I just traded in my old car the other day for a newer one – and while my new car is hardly a sports car (it’s a compact city car, a Honda Fit), the fleeting rush of having a new toy reminded me of this castrating 2010 Super Bowl commercial:
Wow. The only act of authentic self-expression we have left is choosing the car we drive.
Also: If we resign ourselves to a mediocre, inauthentic life, it will somehow be offset by a material consumer purchase. Wow!
What an intensely sobering media message, directed squarely at perhaps the most empowered, influential demographic on the planet – the white American Male…
AMP’S MISSION: AN ALTERNATIVE TO CONSUMERISM
On one level, our mission with AMP is to help men become more authentic, so that they can have more of what they want with women (sex, love, connection), and have it feel good for everyone involved.
Behind the scenes, though, Decker and I have always been sincerely focused on supporting men in having rewarding relationships with women as a subset of us wanting more PEOPLE having more rewarding relationships with EVERYONE… in service of our families and our PLANET.
In fact, when you ask Decker why he does this work, he often doesn’t even talk about men or women…
He references the beauty of Alaskan wolves running in the snow…and how excruciating it is, knowing they’re being killed for sport in unconscious ways…
The deeper mission of AMP and AuthenticWorld is based on the notion that if we’re truly being nourished by our personal relationships (friends, lovers, family, coworkers, etc.), then we as a species are less likely to feel the need to engage in “fill-the-hole” consumerism…or raping the environment in senseless ways.
So, AMP and AuthenticWorld is our best shot at making the world a better place – through fostering authentic, rewarding relationships.
(In the spirit of this article, if you want to order our Getting Her World program, which specifically focuses on creating more rewarding, authentic interactions — you can get it at the discounted launch price — $200 off — here’s a backdoor link).
HOW ABOUT YOU?
Does any part of this Dodge Charger commercial resonate for you at all? Do you find yourself looking to “get something” when you’re not feeling fulfilled or nourished?
What actions could you be taking (or are taking already!) to CONTRIBUTE to a more sustainable, rewarding world…?
Leave a comment below:
Quit my fucking job and start to do things that I enjoy, vs work and die little by little every day.
Definitely… but its sneaky. I’m usually feeling good, and then desire for a pizza or a video game comes up. So its hard to trace.
I think its cool actually, because I have loner tendencies and it feels great to realize “Damn. I am totally alone and I still feel amazing.” It has me look forward to releasing my anger with people, and having more rewarding relating, and then having the wholeness come from that. Excites me.
I’m taking action through what I do with my day to day life, and the rituals and tendencies I’m creating. I do daily Qi Gong practices and focus on myself so that I can be the gem that honors others, and inspire them to do the same. I’m taking an inside out, full responsibility approach that feels great and wholesome, but also risky and A LOT of work.
lol John. Hear ya there!
It’s really hard for me to relate to that car commercial.
I’ve been flat-broke for about two years now, ever since I quit doing things that I hate and decided to start my own business.
It’s been a real struggle for me to make ends meet, but it’s been so much more fulfilling.
To be honest, I find the most consumer-oriented advertising is completely insulting.
It’s been too long since I’ve been in the Bay area or done anything AMP-related. I miss you guys and your community 🙂
I fell into a pretty decent state of appreciation yesterday. I was completely relaxed and suddenly realised that everything is perfect just as it is. There is no reason to change what IS because it already IS. An analogy came to mind of a drop of water trying to change the ocean because it had forgotten it WAS the ocean. Anyway, I found that everyone I interacted with from this easy, relaxed state seemed to open and smile more easily. If we all lived in this state I can definitely see a more beautiful world.
I’m single now and If I want a car, I.ll buy it with no one to give me sass else I’ll give it right back to them. I do what I want and if the dishes need washing, so what!! I’ll use paper plates and toss them,good answer.That super bpwl commercial is sick, damm if I’d stoop to being half a man.
don’t compromise for women to the point of being so unhappy that a car is your savior. it’s not as if women like such an unhappy compromising guy (i hate to use the word “man” in that context) anyway. Women like a happy man. If a woman doesn’t, then she’s probably not any more of a keeper than he is. Or she’s real jaded and frustrated, in which case i’ll take her because i love to make those women’s day and get them floodgates to open. like Deida says about standing in their fire. now i’m thinking about hot passionate jaded chicks that need some serious one-on-one floodgate-popping relaxation-sessions with me. doesn’t scare me.
