In the 1920s a man called Edward Bernays (Sigmund Freud's nephew) revolutionized public relations and advertising by applying Freud's theories of the unconscious mind to mass persuasion.

Bernays realized that if you could play to people's unconscious insecurities—feelings of lack, desire, unworthiness, etc.—you could sell them anything. Rather than just fulfilling existing needs, Bernays taught companies how to manufacture new desires—a form of mass manipulation.

Emphasis on lack became the fundamental principle of advertising—to subconsciously manipulate you into thinking you need something the advertiser is selling.

For example, he held a campaign for the American Tobacco Company where women smoked in a public parade, branding cigarettes as "torches of freedom" and linking smoking to female empowerment.

Advertising has never been the same since its goal is to manipulate you into spending your money by subliminally preying on your deeper emotional needs—sex, status, freedom, or security. This is how the default mindset of the masses fuels a dangerously excessive consumerism.

In contrast, one of the fundamental principles of virtually all the world's spiritual traditions is that you do not need anything from outside of yourself to become spiritually fulfilled.

Realize this deeply: you have everything you need; you are a manifestation of the divine. Don’t allow yourself to be manipulated into unnecessary consumption to the greater benefit of large corporations and detriment to yourself and the environment.

Society makes you believe you need something you do not already have in order to be happy.

Spoiler: everything you need is already within you.