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I've been getting rid of lots of memorabilia. Gave a load of books to a charity shop, gave away some clothes. Threw away old magazines, papers and old computer equipment. People have too many possessions... they end up dictating our lives to us. We end up unable to do things _because_ we have too many possessions. It makes moving house difficult and ties us down. We end up living in houses that are too bigger than we actually need so we can accommodate all our "useful" stuff. We spend time making them look nice. We spend energy cleaning and maintaining them. We present them as part of ourselves and our identity is tied to the objects we own. We become as attached and dependent on this part of our identity as we do to our own actions, morals and productivity. It is liberating to minimize your possessions. I have much less stuff than any of my housemates. I think people become attached to stuff, naturally, but we need to keep it in check. The more you keep it in check, the more you realize how much unnecessary stuff you have. Possessions limit a person's focus on their future, use up their time and money, and make a person less practical. It makes us less natural people to rely on the gimmicks we possess -- it's an illusion of identity that does us harm. Purge your possessions! Return to Vexen Self Development By Vexen Crabtree 2002 June 03 |