To have, or to have not?

[B. de Corbin]

I just read an interesting article about "possesions," in which it suggests that people accumulate "stuff" in order to define who they are:

For the love of stuff: I am my things and my things are me. I don’t want to give them up: they are narrative prompts for the story of my life

...Much as I admire a clean surface, I have never been a minimalist. But arriving at middle age on the brink of my very own economic meltdown, I’m having to question my relationship to things, asking: why are they so important? What do they signify? Could I live without them, or make do with a cyber version – a clutch of Pinterest boards and a library of ebooks?

In many strains of spiritual thinking, accumulating possessions (i.e.: being materialistic) is a bad thing.

My question for you is "is it?" Is there something inherently wrong with accumulating stuff, or is accumulating stuff part of what defines you as a person? Or maybe there is another option?

[anunitu]

I can agree with the possessions idea,and some times those possessions possess you. I tend to only have things that are useful,that have a purpose,like tools. While I am not a minimalist,I am also not a hoarder of things just to have them.

[SleepingCompass]

I moved recently. My uncle, who has a pickup truck, came to help me. He asked me if I'd ever heard of a Kindle while we were loading up books

I really liked that article; I put up with a lot of teasing from family members about being a hoarder due mostly to my book collection, but whenever I've moved to smaller places and have had to store them with my parents, I constantly find myself missing them.

In many strains of spiritual thinking, accumulating possessions (i.e.: being materialistic) is a bad thing.

My question for you is "is it?" Is there something inherently wrong with accumulating stuff, or is accumulating stuff part of what defines you as a person? Or maybe there is another option?

I don't view owning possessions as a 'bad thing'. I like my things and they make me happy. They don't interfere with my connection to deity in anyway that I have noticed, and in fact, help facilitate that connection at times. I like digital things too; most of my photos are only in digital format and I actually do have a fairly sizable collection of digital books as well, but my personal preference is for real world objects. Eventually, I do want to have all my photos printed for photo albums and I want to buy all my faveorite digital books so I can add them to my real world book shelves as well.

I haven't found another option that makes me as happy as having all my 'objects' does.

[MaskedOne]

I just read an interesting article about "possesions," in which it suggests that people accumulate "stuff" in order to define who they are:

For the love of stuff: I am my things and my things are me. I don’t want to give them up: they are narrative prompts for the story of my life



In many strains of spiritual thinking, accumulating possessions (i.e.: being materialistic) is a bad thing.

My question for you is "is it?" Is there something inherently wrong with accumulating stuff, or is accumulating stuff part of what defines you as a person? Or maybe there is another option?

I'm fond of possesions...

As long as they are possessions and not possessors. I have thousands of MtG trading cards, I'll probably acquire more in years to come. If a day comes where the acquisition and care of said cards is seriously complicating my life then I've granted cards too much power over me and it's time to start selling them. Any object that is not food, water or shelter which moves from enhancing your life to controlling it is a problem that should be addressed. Otherwise, there are lots of cool things in the world. Have fun.

[DanieMarie]

I guess it depends. We have a lot of stuff, but neither me nor my fiance are huge on conspicuous consumption. We don't buy a lot of stuff, but we've managed to collect a lot of things over the years (mostly due to the fact that both of us have a LOT of hobbies).

I don't think there's anything wrong with having or acquiring possessions, as long as you actually need and use them.

[ThePaganMafia]

I am pretty anti-possession. Everything I own easily fits in the back of my car. My backpacking gear, a few changes of clothes, my laptop, and about 30 books.

I don't like being weighed down by stuff. The more possessions you lack the more free you are.

[B. de Corbin]

...The more possessions you lack the more free you are.

Yeah. You're free from having stuff

I think Anunitu put his finger on it when he pointed out the difference between having possesions, and being possesed by them.

If it's something you need, or use, or enjoy, why would there be a problem? But if you get stuff just to have stuff, or because you are told to want stuff, or becouse somebody down the road has that stuff, you have been possessed.

[Hawkfeathers]

I absolutely love my lifetime's worth of stuff. I look at my 45's and remember playing one (Anticipation, by Carly Simon) while getting ready for my first date in 1972. I'm not what you'd call a hoarder. My home is neat and organized. I do have lots of knick knacks and every one has a story. They were gifts from my parents or old bf's, my teddy bear from a great aunt when I was 5, a trunk full of yearbooks and diaries (paper books we wrote in before computers), recipes hand-written by my grandmother, etc.

I don't buy stuff because a certain color is in style, or because I got tired of older stuff. I like what I like, and that's that. I take good care of things and don't like change in the house much. Even my companion animal is 27 years old! LOL

[ThePaganMafia]

It's also a pretty amazing when moving to another apartment is a ten minute process.

[Tylluan Penry]

My clothes are second hand, my furniture is too. We eat frugally, don't have holidays, don't own a car... BUT I own thousands of books, and yes, Mr P and I are hoarders. Everything we have reminds us of a time, or a day... and we don't mind clutter.
I don't ask anyone else to clean it, pay for it or live with it.