Detach From All Things
Detachment from our stuff may be one of the keys to happiness.
Wouldn’t it be freeing not to have a care in the world, to let things come and go, to let everything and everybody just slip through your fingers and not hold onto anything? We seem to spend so much of our time and energy desperately acquiring and holding on to what we have, that we find ourselves with very little time left to actually enjoy it. We bust our butt to get stuff; a house, a car, a fridge and stove, the list is long and endless. Then once our goodies are bought and paid for, or maybe not quite paid for (29% interest lets us “have it all and have it now”), we have to insure it just in case we lose it somehow. Paying for this insurance takes still more of our effort. So really, what is the point of acquiring anything? Maybe I’m on my way to a hermitage!
I do like my big TV, my car is useful, and my house is comfortable. I like my bike and my computer etc. But I have to remind myself not to cling to these things and not to identify myself with them. If they were all gone tomorrow would I still be me? Of course I would, I am not represented by my accumulation and I should not be ‘proud’ of my possessions. I have never understood how someone could be ‘proud’ of a shiny sports car. Yes it may be an amazing machine, but the owner didn’t build it, they didn’t create it. It’s not like they built a house with their own two hands or composed a symphony! How can one take pride in something that they simply have in their possession? Its strange how much of our self worth and identity can be wrapped up in an object that has no inherent value. In the end everything we have is merely a tool.
Let it come and let it go. We have heard it said before that we cannot really own anything. We are all just passing through life briefly and all that we gather will move along as well. Metal will rust, wood will rot; everything returns to the earth.
Hoarding material goods and money is bad news. It only serves to promote paranoia and the fear of loss. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be financially responsible, we all know what that is, even though many of us have a great deal of trouble with it. But to allow the acquirement of goods to consume our thoughts, and the paying for of these goods to consume our working life seems like more effort than its worth.
When I get to the end of my life I do not want to be sitting on a hoard of stuff, most of which will be old and useless and taken to the dump in the weeks following my death. I want to have the hoard in my mind, a hoard of wonderful experiences and happy times.
So I am always working toward a greater detachment from the things in my life. I get the tools that make my life more enjoyable and my daily efforts more efficient and leave it at that; whether that be a good washing machine to do the family laundry, or a good camera to satisfy my creative endeavors.
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Reader Comments
“Detachment from our stuff may be one of the keys to happiness.”
I believe you are right. Things do not make us happy. Growth makes us happy. Relationships make us happy. My pets make me happy.
If your results are the source of your happiness, what happens when you are no longer able to produce them, say in your later years?
If your things are the source of your happiness, what happens when something happens and you no longer have them?
Things like money can go quickly. You may lose your job or your business may fail. You shouldn’t let things like this be the source of your happiness.