Things for Sale, Need and Want

As usual, I have linked together some seemingly unrelated morsels of thought and feel the need to share.

I just saw The Book of Eli (decent movie, entertaining and engaging although I have some problems with the implications). While fighting the incoming crowd in order to scurry back to the car, I thought about one brief moment in the movie that stuck with me --as "deep" movies often attempt to do. While describing the era before the tragedy, the main character said something akin to the idea that the population, we, had much more than we needed. This simple concept easily describes our entire generation and point in history. I started thinking about how true this was and let my mental eye gaze over Buddhist philosophy in this respect. I thought about all the things in my house, in my life and on my personal that I have but don't really need. Sure those things make my life easier or more comfortable, or so I think, but I also go through a lot of very extra drama to keep them.

Any day you have not felt like going to work, just because you don't feel like it, is an example of one of those things that one has to do in order to keep your stuff. You go through it because you want to keep your stuff. If you didn't have your stuff, you would be upset because you would want that stuff. The desire to have that stuff, keep it, hold it and share it with others (only when you feel like it), is what drives you to do things that you may not ordinarily do. This is not religious rocket science but sometimes certain thoughts hit you a certain way for a reason.

I periodically wonder about myself, if my building was burning down and I had to leave with my life, what would I grab, what would I take, if anything? I have so many things that are dear to me, I know that I would be one of those people who found found later, burnt to a crisp, holding on to stuffed animals, charred books and linked with ropes and tarnished jewelry. In truth, the last time a fire alarm caused me to exit my slumber and my home, I grabbed pets and purse. I put on only coat and shoes to make for the stairs. I was happy with that at the time. It would only be later that I would mourn for the countless pictures and books of my history. My computer, which has served as an electronic safe and storage for me, would be lost and missed. But I would live and I would be happy with that.

And maybe that's all there is. If one were to reduce their possessions to the essentials, really just the things that s/he would try to take in the event of an emergency...would that sufficiently simplify one's life? How to does one reverse the pining and even the simple convenience of having that stuff? Can you be happier, knowing what you're missing?

With those ideas still lingering in my cranium, I came across an interesting website today through a very interesting post I receive by daily email.

Within these pages lie photos of individuals that are showing the one thing that they have kept through their travels. Centered on a location under a bridge in Texas, the participants count upon their experiences, homelessness, drug addiction, criminal activity, incarceration, redemption, community service and purveyors of the Word. Some of the people have nothing left. Others are the one person for which that object still holds sentimental meaning.

Without realizing it, I do a dress rehearsal for this website every time I think about a fire. The answer all ways changes and the reality, when tested, was far from the stage. Should we choose to reduce what we have to what we need?

From one extreme to the other, hot and cold, yin and yang...where do you fit? Better yet, where do you choose to live and will you change it if you see fit?