Modern Humanity Between the Culture of Fasting and the Culture of Consumption

Professor Michel Abs

The Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches

During this period, fasting seasons begin in Lebanon and the Arab world, and it happens that fasting is being observed by people of all faiths in this region, a land rich in diverse religious, ethnic, intellectual, and political affiliations.

Fasting, which is a cornerstone of religious practice, involves believers imposing voluntary deprivation on themselves. They exercise self-restraint and abstain from many foods and pleasures as an act of faith aimed at refining the self and curbing impulses by restraining the desire for indulgences, or, at least, regulating them in a way that elevates human behavior toward a higher moral plane.

Beyond tempering one’s urges, fasting seeks to enhance a person’s capacity for reflection, on life and its purpose, on the blessings and generosity of the Creator, and on those less fortunate who live in daily hardship due to their financial situation.

Opposite this “school of deprivation” stands another approach: a “school of excess” that encourages overindulgence in pleasures to the point of saturation. Its results have thus far proven detrimental, whether in terms of uplifting the human spirit, maintaining healthy economic mindsets, honoring human values, or preserving the environment.

This “school of excess” urges people to spend more, acquire more, and consume more, sometimes purchasing multiple items to meet a single need, driven by competition among manufacturers. Often, people buy things they don’t actually need simply because of marketing promotions or tempting discounts, leading to cluttered homes, burdens on family budgets, and the rapid depletion of credit card limits.

Today’s modern individual finds himself torn between a tendency we might call “social asceticism” and a craving for unbridled consumption of food, drink, clothing, and products in general.

He is caught between a religious affiliation that discourages extravagance, urges moderation in spending, and calls for aiding those in need, and a consumerist impulse that justifies buying excessively and acquiring every new product on the market. The market itself has shifted from merely meeting people’s needs to becoming a trap for their incomes and savings.

Of course, a person must provide for his needs in the best possible way and live comfortably. Yet it is unacceptable for him to become enslaved by advertising campaigns and marketing tactics run by companies selling both what we do need and what we do not, purchases made solely under the pressure of promotional campaigns.

No one objects to improving how we meet human needs, bringing it to the highest level. But no one should be complacent about the fate of those caught in a consumerist society, nor about the economic and environmental consequences of this trend.

Human innovation is wonderful, necessary, and boundless. But everything in the world requires regulation; otherwise, the planet descends into chaos.

The discipline of fasting, this opportunity to reflect on human needs and on how resources are shared, and to see how certain social groups are deprived of a decent life, must correct the distortion of values caused by producers’ policies, driven as they are by profit at any cost.

It would be ideal if seasons of fasting were accompanied by awareness campaigns about consumption and its proper logic, as well as about the damages wrought by lending and consumption policies since the 1970s. All this could be achieved without harming production, job creation, or the growth of communal wealth.

We must not let our luxury and abundance blind us to the fact that there is a Creator who has favored us with these resources, and that there are fellow creatures for whom we bear a duty of compassion, out of faithfulness to the Creator’s command.