Book review: Enough - Breaking free from the world of more, by John Naish
There are plenty of books about consumerism, and they all have their scapegoats. Usually it's the capitalists' fault. Other times it's advertising, or television. Sometimes it's low self esteem. Everyone has their theory about our over-consumption, their explanation for why we can't stop buying, even in the face of ecological meltdown. John Naish's explanation is unusual - we evolved that way, and to stop ourselves, we need to evolve again.
Now that we are no longer hunting and gathering, we keep consuming because that's what we're wired up to do best. If you found berries, you wanted to pick as many as you could carry. Hoarding was the wise option. We don't have to grab everything we can any more, but we do anyway. "Evolution got us into this luxurious crisis", says Naish. "Now it's down to each of us to start evolving our species out of it."Likewise, we learned to gather as much information as possible about the world around us, as those that were better informed survived. Now we have so much information about so many areas of life that we can't possibly process it all. We over-eat, because we have "an old mechanism by which nature ensures that we actually consume food when it is available." With good reason - one in five Britons is thought to have died of famine in the middle ages. We collect possessions until we run out of space, we work too hard and don't know how to slow down, we always think we'll be happier tomorrow than we are today, and we're addicted to growth. "We urgently need to stop over-stimulating the powerful ancient instincts that make us never satisfied" Naish writes. "Instead we must nurture our capacities to appreciate the unprecedented wonders now at our feet."
It's time to start practicing 'Enoughness', suggests Naish - knowing to stop at the point at which further increase makes no difference to our well-being. He points out that most of us don't need to work full time to afford what we need, although if we pursue everything we want we'll work to death and never be content. Like Epicurus before him, Naish suggests we re-discover what's important in life, like friendships and community. We need to live more in the present, practising gratitude and generosity. We can learn to say no, ask more questions of ourselves, and learn to "leave our egos at the door." Gradually, we can evolve beyond our primitive instincts for more of everything. We can evolve the stop button.
"It is time to disconnect ourselves from the world of more", says Naish in the conclusion to his entertaining and thought-provoking book. "It is time to say 'thanks very much' to it, and to continue onwards with the wider progress of our species... It is time to be grateful, and to say 'Enough'."
