how materialistic are you?

[HarutoAsou]

It's funny to imagine our society. I think with every generation that passes materialism is something that steadily increases. When I think back to when I was a wee lad, my parents weren't wealthy, but they did however buy me whatever I wanted. I had so much and I was almost shocked when I went to some of my friends houses and realized they didn't have so much (usually the non-white kids, immigrated parents busting their asses to save up for their childs future, so admirable). When I moved to B.C. my parents spent well over $1,000.00 sending boxes of things in my room to my new place. Maybe it was the joy of renovation a room in the house that made them do that, but I slowly came to realize that "wow I don't need this shit." It's something that came with reason though. When I went abroad to Korea I brought nothing but 2 suitcases (one filled entirely with clothes) and my laptop. I realized I was content with JUST that...so why did I have all those things at home that I was so attached to and embodied a false sense of importance? Since then I have slowly downsize my possessions. Whenever I am stressed I feel the need to clean, maybe symbolic of how simple I want my life to be, I want my possessions ot embody that as well.

Basically I am proud to say I can fit my life into around 3 suitcases if need be, but how about everyone else? Obviously if you have a well established life and live in house it's a bit different, but how much do you believe you'd need in your life to be content (not counting people obviously).

EDIT: Or another way to respond is how do you feel about materialism in general? Is it something you put a lot of value on? What would happened if everything you owned was stolen but you still had a house and bed to sleep in? etc. etc.

 

[scarletsnow]

... I feel the need to clean, maybe symbolic of how simple I want my life to be, I want my possessions ot embody that as well.

I feel that the emptiness of possessions weight the soul down. I have donated most things I used to have to charity. I still feel I own too much and try to bring it down to just a little more than the bare essentials.

 

[shoreleaveoic]

The only thing I need is a cash, some gold coins, a debit card, a credit card, a descent car a rifle and a handgun

 

[dfc]

As it is, I have few possessions that I can't leave behind if needed..

I think the spread of materialism has a lot to do with how the world works now. It's all about commercialism, and I think that has blurred the lines between 'need' and 'want', up to the point that for some people those two words are one and the same. While I want to say that I'm not affected by this, I doubt that anyone can really say that. I guess it's a less than desirable side-effect to the increasing globalisation and technological improvements that society is going through. Not to mention increasing affluence.

Although I must say I only see it in people who've never really seen what it's like to live on a subsistence income, etc. Though I've met many who remain significantly grounded even though surrounded by excess. I guess awareness of one's surroundings suffices.

 

[HarutoAsou]

I couldn't agree more. I'm living fairly comfortable (although I'm in debt but who isn't? once I'm done school though I will take care of that) thus it's almost forced me to be careful with how I spend my money. I've always imagined that if I win the lottery, I don't believe I'd buy a huge house, if anything I'd probably buy a condo in Korea and/or Japan. I don't like large houses and flaunting my cash, although I'd probably buy some really nice clothes. Money is the root of all evil and it makes people do the most moronic things and money is obviously related to materialism because what else can money be used for?