"Keeping up with the Joneses" - "Joneses' label" , by Erik Pevernagie, oil on canvas,(100 x 80 cm) xx

How many want to live in a society of appearances? The world is a show, and the show must be a performance of the wealthy, the beautiful, and the fortunate.

Invulnerable and exclusive people live like dazzling fish in a scintillating seascape behind glass. Everybody should admire them. Nobody must touch them. Overexposing luxury and fortune does not create guilt. Belair must be able to snub at Beverly Hills with total peace of mind.

Copy-pasting the glittering fish meets a gnawing and demanding need to maintain the living standard. The realization of a societal show involves excessive spending. For that reason, many buy gadgets they don't need at all, with money they don't have, for people they don't actually care for. They infringe on their corporeal and financial capacities, merely to pay doctors and psychiatrists.

Neighbors can be benchmarks to define social status, and conspicuous consumption should raise the ranks on the social ladder.

In their feverish and unbridled efforts to "do as the Joneses do," many are trapped in a reverse situation they precisely want to escape. Living beyond their means makes them feel profoundly frustrated, considering themselves failures and damned losers.

Populists expect to be popular. But what can be more nonsensical than “unpopular” populists? Starting doing everything to fit the job, they grit their teeth so hard that they shatter them all and chew them to bits. The moral? Let people be genuine, humble, and coherent instead of stumbling from a vainglorious stance into the opposite.

We must not let boredom and greed dictate our lives and exploit our compulsive fantasies or spendthrift desires.

Giving up both an obsession with sign values and a subservient fascination with the social pyramid allows us to set priorities in life. We discover the core of our true selves and appreciate being "in" the moment. Instead of grumbling about "owning," "not owning," or "not possessing enough," why not delight in the healing enchantment of the little moments of every day?

Phenomenon: Compulsive fantasies and spendthrift desires

Factual starting point: Label in coat

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