What’s common to Halloween and Spirituality?

A post on FB bemoaning the advent of celebrations like Halloween prompted this post. The writer of the FB post was expressing his disapproval of corporations dictating our celebratory consumption behaviour, by labelling it as our ‘falling’ for acts of ‘commercialisation’.

I am bemused.

The fact that the writer was posting content on a social networking platform created by the big bad corporation is, I guess, totally lost on him. After all, what is FB other than crass commercialisation of the act of socialising? Now, for a moment don’t think I am trying to put down pursuits and outcomes of commercial value creation that include both FB and Halloween. On the contrary I am the kind that celebrates commercialisation. I am among those who believe commercialisation is in fact VALUE CREATION! FOR CONSUMERS! Every time someone (including big bad corporations who are fooling us naive consumers) creates products or services for consumption, what he/she does is turn input material into finished goods that find value in the eyes of consumers (of course, not always, I admit). When someone buys, including Halloween masks, what that someone does is respect the value (read, products or services) created by trading for it with their hard earned money!

Note, what is value to you may not be value to me, and vice-versa. So you may think a mask and Halloween is all foolish, but not me, and certainly not my kids! To you, the mask maker may be a trickster; to me and my kids, he’s a wizard! Now I respect your right not to be fooled by the mask making corporation, but respect mine to be ‘fooled’! Plus like I said, should you really be preaching on FB? After all, can’t you see how FB has engineered the greatest ever takeover by a big bad corporation? Haven’t they enslaved us all by trapping us and dictating to us our ways of virtual socialising?

Course, I am kidding!

The ones who play the victim-hood card to the guiles of the big bad corporations are really those that fail to see how all the acts of commercialisation have made their lives better. Tell you the truth, it isn't sitting cross legged in a deep trance that has made your life better. It isn't spirituality and the packaged philosophical nonsense (again an example of commercialisation) that’s gonna brighten up your day. Its PRODUCTS AND SERVICES! Stuff we use every day and at times sparingly in our lives. Stuff like masks and fake blood! Of course, Yoga CDs too! Stuff that are outcomes to acts of commercialization.

Tell you what, we are planning on a crazy night with masks, fangs, and fake blood! I probably know what you’ll be doing. I also know you don’t approve of the masks. Guess what, me thinks it you who’s wasting your time meditating. But what the heck, what binds us together ironically is our pursuit of what we believe better our lives. So go ahead, meditate, and leave me be, so I can do the ketchup laden fake blood splattering job so my kids can have the night of their lives!