Recently, I was reading a blog you may be familiar with, when I came across this:
"To inadvertently (possibly unwillingly) paraphrase Fight Club (1999), people really dowork hard at jobs they don’t like, to buy stuff they don’t need. The human species has a disturbing, innate craving for stuff. We can’t have enough of it! We just build vast, neverending collections of stuff, each and every person with a varied inventory."
Don't get me wrong; I love Fight Club, and people obsessed with pointless wants is very wrong...
But I'm still unconvinced that most of the Human race is subject to it. As for me, sitting here, I have a lot of things I don't 'need' to survive:
My hoody is new, but is only the second coat thing I bought this year.
My camera is by no means the best, but it is good! And brings much happiness to my life at the moment.
And this computer is an efficient method for me to communicate with friends, be creative and imaginative, and pass my A levels... It also functions as an anti-insanity device which is always handy (something Tyler Durden obviously didn't class as necessary)
But on the other hand...
My shoes are not necessary, I do own another pair.
My whiteboard is not necessary, I could use the floor, or a table.
My bedside light is not necessary, I could use a torch. No! Better still; a candle.
My walls are painted, But I guess I could do without...
My bass' only function is vibrating air molecules... Thats definitely just stuff!
And as for all my books, I cant even remember why I bought these bits of tree :/
I'm sorry for the sarcasm, but loads of little idealistic people, the kind of people who will take a psychology B-tec and think they are experts on your brain, love to write essays on 'consumerism in modern culture' but always the question remains unanswered... where is the line?
I wouldn't be able to tell you where my line is because in my opinion, the line between 'need' and 'want' is super blurred! In one way, I dont buy ANYTHING I dont need... but in another way, if you don't mind dying... there is nothing you actually need.
To put a christian perspective on this, I think the line between 'need and want' is slightly different from Gods perspective. We see need as 'need to survive' but i think God sees it as 'need to live' which is a different matter entirely. Plus, he knows all our needs, and he knows when we are being self indulgent, coveting fools... so while it's hard for us to tell the difference; we can have faith that God will reign us in when we need it.
Obviously I've only just scratched the surface of this subject, but I thought it was worthy of an opinion that differed from the old, stale, simplified and mass produced one.
:)
Good points, but you ruined it by talking about god! (colon pee)
ReplyDeleteJoel... You live in a brand-spanking, newly refurbished house, filled with new, polishy-wood stuff.
ReplyDeleteYou're practically snorting needless technology, such as your sound system and less-than-modest TV. :P
Don't get me started on your ridiculously overpriced, new iMac ('effective for communicating and passing my A-levels' my granny's left testicle) or anyy of your other crap :P
This is all sweet stuff, but my point: it is stuff. You have just as much a vast collection (as your quoted blog so eloquently put it :P) of stuff as anybody else!
You can't just say that you can sit back on ebay, and God can page you every time you're being an imbecile :P Yes, so maybe this is an old, stale view to you. But that's just because it's repeated so much- and in my view, it can't be repeated enough.
Luke
Brilliant example Thefootofthecross! (sorry about the mega delay)
ReplyDeleteRight, all the furniture in my house is form ebay, or ikea, so when does ikea furniture cross to line to consumerist rubbish? Possibly at the lamps? I dont know.
This brings me back to my point; mum as an individual... HATES living on building sites, or in houses that dont feel like homes (to her). This deeply effects her and she is still miserable due to the run down nature of the old side of the house. So, although we dont NEED a nice looking sofa, art prints, or pretty cushions with hearts on... they, believe it or not, actually improver her quality of life considerably. So WHERE IS THE LINE!?
You can tell to some extent. And I admit, I would consider the TV and sound system unnecessarily extravagant. But when it comes to my ebay-bought imac... I cannot tell at all.
Where should we all draw the line at how enjoyable our lives should be, for the sake of us as people? I think that question is largely unanswerable by us... because we are the people in question!
Plus, I dont expect God to message me, and unless you are an imbecile you knew what I meant;
ReplyDeleteI meant we should be loving God more than all the stuff we have, because that is something we CAN measure ourselves... my point was that if we find ourselves coveting something more than we love god, we have gone seriously wrong and we should return to god, (i.e. be reigned in).
(sorry if i worded it badly)
The AMOUNT of stuff doesn't matter, just how much we love the 'stuff' we have. I recommend an amendment to your view; don't buy less, just hold less worth to what you are buying. This may even lead to you buying less, but the subsequent action is far less important than the internal change of perspective on the materialistic.