« In an interesting 19-year follow-up study of about twelve thousand people, it was shown that the more someone expressed materialistic values and objectives at some point, the more, when assessing what had become of their life some twenty years later, there was damage in terms of quality of privacy and feelings of happiness. »

« Materialistic disease. The psychological impact of these powerful mechanisms is discreet, because progressive, but palpable: basically, we are gradually transformed into impulsive fools. We could call this disease of civilization that strikes us the disease PAZAS: resulting plethoritis zappogen self-centered and stressful. Here we are: obese with goods, foods, objects; diminished in our lucidity and freedom; tempted to move on as soon as a problem arises - go see if I have an email, or if there is something to eat, or do some shopping to change my mind; focused on us - "I'm worth it," "I should never wait or do nothing," "I'm great, since the hosts and politicians tell me on TV"; and, finally, stressed, unhappy, frustrated, dependent, no longer understanding anything to ourselves. And going back into the wrong answers that the merchants tend to us: consuming to heal us... We must realize that the profusion around us is debilitating: it diminishes our intellectual and emotional capacities. It channels our energies into the useless and the sterile. Shopping, which is often the favorite distraction of many people, does not enrich us in terms of personal development, to say the least. On the contrary. For example, spending a lot of time looking for the "good deal" and the "best price" is nothing more than a loss of energy for later, more important decisions. This profusion of objects, activities, possibilities, which resembles a wealth, can in fact lead to a deconstruction of our mental capacities, by overstimulation, dispersal and theft of attention. Materialism prevents us from practising states of concentration, reflection, internalization: by zapping (multiple and effortless choices), by access to activities with zero internal involvement (video games, continuous streaming music). We are subjected to constant thefts of our attention: pubs in public places and during TV shows, interruptions by emails, phones, SMS. The ad makes us believe that these are links, to sell us machines to supposedly create a link. But, at some point, they are vacuum chains, cell phone conversations in public places show it. »

« If you feel like you're running out of time, it's not only that you're doing it wrong (which is possible), but maybe you actually have too much to do! We need to understand that one of the most powerful factors of well-being is the feeling of having time in front of you, to do what you like to do, or to do nothing at all. »