The result is the problem: that humans loose the connection to what it means to be human. What is the end or goal of transformation?

The end goal, regardless of ones religion, is happiness. However, the definition of happiness differs greatly from one religion to another. In religions such as the Lakota, happiness is found by making the gods happy, or Mother Earth, by learning to be one with nature. Other religions have a similar goal of happiness, where one obtains happiness by serving their god. However, in consumerism happiness can be bought yet is never actually attainable because there is no end to the possessions one can consume.

What are the means of transformation?

For the Lakota and other traditional religions, the means of transformation are the service of one's god. Typically this involves such things as loving others, not sinning, doing good onto others, and so forth. In consumerism, on the other hand, the means to transformation is consumption. In other words, the act and the goal are the same thing: the consumption of possessions.

What is the nature of reality?

The Lakota and other traditional religions construct reality in terms...

The nature of reality is that one is not divine but live a life pursuing divinity (the goal). Consumerism, on the other hand, creates a false reality where happiness can be bought and, if the wrong decision is made, a new form of happiness can be bought.
What is the sacred and how may the sacred be known?

To the Lakota, the earth and nature is sacred. In other words, the goal and the means to the goal are sacred as they provide the key to happiness. Therefore, in consumerism, possessions and consumerism as an act are sacred. Regardless of religion, the sacred is know because it is what creates happiness.

Bibliography

Barber, Benjamin. Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilze Adults and Swallow Citizens Whole. New York: Random House, 2007.

Christafferson, Dennis M. Handbook of North American Indians: Plains. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2001.

Cohen, Deborah. Household Gods: The British and their Possessions. Yale: Yale University Press, 2006.

Talen, William. What Would Jesus Buy. New York: Perseus Publishing, 2007.