Looking for opinions regarding Pod People/Money correlation (Page 1 of 2)

Nothing prevents anyone from owning a Hummer if they had enough money, except common sense and higher priorities in life than projecting images of material success. I think the term "pod person" applies more to those who adopt that lifestyle, who have either lost their individuality to social programming and matrix-oriented goals, or else never had individuality to begin with. So the descriptor "pod person" would include both "souled but asleep" and "not-individually-souled" people.

But what makes "pod person" very descriptive for some people is when they don't have a shred of individuality or higher interests in their lives and therefore are like clones of each other, striving solely for those goals and images programmed into them by the matrix. It's like an impressionable lump of clay that takes the shape of whatever mold presses on it, and the same mold therefore produces the same shape over and over.

Material success in itself is neutral, it's more a question of what it serves. Does it serve your genetic programming to be part of the tribe? Does it feed your ego to rub it in the face of those less successful? Does it give you a feeling of immortality that soothes your ego insecurities about the inevitability of death? Does it let you pursue endless distractions to help you ignore that emptiness within? And so on.

Can't speak for that person, but considering the high purchase and maintenance costs, the low gas mileage, and the irony of an off-road combat-ready vehicle being used more for urban trips to the grocery store, you have to wonder what what non-pod justifications there could be for owning a Hummer over more efficient, earth-friendly, and utilitarian alternatives.

Its funny but my employer makes a lot of money and a stranger at a restaurant or other public place wouldn't make that conclusion when around him.  At work he will talk about these people who have this air of self importance, seemingly based on the things they own and the large amount of money they make.  I used to work around alot of people like that and would also get angry.  Now, it helps remind me of how I am all too often prideful and arrogant.  So I don't react to pretentious people with anything but humility and kindness.  I put an effort to be that way, at least.

A way that a certain group of people are made pariah, is the fact that many people when in conversation always somehow turn the topic toward their 'things' and the money they make by discussing car payments, cell phone bills their children amass, etc., and increasing numbers of people just work to survive, barely.  Others can't work for whatever reason.  I don't know where I'm going but that I'm bringing up the different levels of material success and the total lack of it, within our society.

I've read something along the lines, that a wealthy person has more likely success at threading a camel through the eye of a needle than entering into heaven and maybe that would be true if they felt no suffering or torment from the feeling that there is something missing, that there must be more to this life than the ease and luxury.  I think it is possible that many people are capable at amassing wealth because of the same qualities that also make them a benefactor to many others. 

Then I guess there are the ascetics who give up all material desires to end the cycle of lives, or become a divinity.  It is possible I imagine, that people don't strive to make short their number of lives they have to live.  Maybe they say, wait, I'm not yet perfect enough, I think I will keep experiencing within matter and duality.  I think that would have to be a pretty hardy soul.  Acceptable quality of life can be tenuous.  I am just playing with a concept; someone who knows not to create very grievious karma because the goal is to continue living as many lives as possible before advancing to what comes after human stage of evolution.  In other words, I'm just babbling on and on.  Must have been something I ate.:)

"pod people" are "happy" following trends and fads and buying toys to distract them from wondering about the big ?s.  they don't care about spirituality or helping others.  they don't care about making changes in their lives or the lives of others, they only care about what "the government" will do to make things better..."the government" that they "elected". 
they cannot conceptualize a way of life where there isn't someone around to hold their hands and tell them what to do and how to do it (government, religion, police, media's talking heads).
they feed the ego and let themselves be fed by it, thinking that they are doing what they are "supposed" to be doing, as "good americans" or as "good xians" or whatever. 
they believe that their material possessions are what makes them who they are.

one of the problems i encountered when i tried to do the buddhism thing was the anti-material possession stance. 

i now understand that it's not having things that is bad, that its the level of importance that you place on the the material things that is harmful.  let's face it; you need to have some things to get by in the world, and i don't see anything wrong with having say,  a computer or a digital camera or a car that you want or whatever.
it's when that car (or whatever) becomes more than a thing; its when it becomes a statement of who you (think you) are and a status symbol that the trouble starts. 
pretty soon it's not just the car that defines you, it's the way you dress. 
or, how someone that owns a car like that "should" dress. 
and how a person that drives that car and dresses that way "should" act. 

what could a machine or device have to do with your character and your behavior?
who cares what sort of clothes you wear?

it used to be that as a rebellious teenager, you dressed a certain way because you wanted to separate your self from "the herd"
and if you dressed like a punk or goth or whatever, there would be the jocks that would pick on you and beat you up because of your style, especially for having liberty spikes or dressing like a punk or because you skateboarded instead of playing sports. 
but now, the kids that have their mohawks and faux-hawks and dress like rock stars, they are the jocks, and the ones that aren't are dressing that way because they want to elicit the hostile response from the so-called "squares" and "norms" and from their parents....just so they can have an oppotunity to say, "i'm an individual with my own style and i don't care what you say!" 
the cause and the effect have become reversed.  i have a 18 year old niece who thinks that she is an individual because she dyes her hair all kinds of wacky colors and dresses a certain way.  but if we went to a mall, and i closed my eyes for a second, she would blend in with all the other individuals with black hair.
it's like satanists.  they belong to a group that shouts about how individuality is so much a part of their philosophy, and all the guys and girls dress in black and listen to the same music and watch old movies especially with the marx brothers and cream their black jeans over anything that says "devil" or "satan" or "hell", or laugh their asses off at anything that mocks xianity.   
they should just call themselves "anti-christians". 
sorry, i went off on a tangent.

"pod people" don't care about spirituality or helping others.  they don't care about making changes in their lives or the lives of others, they only care about what "the government" (surrogate parents) is doing to make things better..."the government" that they "elected". 
they cannot conceptualize a way of life where there isn't someone around to hold their hands and tell them what to do and how to do it (government, religion, police, media's talking heads).

of course, these are generalized statements.  i know some "pod people" that while they may not speak philosophically or ask big ?s, they are still decent people. 

and while i don't think it's right, i can understand that there are some people who may want to give their children and their wives/husbands/significant other's things, because maybe they didn't have any things when they were growing up.  and now that they have the money for it, they choose to spoil their family. 

personally, we didn't have a lot of money growing up, and i still am uncomfortable and unsure of what to do when i do have large sums of money (which isn't very often). 
maybe i have a fear of "success", but that's a topic for another time.

as for anyone buying a hummer or SUV...that is completely unnecessary, unless you live in a mountainous area and actually need to have 4WD vehicle.  but no one living in an urban or urbanized rural setting could possibly have any intelligent reason why they need a military-type vehicle that seats 17 people to go shopping or to drive the kids to soccer practice or to church.

my parents had a 4 door sedan and a compact car when we were little.  and that was enough for me and my brother and sister.  we also didn't wear seat belts, but that was the 70s/80s.
and we certainly didn't need dvd players in the car or portable dvd players or video games to keep us amused and distracted.  when we went on vaction, we looked out the window.  we read.  we talked to each other.  we played games.

I was thinking the other day about this for some reason and i came to the conclusion that conspicuous consumption was a symptom of Stokholm Syndrome. I would say these pod-people are relating to there elite slave masters via emulation.

Je suis d'accord, mon amie,

I agree with you Barefoot Doc.

Unfortunately their soul realized before incarnation that it could have a lot more money in life if it sacrificed a little bit of human intelligence, so the choice was really a no-brainer.

Alas I jest.