Those shooting the wolves: Class A Douchery. I can’t imagine a good reason for waste of time, resources, skill-less pride, and of course how pathetic it is to chase down wild creatures with some of the most advanced equipment man has. Why don’t the lease Tomahawk missiles from G.W. Bush and just blast the wolves with satellites and remote controls from the comfort of their living room and lard-arses congealing ever deeper into the cushions whilst snacking on Cheetos? Criminy.
I like animals. I wouldn’t want to be eaten by wolves. The type of hunting being depicted in this video seems, to me, like something that should be a crime. I mean, shit, if you want to bag a wolf, go hike your ass out there and get one the honest way.
As for the SuperBowl commercial – that looks like life as it is lived in the USA today – you go through the motions so you can have a toy that’s fun. That ought to be a crime, too. It’s certainly as much a crime against nature as the wolf hunt from the sky.
Besides, if I am going to work my ass off for money, I’d rather have a Corvette. (Who really NEEDS a Ferrari?)
WTF? Over? I’m 68, on SS, living in a rented room in someone else’s cellar. (Best laid plans, and all that.)
I am trying my best to figure out an entrepreneurial way of making a living that might do a little good as well as make some moola. I want a big house on a hill, a garage full of sports cars, and a harem of hot women. But I’d be glad to have a small place I can call my own, a new Corvette, and one woman who loves me. (Truthfully, I’d be very happy with less.)
I have discovered I don’t NEED anything. Well, nothing beyond shelter, food, and a few friends. And still, I WANT more.
Why not? I’m here on this planet to NOT want anything?
I do love AMP and everything AMP is accomplishing. Authenticity is something that we should all be living. And if we find that we are and we didn’t know it, then at least we’ll be able to modify it to suit ourselves. Go AMP!
So many great comments!
John ; Have you been watching American Beauty by chance?
Josh; I have some loner tendencies and Yeah it IS cool that you feel amazing on your own,a good sign that you’ve calmed the voice in your head.
Matt; everything is perfect just as it is and … easy and relaxed is the way things should always be.
Consumerism/ materialism has become like a plague on our culture. We are bombarded from every conceivable angle, using psycological tricks that leave us feeling our lives will not have meaning if we don’t have ____????
It feels like we’re being marched into certain misery, filling the void with temporary joy ,a quick fix… a new car, a bigger house, a phone with more technology… none of it satifiying the hunger in our souls.
I’ve always had a bad taste in my mouth when I hear about people buying expensive shit just to show off their money. I’m in China now and there are girls here who make less than $500 a month and save their money for several months just to buy a Gucci or Louis Vitton hand bag (a small one, mind you) for more than $2000. Now, I am a gun enthusiast and I will save money for months to buy myself a brand new Kimber Custom .45 with some stainless steel Wilson Combat magazines and several hundred rounds of ammo and I’ll feel great about it, not because I need the weapon to feel like a man or to feel fulfilled, but because it is a hobby of mine that I truly enjoy doing (shooting, that is) and that truly makes me feel good, much like doing martial arts and yoga, all of which cost money to/learn. But these people buying BMWs and expensive hand bags only want to make people think they have money.
Or do they? I get criticized by many people for wanting to spend around $1,000 on a particular gun and accessories. But I want it. Who cares what the reasons are. If they want the BMW or the stupid French hand bag, let them have it. Especially if they worked hard to earn the money to buy it. What I don’t like, and I agree with Bryan’s assessment of the commercial, is planting the idea that you can’t really be a man unless you buy some manly thing to show for it.
Nice catch, Scott. Reading comments from you and the other guys on here, I have faith that the world is in much better shape than a lot of folks are willing to give it credit for. Maybe they just need to wake up and smell that delicious coffee brewing, like you guys have.
I just recently had a conversation with two of my female coworkers about another woman that works with us. I expressed that I was interested in the third woman and asked if she had a boyfriend. They said she probably did but they weren’t sure, and then we launched into a big conversation about relationships and dating and the cultural differences between Eastern and Western dating customs. When we had finished and I left the office to go to my own and continue working, I bumped into one of my male coworkers who heard the whole conversation. I knew he was in the room, so it was no big deal, but looked at me as if to say, “That was a pretty girlie conversation you just had there.” I had a reaction to it. I felt that my manhood was threatened by this man’s perception of it because of a conversation. But I let it go because I knew that very soon I am going to start Krav Maga training as well as Hot Yoga and in a few month’s time, I am going to be the bad ass I used to be 6 years ago when I got out of the Marine Corps. I said to myself, “It doesn’t matter what they think of you, dude. You’re going to be such manly shit here soon, it won’t matter who you talk to or what about.” Then, just now, I realized that I am seeking validation of my own manhood through doing things like Krav Maga. I’m not sure how to rectify this. I don’t at all feel bad about it, so its not really a big deal. But maybe I’m looking in the wrong place? What do y’all think?
