'An Orgy of Consumption' The unspeakable is happening. After being wooed, stimulated, and encouraged in every possible manner to accumulate goods until they gradually, ineluctably clutter our homes, our basements, and finally our garages, the next bright idea is what? Consider moving some of it on, perhaps? Wrong! According to a recent article in The New York Times, a new fad urges us to hire a professional organizer specializing in ‘designer garages’. After we have over purchased, over spent and over accumulated mounds (often unused, if not useless) of consumer paraphernalia, now we are encouraged to further pay in order to get them organized! As expected, this new brand of service doesn’t come cheap: think between $8,000 and $12,000! But take heart, for this upscale service guarantees your ability to cram (and find) in your garage: pantry, lawn and garden supplies, sporting equipment, tools, weight bench, and yes, even your SUV! A deal, indeed! This new fad of organizing our clutter with sophistication is apparently based on our growing obsession for orderliness. I have to question this newly identified human ‘need’. Has it not, like many others, been simply created to appear indispensable to the mass when in fact, this ‘obsession’ may apply to a mere selected few? And read this: according to a survey by the Ikea furniture company reported by the National Association of Professional Organizers Website, 31 percent of respondents stated they got more satisfaction from cleaning a closet than from having sex! So I have to wonder: could humans be undergoing some morphing process where matter, ultimately, will take over mind completely, including their sex life? Again according to The New York Times, Peter Walsh, a psychologist who earned the job of celebrity organizer as host of the cable television program ‘Clean Sweep’, has expanded his focus from treating the symptoms of clutter to pondering its causes. ‘There is an orgy of consumption going on in this country’, says Mr. Walsh. In his book to be released later this year about the psychology of clutter, the author (sadly) acknowledges that ‘he is a lonely voice calling for a new era of American asceticism.’ It has long been proven that less is better and that ‘Small is beautiful’. Albeit wise, these challenging concepts may not have have made it into mainstream American thinking however. Well, at least not yet. Mr. Walsh concludes: ‘This is the Supersize-Me society. So it’s going to take a while.’ Designer garage, anyone?