A Recommended Discipline

[2ndRateMind]

So, for some time now I have been throwing one thing away, everyday. The issue is: stuff. Too much of it, and not enough space for it.

I am by no means rich, but I cannot help but think I am lucky; too many people have too little stuff, and no space at all.

So, I recycle and donate where I can, but that is not the objective, as far as I am concerned. For me, the objective is to get away from this Western consumer idea, that you are what you own, and towards an alternative view that has more to do with being than having. And so if some piece of stuff I have does not help me be the way I want, or promote my preferred future way of being, it is living on borrowed time, in my household.

And the thing is, I have found that everything I dispose of, every bit of stuff I have found a better home for, contributes to my existential freedom. The less I have, the less I am tied down. There is a lot to be said for minimalism.

Books, tools and equipment, prepping stores, and basic clothing and furniture all seem perpetually useful. But the rest needs to justify itself, or risk being jettisoned.

Best wishes, 2RM.

[OnceConvinced]

I'm the sort of person who tends to get rid of things if I never use them. There are things that have sentimental value, but fortunately they don't take up too much space. I need to have storage space for everything, so if space is lacking then it's usually things I think I will probably never use again that goes.

[Divine Insight]

Books, tools and equipment, prepping stores, and basic clothing and furniture all seem perpetually useful. But the rest needs to justify itself, or risk being jettisoned.

Tools constitute the vast majority of my material possessions. I basically have an auto shop (a garage full of auto tools), A full functioning woodshop. And I actually have multiple duplicates of several of these tools from having 5 hand-held drills and routers, to having two table saws and radial arm saws. Often times people tell me that I don't need to have duplicates of everything and that I could sell half my tools with no loss. But that's not really true at all. When I'm working I actually use multiple tools all the time because it's far more efficient and time saving to be able to put different blades or cutters in different tools and just go from one tool to the other instead of having to constantly changing cutters. A good example is when I'm doing tongue and grooving. I have the tonguing bit set up on one saw and the grooving bit set up on another saw. And sometime I've even wishing I had a third saw to leave a regular saw blade available. In fact, I actually have my eye out for cheap used table saws and radial arm saws. I don't think it bothers to have too many.

I also have a full metal working shop with all manner of metal working tools and welding equipment, etc.

I use all my tools all the time. I "feel" it when they break down, so I would definitely miss them if I sold them.

So I have tons of material possessions. But nothing I would want to get rid of. Getting rid of tools would put a big dent in how much work I could get done.

I even have two tractors, two chainsaws, and a sawmill for cutting lumber. And yes, I use both the tractors and both the chainsaws all the time. In fact, I often use the tractors together. One has the flat bed trailer for hauling logs, and the other one has the hydraulic lift to log logs on the trailer. So once again, if I only had one tractor I that would curb my productivity.

Both my tractors are antiques. I was fortunate to have gotten them extremely cheap many decades ago. That's the other thing. If I did sell them it's extremely unlikely that I could replace them without a major financial loss. They aren't cheap today!

But just about everything I own is a tool that I use all the time. So it's not like I have stuff laying around that isn't being used.

If anything I would like to have even more tools.

In fact, I love tools (and building things) so much that if there are no tools in heaven, then I can't imagine why I would want to go there.

I have come to realize that what I love about this life is the physical aspect of it and the ability to create and build physical objects. If physical reality was taken out of the picture, then whatever is left would be totally alien to me.

Even things I get emotional about are physical. Even "love", how can you love someone if they don't physically exist? I came to realize that even relationships are all physical. I used to have a lot of friends, but they are all dead now (i.e. they no longer physically exist).

So even friendships are physical. No body = nobody.

The very idea of a "Purely Spiritual Existence" is basically nonsense.

It's a meaningless concept.

So for me, a material existence is what life is all about.

Take away your material existence and you no longer exist.