By Request: Materialism

This topic is one of five given to me by sylver_spiders on Livejournal. Feel free to request topics from me in a comment.

Materialism turns out to be a really hard thing for me to write about. I don't want to write about "what people do", and how far away from it I feel. I don't want to write about "what I used to do", and what it meant, and "what I do now", and what that means.

It goes without saying¹ that I have bypassed 'materialism' the philosophical position and gone straight for 'materialism' as a near-enough synonym for 'consumerism', or Having Stuff and Thinking That Is Important.

I have Stuff. I have much more stuff than I need, and I find this state of affairs oppressive. Only inertia and exhaustion keep me from initiating a grand purge, and I am headed for the same end result by a more gradual path. I will happily do without or make do rather than Get More Stuff, and I tend to sit on the idea of new purchases for weeks or months before I go ahead with them.²

One of the things I loved about travelling was the absence of unnecessary Stuff. I effectively owned only as much as I could carry with me, and during that time I never once missed anything I didn't have. Of course, in everyday life one does not have the excitement of travel to fill the gaps left by those absent possessions³ ... but there are better solutions than using the accumulation of Stuff as a distraction from ennui or boredom.

Perhaps it's bizarre for someone who owns two computers⁴ and an array of other first-world luxuries to claim any sort of distance from materialism. I am certainly no renunciate, but the possessions I have and value are not symbols or ends in themselves; their value lies in the life they enable me to lead. I take as much pleasure in acquiring something that perfectly fills the niche I have for it as I do in ridding myself of something that is unnecessary.

In my ideal world I have very little Stuff, but every item is Exactly Right.

What I find difficult to express is the fact that I would be quite happy to continue as I am (albeit perhaps with most of that extraneous Stuff re-homed) and never upgrade any of the cheap-and-homely things that do everything I need them to do. I would be surprised, because I enjoy the process of coming across Exactly Right Things, considering them, and making them part of my life, but I would not be unhappy.

More broadly, I am indifferent to the accumulation of wealth beyond a certain point. Being able to support myself is important to me, and I would like to see more of the world and have some degree of financial security in the future, but I lack the disposition to live beyond my means and the kind of aspirations that would drive me to constantly increase said means. Sometimes I feel uncomfortable about this because it seems that a different attitude is expected of me.

Currently I work part-time (as dictated by my health) and can still quite trivially cover expenses, put away savings, and snaffle the odd Exactly Right Thing when it comes along.

I do not wish for anything more.

(Addendum: I should note that living in the Digital Age™ and in a place where I can borrow and rent things makes this work for me. I consume vast quantities of words and music, and a lesser but not insignificant quantity of pictures both static and moving, and if their delivery and storage were not so blissfully simple and efficient I would probably have a much more conflicted attitude to my Stuff. As it is, I can keep physical instances of the things that are truly special to me and still have easy access to other things I like. It is magical.)

1. But I am saying it anyway. [↩]
2. Sometimes this can cause problems, as it applies to basic necessities like shoes and clothes just as much (or more) as to recreational purchases. [↩]
3. That being said, boring old everyday existence can be discovered to be absolutely stuffed with new experiences and wonder, approached the right way. [↩]
4. Two Apple computers, even. [↩]