Material Things

Most of us have too much stuff. The excess is detrimental to the health of our minds and our planet. Though consumption hasn't receded, there is a mainstream rhetoric highlighting the negatives of our vast accumulations; the minimalist self-care movement (really another form of the same consumer culture that got us to this point in my opinion, but not the point here). It's laudable to have less. But the demonization of things isn't the right mentality--the things themselves aren't inherently bad. Our relationships to the world around us is where the problem lies. 

I look around my apartment at my possessions while writing this. The z-shaped console my dad and I built from a plank of wood. The desk I work on. The nightstand I've had since childhood, its drawers and surface sanded and re-painted to fit my evolving style. My cozy sofa and tall stools and firm mattress. In the process of moving, I sometimes view these things as burdens weighing me down. I imagine I didn't have them; a world where I could move freely about without logistical obstacles. 

But these fleeting thoughts ignore the practical, daily, essential functions these pieces of furniture provide me. These objects reflect my individuality and history, ingenious creations with comfort and utility of the highest order. 

Minimizing possessions, decluttering, is a great goal. But this trendy view, popular among wealthy young people in wealthy countries, that the things are blocking true happiness, that its better to flutter about tied to nowhere and no thing, ultimate freedom attainable by rejecting material constraints, glorification and worship of the internal self--I don't think that's right either. 

I see this movement as an extension of Descartes' pervasive, misguided idea of dualism. Separating mind and body created a false distinction between human and nature, the outside and inside, me and not me. Advancements in biology and ecology and physics and chemistry and psychology clearly show this separation is nonexistent. Everything is connected. Diet impacts brain function, polluting the air and water is suicide, on and on. How we treat the world (including those material things we own) is effectively how we're treating ourselves. 

Dualism is how the balance was broken. Defining the self as an independent entity from the surrounding world leads to destruction on moral, environmental, and spiritual levels. 

These objects of mine--they ground me in the physical reality. They're mementos of where I've been and what I've done. I take care of them. I treat them with the respect I treat myself with. I use and enjoy them, and that's a good thing. I strive to have a healthy, loving relationship with my world. Viewing the physical world as inferior to the metaphysical isn't solving any of humanity's problems. 

If anything, these days we should be more rooted in the tangible reality. We have to see our surroundings as extensions of ourselves. Condemning everything beyond our fingertips as a distraction will accelerate disaster. We must rediscover the meaning of health.