Consumption

Painting by Duane Keiser

"The consumer's relation with the real world, with politics, history and culture is not one of interest, investment or engaged responsibility. Rather, it is one of curiosity. One must try everything: in fact man in consumer society is tormented by the fear of 'missing' something, any enjoyment whatsoever... it is no longer desire or even taste or specific inclination that is in play, it is a generalised curiosity motivated by a widespread anxiety... It is the anxiety of always feeling on the verge of - but only on the verge of - finally grasping the object of desire, the meaning of life, the rules of the game."

- Roland Barthes, quoted in Signs Taken for Wonders: On the Sociology of Literary Forms by Franco Moretti

When you have finally ripened,
you have a choice:
let the Supreme consume you -
or rot.

(After the Sufi Poets)