Why is it that so many people in Western Society believe that "He Who Has The Most Toys Wins?"?

Answer 1

Personal desire and social conditioning.

And advertisers have been smart in making people think they NEED a lot of products to survive or even just succeed socially.

Answer 2

I see this happening at my school and around my town all the time. people showing off there new ipod, cell phone, they install very loud very expensive speakers in the back of their car in the middle of town where everyone can see, and they brag about the brand new car their parents are getting them for their sixteenth b-day.

I have never had a cell phone, ( much less figured out how to use one,) and if I get a car for my birthday, it wont be new or really good looking, but I can be happy with that.

I think the reason is it proves that they are financially stable and can afford anythning.

Answer 3

It's because many people believe quantity is worth more than quality. For example, if someone has 100 diamonds of low quality and someone else has only...lets say...20 diamonds of a high quality, of course, the higher the quality, the more it's worth. Having the most of a particular item doesn't neccesarily mean you win. It just mean's you have more of that item than others.

Answer 4

Some people believe that material gains are a measure of true success to find out it doesnt neccessarily make u any happier when u get there.Just look at some of the famously rich.

Answer 5

I think it has to do with wanting to be accepted.

Sometimes there is a hole in a person that they need to fill with "stuff". Problem is, until they find out why they have the hole, they continue on.

I have been reading the Tao and it has absolutely helped me as far as accumulating things.

From Dr. Wayne Dyer:

I choose to enjoy living the great mystery, the Tao that can be named, is not the Tao
When my work is done it is forgotten, that is why it lasts forever
I know that there is no way to happiness, happiness is the way.
The all providing Tao is empty, yet inexhaustible
I will work at eliminating all of my judgments of others.
I pay attention to my inner callings and apply my own uniqueness to everything I undertake
It is through selfless action I will experience my own fulfillment
I live in accordance with nature, and therefore, NEVER go against the way of things
When my cup is full, I will stop pouring
I suspend my belief in opposites by seeing myself in all
The usefulness of what is, depends on what is not
I choose to ignore the seductive lure of acquisition and fame
I see myself as everything, I love myself as everyone
Discovering how things have always been brings me into harmony with "The Way"
The place of my origination is stillness from which all creation originates.
Amidst the rush of worldly comings and goings, I observe how all endings become beginnings.
I fully trust that others DO know what is best for themselves.
I act virtuously. I do not need rules to be kind and just.
I am moral, profitable and a genious extraordanaire, regardless of what any transcript or bank statement might say.
I am doing nothing, rather, I am being done.
How do I know the way of all things at the beginning? I see it within myself.
I resist any brokeness by being flexible and bending when storms appear.
In all of nature, no storm can last forever.
Boasting or showing off are superfluous excesses, this practice must be uprooted, thrown out, and left behind forever.
I come from greatness, I attract greatness, I am greatness.
I have the ability to stay poised and centered regardless of what goes before me.
What is a good man - but a bad man's teacher, what is a bad man - but a good man's job.
As I preserve my original qualities, I can do or govern anything, I live with radical humility.
I allow my life to unfold naturally. There is a time for being ahead. There is a time for being behind. there is a time for being in motion, there is a time for being at rest, There is a time for being vigorous. There is a time for being exhausted.
Whatever strains with force will soon decay, I reject any forms of violence. I take the form of least resistance in all of my actions.
I allow my highest nature to come forward by bringing love to the places where I use to live in hatred.
I trust in the perfect goodness of the Tao to guide and direct me wherever it will, I allow my thoughts and ideas to be carried by the great wave of the Tao.
I am replacing my desire for power over others with my efforts to understand and master myself in any and all situations, the things we love, we have to learn to leave alone.
By not claiming greatness, I will achieve greatness.
When you look for it there is nothing see , when you listen for it, there is nothing to hear, when you use it, it cannot be exhausted. This is the great Tao.
I seek out obscurity by suppressing any desires for attention or recognition.
The Tao does nothing, but leaves nothing undone.
I trust in my essential nature, I let go of all my polarities, and I live in the indivisible oneness of Tao, Goodness and Godness are one, and I trust who I am, a child of God.
I am a peace of the whole and I act in accordance with the wholeness of Tao
I bow to the all creativing power from which I came and to which i am returning.
By following the way I will not become complicated extraordinary or prominent. Rather, I will become subtle, simple and uncomplicated.

Not all the verses, but you get the idea.

Thanks for the post.

Answer 6

Because people in western society carry their kid's-mentality(obsession for more toys) in to adulthood and Beyond and marketeers know it too well as how to exploit it.