The Art of Zen Living

Linked to you by zenhabits. Enjoyed your article, loved the link to NOVICE TO MASTER. Thanks

Own only what you love & deem beautiful,
enjoy the purging and getting your stuff into the world again for other folks to enjoy.

This post resonates with me.

I lived in the same apartment in San Francisco for 30 years. When I retired in 2005, I decided I had to make a few lifestyle changes as well. With the exception of six boxes of books and personal stuff, I gave everything away.

From now on, I’m traveling light.

For most of us, we’ve lived so long acquiring stuff, collecting stuff and managing stuff, that it is actually difficult intellectually to imagine anything else. What I found is that it required a breakthrough moment - a time to internally feel the beauty of being lightweight - before I could detach from stuff. Once I had that epiphany, I couldn’t part with stuff fast enough. I still have a long ways to go, but now I have some precious “space” around my life. We actually have two rooms in our house that are totally empty.

I’d like to think there is some consciousness spreading out in the world to the effect that “consumption and collecting is unsatisfying.” Some cosmic lesson being learned.

Americans are unique in the world, I think, in having a stuff fetish. We are the only country that (on a large scale, at least) rents out those storage places you see off the highways, invariably named something like AAA.

A great deal of the difference in the sum of stuff that we all accrue is due to the invention of plastic. I don’t mean plastic credit cards although they are a plague in themselves. But before plastic many things were quite expensive as forming them in metal cost a small fortune whereas plastic allowed people to own all kinds of items cheaply.
Plastic is a really odd issue in itself. Perhaps the first 60 years or so of the use of plastic has been bad for both mankind and the environment as a generalization. But now plastic is becoming more and more useful in critical areas. For example Volkswagon has made a 900 lb. car of mostly plastics that gets well over two hundred mpg. That car will go on sale 1n 2010. Metal would never permit that kind of weight reduction in a production vehicle. Saving at least 170 MPG on every unit sold will go a long way towards helping the environment. This is a clear example of plastic saving on pollution problems.

I became deliberately homeless some years ago – a decision that was somewhat influenced by Buddhism, but mostly was just a personal preference.

Getting rid of all my stuff was a very interesting experience. What I discovered was the extraordinarily large number of different reasons for having things other than “it is useful” or “I like it”.

Most of those reasons were variants of “having this thing says something about what sort of person I am”. I am the sort of person who would own that sort of vacuum cleaner (not a different model) – so getting rid of the vacuum cleaner means losing some tiny part of myself.

In other words, I found that stuff functions largely as reference points for ego.

I would prefer not to be any particular kind of person. After getting rid of (almost) all my stuff (there are still some books in storage, on the theory that “maybe they will be useful someday, somehow”) I am still some sort of person – but maybe somewhat less so.

David

“In case I should get poor again…”
“Could be handy sometime”
“Interesting material”
“Beautiful form, colour, handicraft, idea…”
“Makes me remember”
“If I will ever lose some weight again…”
“A good book with amazing ideas that I will surely read again”

All kinds of excuses I find myself using to make storing things a good idea. It´s not only an american problem. I´m a Swede and I think it´s an issue to all the “developed countries”. When we pass some sort of border where we leave the lower incomes behind, then we can really become shopaholics. But time comes to fight this false ideal. I now try to think before I buy things - “Do I really need this? What is my real motivation for bringing this home? It will not change me as a person anyway, so why buy and try to believe that. Well, it is really very nice. But it is also nice to save the money for something more urgent and important .” It´s like an ongoing dialogue with my inner child.
More and more often the last years I´ve spent money for idealistic purposes, like: medecins sans frontiers, red cross, envronmentally organisations activities or cooperative organisations that help poor people organize and build their own homes. But I think the big issue for us in the future is to learn to pick consumer products with care and realize when we have got enough for making a reasonably good living without over-consuming and then turn to more social activities. Perhaps work less and consume less. It doesn´t make sense that we in the rich world use so much of the global resources and makes other people starve. Do we really need to buy new cellphones every year? And what happens in countries that deliver rare metals and materials for our products? Is the mining business human and environmentally friendly?
Sometimes I think there are those who prefer people to stay shopaholics than becoming aware of injustice. And likewise there is a long way for many of us to overcome our security-addiction which makes it easier to stay in the TV-sofa for the rest of out lives.
What can happen when many people begin to think and act on their beliefs? The human being is extraordinary in so many ways. We can live in extremely different climates and organize societies with the most different cultures and adapt to new sircumstances. When many people work together they can achieve both wonderful and horrible things so it is a tricky power to handle for all of us.

