottery Barn represents the pinnacle of what Marx was objecting to when he talked about alienation. Here we have a lovely Sedona ottoman: "Handwoven from natural rattan over a sturdy wooden frame, our ottoman is perfect for summer relaxation." Only $119. Over there we have the Arlington Armchair: "Energize an entire room with a single chair in a vibrant print… Slim seat and back cushions give our Arlington Chair exceptional comfort without compromising its style." Only $999 in brushed canvas. More for suede. Pottery Barn represents the manufacture of beauty divided completely from meaning. These are not efficient purchases. We go to Pottery Barn in search of something we desperately need. Pottery Barn promises Satori. Pottery Barn promises spiritual reconciliation. Pottery Barn promises union with The One. But these are empty promises because there is no meaning to something that someone else makes, that someone else selects, and that we buy with our divided resources.
Capitalism is an incredible engine that brings us things we need to survive. It has delivered a quality of life that was unfathomable in any other period of human history, if that quality of life is measured in material wealth. People who respect the trade are far less likely to go to war with each other, so it also promises us peace. The non-sensical drivel that Marx and his ilk spun from a deep observation about human need for meaning has dealt the world nothing by misery. But capitalism delivers material wealth – it gives us Pottery Barn - how do we reconcile the existence of cold beauty in our lives?
The picture above was taken in my living room. The coffee table, candles, and even the dish were purchased at Pottery Barn. I like Pottery Barn. I'd love to be able to make a coffee table that is as attractive as the one I was able to buy from Pottery Barn. I'd love to be able to make candles wrapped in birch bark. I'd love to be able to hammer a piece of metal into a lovely dish. But I wouldn't even know where to begin, never mind have all the tools required.
Do we need Pottery Barn? I think so. I started shopping at Pottery Barn a long time ago. I don’t buy much, but I don’t expect I’ll stop soon. But I can’t get to meaning through Pottery Barn, and it is a mistake to think so. Meaning is free, but takes work. After all, it is the sound of one hand clapping.
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To read the Williams-Sonoma annual report, go to http://www.williams-sonomainc.com/inv/anr/WS_06AR.pdf
The quotes about the pottery barn products were from www.potterybarn.com
For some basics on Marx's alienation, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx%27s_theory_of_alienation
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