Scott, if you like it, and don’t feel bad about it, go for it. At the physical level of existence, there is some body wisdom that tells us that we need to do certain things to keep ourselves safe and ready for anything. Maybe that’s what all that “manly stuff” is about. Psychologically, if you know you don’t “need” it, so what? Do what you like doing.
I could be very wrong, and I think that you can’t be truly “authentic” if you have to question your motives for everything you do. Checking in is one thing, and questioning, or second-guessing yourself, is another.
You sound pretty solid to me. If you think you are seeking validation, then you don’t need to do those things. If you just want to stay fit and have fun, go for it.
Remember, all conflict is in our heads, between conflicting ideas.
Or, so the wise guy said.
Thank you for your service.
Powerful videos. I wonder how much in our daily lives we are like the hunters of the wolves. I sense the hunters get satisfaction from outsmarting the wolves, feeling superior and exerting or showing off this superiority. Perhaps this pattern is evident in us any time we are wanting to take hierachy over someone else, or put them down, or feel above them. This video will help me be more aware of that in my self.
I’m almost at the end of the Dodge ad phase in my career choice. I chose to study a Math degree because I can do it but I only look for the results of studying hard to get a good grade. Studying formulas doesn’t give me much of a lust for life. I could move onto a career in finance after I graduate but in the end I will be working for a paycheck instead of a grade, still looking for a good ending i.e a quick fix (the Heaven to the personal Hell I’m going through).
I know my passion is in linking ideas and adapting to new things as they happen, this is why I’m going to study Organization Development because through that career path I can contribute whole heartedly without having an ultimate desire for a high salary or any other quick fix. I found out my strongest talents from a book called Strengths Based Leadership by Tom Rath. If you haven’t found out your passion and talents in life yet, I hope my previous sentence helps you find your personal Heaven, we have to go through hell in order to get to Heaven.
It’s hard to keep an open heart while watching the clip about the Alaskan wolves. It’s probably just as tough to be in tune with your body and the flavours you taste with every bite of food or every sip of a drink you have.
“Quit my fucking job and start to do things that I enjoy, vs work and die little by little every day.”
Boy does that fucking resonate with me! I’m tired of being a slave. I’m so confused when it comes to what I want to do with my life though. I love creating music but I would also love to help wake people up in some way. Maybe I can do this through my songs. I’m fucking scared that I’ll fail, or even worse succeed. I have hard time expanding my comfort zone.
As for as that commercial. Fuck TV. I can’t remember the last time I watched TV or even a movie. I refuse to be programmed with their BS anymore. It’s bad enough I have to listen to their radio while I’m at work.
Dude the charger commerical is satire,I think it’s actually funny. “I will watch your vampire shows with you” lol
I gotta agree with on wolves hunting, not very sportsman like hunting from a plane, they should be out in the wilderness feeling the elements, putting themselves in danger while hunting.
Good Post man.
Incredibly beautiful man one made me sad woman one made me joyful wolf one made me cry
Try to live with noble intention be of some benefit to those I come into contact with. Pay attention to
what kind of world my actions are creating.
Thanks for constantly reminding me about the possibility of male collective beauty truth insight honesty integrity…………..
By far the more disturbing is the portentious Super Bowl ad — because the self-castrating stipulations in the voice-overs — ARE ALL UNQUESTIONED BEHAVIORS coded into these Sleep-Walking men.
I love all of Creation, so, yes, it is brutal and senseless to bounty-hunt the Alaskan Grays, and the Canadian Timberwolves. And, these hunts are on because Alaskans want the populations of Caribou and Moose to grow into a more robust attraction for out-of-state Trophy hunters. How many layers of unconsciousness is that? Nauseating.
To develop my own contributions, I am turning the embers of a long no-woman diet. In addition, I am adding deep skills in business and teaching, towards a second career. Lastly, may I recommend a great author for men who care fiercely about wild creatures, like the wolves and caribou, and more for all of Creation:
Author, Daniel Quinn. “Ishmael”, and “The Story of B” are my two favorites by Quinn. Pop out of the “matirix” for a good read.
Then ask yourself, “How much honor have I, personally and directly, given to a sentient being today?”. Could be your mate, or a neighbor, or an animal, or to your Higher Power. Sharing your honor or your gratitude may seem weak or diluted to your materially-oriented perspective. But to your higher self, its really the core of Life.
As One…
I will be against this hunting .