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You know I’m all for anti-materialism but I’m here to say that the ‘own nothing, & you’ll be happy’ claim is bollocks & I feel uniquely qualified to say so as for the past 5, almost 6 years apart from occasional ownership of a car, all that my family of 4 owns, fits in...
...4 suitcases & a laptop bag. Almost 3 of those suitcases by the way are filed with children’s books & toys. 
Do you know how I describe the feeling of owning so little? It’s not happiness, it’s a bone deep tiredness that I can feel in my upper back, neck & spine. So why do...
Do you know how I describe the feeling of owning so little? It’s not happiness, it’s a bone deep tiredness that I can feel in my upper back, neck & spine. So why do...
...I do it? Well I do it or did it as a sacrifice, because being free was more important to me than having the comfort of owning things but that’s not what those at places like the @wef are offering people now is it? There will be no ‘freedom’ for poor people in their vision...
In this vid, digital designer & nomad, Orit Dolev gives a talk that describes the wonderful future world where people won’t own anything but her presentation is naive & warped.
For example she talks about how if she has children one day how great it will be to just order in age appropriate sterilised toys when needed & send the old ones away to be recycled. Ha bloody ha, there’s a reason we carry 3 suitcases of kids toys & books, children need a sense..
...of stability, security & attachment to things...whilst I don’t have a psychology degree, I can again feel it in my bones & see it in their behaviours it has massive importance to them & is a means of grounding them & teaching them about care & love.
Giving them important recognition as well to them from you also that they are their own person with ownership of property that won’t be taken away from them just because you are bigger & stronger & their attachment is inconvenient to you. It grounds them & gives them a sense of..
..assured continuity, a sense of ‘its okay’ because these things are still here with me. I perhaps once naively thought once upon a time like Orit that just having Mum & Dad present would be enough for them but that’s egotistical & selfish, they are their own people & need to...
...develop their own sense of who they are in the world using things that are enduring & carry their memories. They don’t need a brand new sparkling toy half as much as a ragged old, chewed or dog-eared talismán to carry forward with them as a foundation.
Off just the topic of children, possessions are also important for the adult psyche although if we make the conscious choice to live without we can be quite well with very little. But being able to own things means again being able to control your experiences in life & also...
...gives you a reason to create perfection & I’d say grounds you also in being able to focus on that.
Owning nothing for Orit means ordering whatever you need each day to be delivered by drone. Does she have any idea what outdoors would look like if every person in the...
Owning nothing for Orit means ordering whatever you need each day to be delivered by drone. Does she have any idea what outdoors would look like if every person in the...
...population was doing that?? By god there’s be things flying in the air everywhere & drone dogs in the street all over!
And when you start to think about who gets the apartment with a view, who gets to live alone (because not everyone’s dream is to live in a commune) you...
And when you start to think about who gets the apartment with a view, who gets to live alone (because not everyone’s dream is to live in a commune) you...
...start to recognise the lie being sold. The materialism won’t go away, but attachments will.
One more thing to think about a common experience for anyone who has had someone with dementia in their life is that person will wistfully cry out to go ‘home’. It is true that they...
One more thing to think about a common experience for anyone who has had someone with dementia in their life is that person will wistfully cry out to go ‘home’. It is true that they...
...can’t be comforted by a piece of property but having experience of this I feel that it is caused by the person’s feeling that nothing in their world feels familiar anymore. Life without property would be like that, a long sad tiredness in your bones, just wanting to sit...
...still and be at home with your surroundings. Peace.
‘Own nothing & be happy’? No, you’ll just be on the treadmill still, a faster one but this time there will be no feeling that you are getting somewhere or that one day you might be able to get off.
Based on comments I will reiterate that again I’m someone who prefers to own very little. I am only saying here that should only ever be by choice, there are some good reasons to own some things & if someone says you CAN’T own things then probably that’s because they own you.