Thank you Daniel for your interesting thoughts on “stuff” that made me think as well.

Shortly after I turned 30 I gave away all my stuff, It was a bad time in my life and I just felt owned by all this stuff around me in my empty apartment. I invited a couple of my friends over one weekend and we opened up the doors and started spreading the word down on the street that there was free stuff, I spent an entire afternoon having fun and talking with all these strangers who had climbed three flights of stairs just to take my stuff. I remember there was a young couple who walked through, her with a baby in her arms pointing at things for him to pick up, and him with his arms overloaded, I smiled. It was one of the most invigorating, frightening, liberating, and cleansing experiences of my life. And I have never regretted it. I owned nothing but a small gym bag of clothes.
I moved into a small bachelor apartment hidden deep within a maze of creaking dimly lit corridors in an old building right downtown. It was a cave, and for the next five years I lived there, sleeping on a mattress on the floor of an empty space, devouring books, drawing, writing, meditating, I worked midnights at the time and once managed to go almost two full months without uttering a single word. I took the time to think long thoughts, and I took the time to think nothing.
Another five years have passed now, ten years almost to the day since I gave it all away, and I am easily the happiest and most content person that I know. I have found my center and it radiates throughout my life. I now have eleven employees and am responsible for a multi-million dollar government cleaning contract, and it is work that I love to do. I am in love with a beautiful woman who loves me in return, I am happy and vital and living my life to the fullest.
Yet every single thing that I own sits in this one room that I rent off a young single mother of two, I don’t own a tv or a car or a stereo or an ipod, just my laptop, my camera, a couple tat machines and other supplies for my creative drive, and my bicycle.

I would add one line to your Rules of Stuff:

Is it beautiful?

There are things I own because they are beautiful. I think art (whether music, painting, sculpture) does much to feed our souls.

But then I suppose the question is: do I need to OWN this CD of the Ravel Piano Concerto in G? (My immediate answer is: yes, since it’s the performance that I feel is perfect and it is out of print)

But I agree with you. We have way, way, WAY too much stuff. We Americans seem to feel entitled to it.

I’m not all that attached to most of what I own. The problem is the decision-making and time that go into getting rid of it. Time is what is in short supply in this world where there are too many choices, too much work, not enough money, etc. I need time to go through it all.

Hey, I think I’ll get off this machine and get rid of some stuff…

taken from George Carlin…

@shavo: how can you say this is taken from george carlin? this is someone’s personal venture to get rid of unnecessary stuff and clean the clutter out of their life. carlin may have had part of a routine about americans and their relationships with stuff (I should know, it’s one of my favorite bits of his), but somehow i don’t think he invented the idea of getting rid of things you don’t need. pointing out things that are ‘taken’ from other people, especially something as distant as this, just makes you look like an unmitigated asshole. and @Daniel: carlin’s routine was about holding onto stuff but he wasnt saying the opposite of you, he was making the exact same point just in his classic sarcastic way.

Perhaps the idea is to be able to live with your stuff in a healthy, complete manner. Removing it from your life has no impact on removing the desire for it. It creates the illusion that you have surpassed your dependencies, but you have nothing to test it with…

I greatly appreciate this collection of shared thoughts. I am about to embark on what feels like a nearly overwhelming task. That is to open up and let go of stuff that fills five 20 x 10 storage units. I made an initial effort, emptying out two units and giving just about all of it to a Haitian couple that had, for years, sent containers of goods to Haiti to be donated to those in need. Anyone who wishes to offer up a note of encouragement … thank you in advance. And if anyone knows of an efficient way to dispose of misc. items, I’d be grateful to hear those thoughts as well.

You may like to check out the late great George Carlin’s take on the tyranny of stuff here…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac

How very timely. I am about to move from Massachusetts to Oregon, and am winnowing all I own down to what will fit in my car (2001 Camry Solara). I find myself throwing out stuff I have carried around for 20 years or more. Now I think even a one bedroom apartment is a lot more than I need. It’s awesomely liberating to make the shift to non-attachment. I now get rid of things which a few years ago I would never have dreamed of parting with. It’s just stuff: when you come right down to it you don’t need much. Think of how Prince Sidhartha left the palace, walked into the forest and shucked absolutely everything, the first great lesson from the life of the Buddha.

