Avoiding the Abyss

A wild and generous materialism, fed by the ikons of the United States. Materialism in Jamaica is, like everywhere, a sign of a delectable alternative to happiness, possession an escape from the appearance of effort. Materialism is the cause of all form in this entropic paradise. Possession may be an escape from the visual symptoms of the abyss, and self interest is of course a complex and urgent phenomenon in Jamaica as the abyss feels to be so close. Whether it is or not belongs to your perzonal view of progress. And many people, whose view of progress is one-dimensional and attached to the image of the West suspect and believe it with great fervour. People paint the abyss with their opinions and fervent and loud truths. The fantasies painted in the imagination of every apocalyptically inclined person (and there are many) cause a delirious behaviour, an attitude that measures everything in terms of what other people possess. It makes every action subject to an attempt to escape from the abyss by clambering up one’s neighbours. Self interest is measured against the quantity and quality of domestic technology with which the abyss and the world outside can be kept at bay in the mind. At the same time there is a baroque delight in the glitter that is all gold. It is the materialism of an absolutist frame of mind. Which is why the abyss is given such full and glorious shape in the personalised language, imagery and escapist form of materialism.