Abundance or Scarcity? (Y)our Choice

"The contemporary tendency in our society is to base our distribution on scarcity, which has vanished, and to compress our abundance into the overfed mouths of the middle and upper classes until they gag with superfluity. If democracy is to have breadth of meaning, it is necessary to adjust this inequity. It is not only moral, but it is also intelligent. We are wasting and degrading human life by clinging to archaic thinking."     Martin Luther King, Jr.  (1967)

Technology has created a superabundance of material goods in the financially wealthy nations of the world. This is offset by advertisers who attempt to create needs (sic.) and promote the self-destructive wave of consumerism. Fuelled by fear, this illusion of material scarcity has no place amongst the well-fed and well housed.

The increasing waistlines of inhabitants in the materially affluent countries prove that hunger is no real danger. They also have more than enough houses, clothes and clean water. Spiritually bankrupt perhaps, but theirs is a world of material abundance, in stark contrast to the scarcity of the materially poor nations where large proportions of people lack even these most basic amenities, to say nothing of services like education and health care.

"If we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that. Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils ... "

Don't look longingly at those who are materially better off than you, making the mistake of assuming that they are, in fact, better off than you. Forgetting the reality of the twisted lives that lie behind a hoarding of wealth would be to usher in a feeling of scarcity into your life and invite depression. In fact, if you can read this page and have time and ability to do so, you are among the world's wealthiest citizens. Welcome to a world of abundance! This page, and millions like it, are part of a contribution that have been donated freely to the world and everyone in it, part of a phenomenal giving away of time and energy that is a natural response to living in a world of abundance. Expect to see great things in the next couple of years, as communications technology allows altruistic spirits around the world to organise... if you haven't yet heard of gift economy, you will!

To see what you could contribute to others, see our Give Away project, and to understand your importance in the wider context of society, click on the image below:

Downloads	Title	Author(s)	Date
	Turning Scarcity into Abundance	Vandana Shiva	2002