I've had quite a cathartic (and busy) past couple of months and have pretty much thrown away most everything that I own. Stuff has been sent off to Charity shops. Ebay was surprised that I've finally decided to sell something after being on the site for over 5 years. Lots has been given away to friends and even more has been packed into black n blue wheely bins for the council to spirit away. The end result of which is that I've discovered that I'm quite a minimalist kind of guy who doesn't really like owning 'things' and being all materialistic.
But, there is a rather large caveat to this sudden discovery of Buddhist sensibilities. I LOVE having the ability to do the things that these objects enable me to do. For instance, I LOVE all the things I can do on my computer, photos, games, editing videos, and all the other fancy shit its capable of. But the actual physical object that is my computer, meh. I could throw it away tomorrow without a second thought. The same with all my cameras, TV, Mobile Phones etc. I don't care about the things themselves and treat them accordingly (ie. a multitude of scratches on all the expensive stuff I own).
So, in reality, rather than being a spiritual type with no need for earthly nik naks (the incense/wicker required for such a role would just irritate me anyway), I'm actually just a renter rather than an owner. I've never quite understood the need to purchase things just to have lots of things. I understand having things that you use, its just the idea of lots of shiny pristine stuff to show off with has never really appealed to me (mostly evidenced by my 'once every 3 or 4 years' car cleaning regime).
All in all, I'm looking forward to not owning a house or a car or all the other stuff that I've acquired over the years like a capitalist zombie (not that I have anything against capitalism, its yummy). One has better stuff to do with one's life than derive status from owning objects, actions are a little more important.
This week my idol is Gary Busey, oh to be as free and bat shit crazy as him, bliss.
And on a side note, why is Arnie doing this? And why is it so creepy?
