Very often, being popular means doing what is popular, following the current trends. You must dress in the currently popular styles. You must own the currently popular electronic devices. You must eat in the trendy restaurants. You must be very fluent in the popular slang. If you don't, you cannot hope to be popular unless you are very wealthy, very attractive, or, preferably, both.  While this may seem harmless, it isn't always.  Sometimes it causes us to behave in ways that we know are wrong, but we do it because it has become popular.  We join gangs, we take drugs, we engage in violence against others, and ignore those less fortunate.  

    Now it's ten years in the future and things have changed. You look at pictures of you in your high school yearbook and can't believe you ever dressed is such ridiculous clothes. You laugh at a picture of you in your oh so trendy hair do as it appears on the Ellen show. You can't believe you redecorated your room three times in one year because it had to be in the currently hot color scheme.

    For some, it may take more than ten years. Even in their forties and fifties, they continue to follow every trend, no matter how silly or short lived. And, of course, wonder why they never have much money.

    To some degree, even spiritual people fall into these traps of materialism, not to mention following the currently trendy spiritual writer or guru. For the most part though, spiritual people can step outside of this and function in a more sensible way. They can buy clothes that will remain acceptably fashionable for years, while never entering the lofty heights of high fashion. The can buy a good cell phone and keep it for a year, maybe even two. They are not ascetics, but they can be practical because they have their egos under control, and that is key. Most of all, they can continue to listen to their conscience when it tells them something is wrong, even if trendy.  By keeping the ego under control, they can do what is sensible and, in the long run, the most rewarding, whether it is currently popular or not.