Creating Desire

There's this scene from the movie "The Silence of the Lambs" that's been stuck in my head for the longest time. In it, Jodie Foster's character is talking to Anthony Hopkin's Lecter, in an eerie intellectual discussion about how the human mind works.

Hannibal Lecter: First principles, Clarice. Simplicity. Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing ask: what is it in itself? What is its nature? What does he do, this man you seek?

Clarice Starling: He kills women...

Hannibal Lecter: No. That is incidental. What is the first and principal thing he does? What needs does he serve by killing?

Clarice Starling: Anger, um, social acceptance, and, huh, sexual frustrations, sir...

Hannibal Lecter: No! He covets. That is his nature. And how do we begin to covet, Clarice? Do we seek out things to covet? Make an effort to answer now.

Clarice Starling: No. We just...

Hannibal Lecter: No. We begin by coveting what we see every day. Don't you feel eyes moving over your body, Clarice? And don't your eyes seek out the things you want?

A close friend of mine just took on a 4-year loan to buy a car that he will hardly use since he travels for work a lot. The monthly installments will be eating up a big chunk of his monthly paycheck (approximately 30% of his pre-tax pay) He says it's also for his dad, but they also have another car at home that's only about 2 years old. Just last weekend, he went to a couple of car dealerships to test drive more cars. This time cars that costs twice as much as the one he just took out a loan for. He tells me it's just for fun, and I'm sure it's fun, but I worry about when he'll tell me that he's buying a new car again.

I have a theory about this. I think this is how the mechanism of want works. We go window shopping on a nice Saturday afternoon, telling ourselves that we'll just look, and end up coming home laden with shopping bags. What we see with our eyes, we desire in our hearts. That's why marketing is such an important part of doing business in our modern world. Companies fork out millions every year to convince people to buy things they don't need. Banks help by providing easy credit. Markets become overinflated and then burst.

Trying not to go out to the local shopping complex on weekends is difficult. Let's face it. There's not that much to do in Singapore. We look for air-conditioned places where we'll have easy access to public transportation and probably 80% of these places are somewhat related to shopping and/or spending money. At the same time, everywhere we go, we're bombarded with images that encourage us to spend more money. Working to cut down on expenses is like fighting a loosing battle. The harder I try the more conscious I am of all the avenues for forking out cash. Unless I become a hermit I think I'm going to need a really really big dose of will power to keep going.