It is interesting to read this article and the comments it has produced.

I am from Quito, Ecuador, middle high class. I’ve lived in different parts of the United States during for many of the last 17 years of my life. I am 35 and living in my hometown since 2004. I am married and have two kids, aged 3 and 1. I hold degrees from American Universities.

I believe that the main question is whether your stuff is your master or your servant. I agree on that point with the article. However, I cannot imagine parting with my precious belongings and living the Budda way. I am atracted to valuable stuff, as I see a lot of value on, say, a fine luxury watch. (I would never, never purchase a Movado, Tag Heuer or Bulgari; but Breguet, Patek Phillipe and Omega are on my wishlist)

I don’t think I own more things than I need. I have few, good quality clothing pieces. I have a few, good quality pairs of shoes. I make a point to get rid of stuff I do not use. And I make a point of enjoying my stuff as well as my few invaluable social relationships.

I think that the modern craving for useless stuff is a replacement for lack social interaction. Too much isolation in our modern lives leaves us with an emotional gap that tends to be filled by shopping for stuff.

However, many times, when we interact with each other, the first manner in which we relate to each other is more about what we own than who we are. I find this true in every society I’ve lived, industrialized or underdeveloped.

just start out with little stuff and replace as you go along
i could fit everything I need into a suitcase (ok a big suitcase but still)

Living is an art and living well should be artistic.We have a collection of crystals and artifacts that were gathered as we traveled. These are kept in good shape and need constant cleaning and care.There are other items that are hardly used or even looked at but yet they stay.I wonder if we have some DNA of squirrel in us that compulsively gets the hoarder in us.I know of people who keep things they used in their childhood and stacks of clothes from times of yore.It is important to detach and get rid of useless gadgets and stuff.Another major issue is disposal of electronic items that might add to toxic and hard to recycle waste that gets generated just being obsolete. It is a tough situation and developing countries with faster pace of economic growth might create more waste than all of the
west put together.

Things and looks is often used because of its seductive surface to improve ones chances, position, status.
Like the colourful feathers of the peacock to get the chance bringing the DNA of ones own further on. I don´t think we can get rid of that function, because we need it just as much as other living creatures, but perhaps become more aware of what and how we behave towards each other? What is reasonable and fair for me to trade or consume? What are the consequenses of my way of life?
True about desire MoJo! The stuff goes but how to deal with desire? The problem still isn´t solved.
Also interesting comment from Marco Lalama that stuff is one of the parameters that people value each other by. How to overcome or moderate? Are there any alternative strategies out there?

Good information and valuable perspectives.

America is NOT the only country on the planet that engages in the acquisition of stuff.

It’s now become a disease that can be attributed to any country that is able to acquire.

I prefer to call it “crap”, because realistically, when you look at all the crap the world produces for the edification and emotional benefit of those that can afford it when there are people who starve on a daily basis, we should be ashamed at the shallow nature of our existence when we behave this way.

I’m no different and by no means immune to the allure of the materialistic influence of the type of society we live in.
I have “crap” but reading posts like this; together with an awareness of all of the other things we could do with the money, then perhaps we could benefit others instead. This post increases my awareness and resolve to cure myself of the disease.

Maybe we can ask the 3 questions posited above in this format , BEFORE we buy crap

1) Will I use it at least once a month? (Be brutally honest)
2) Would it be irreplaceable? (Do I REALLY need it?)
3) Is there another way to do what this item does that doesn’t involve buying crap? (Are we just being lazy and is it REALLY that useful?)

and then assigning the money we were going to spend for more charitable purposes.

That way (at least in Australia) we could take the tax benefit from contributions to charity and reduce the impact on the environment by reducing demand for more crap.

It may eventually end up as land fill anyway.

Be more aware of what we do and the attainment of a clear conscience may be in reach of us all.

Desire is a trap that make willing slaves of free people.

Over the years I have bought many books two or three times because I had thrown or given away old copies. I have also thrown away old photographs.

I didn’t realise why I had been doing this this until recently: it was partly about simplifying my living space, but also an attempt to disidentify myself from my possessions and my lifestory.

If disidentification is your main motive in de-stuffing it’s important to realise that this can be achieved without physically disposing of the stuff in question. Good luck in dealing with your burden :-)