The problem with society's obsession with more
And why more can happen when you leave things alone.
Untethered Mind, Sunday Edition, 3-min read.
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At some point, we screw up.
We feel the pain of the failure.
It stings, and we spend days moping.
This happens at a cultural or societal level too. Culture screws up, feels the pain of defeat, followed by a bleak emptiness.
But humans are striving types and won't settle for such a state. We want to feel better and do better.
It's what got us to the moon.
So, we look for solutions. Often, we do this in a panicked state, desperate to be free from what is ultimately a very primitive concern: pain. This can be a psychological or physical pain.
In looking for solutions, we very nearly always accumulate.
We complexify in an attempt to soothe it.
We seek out material goods to help us feel better on the inside.
We try complicated remedies, supplements, pills and therapies.
We jump from one spiritual influencer to the next.
Looking. Searching. Accumulating knowledge. Worrying. Talking. Planning.
I call it panicked accumulation. It's unconscious. It reflects our resistance to what is and mistakenly finding the answer in yet… more... stuff.
But in almost all cases of modern forms of pain, the solution lies in doing less. I see it time and time again, and still, I often refuse to believe it. It seems too bloody simple.
We scratch our wounds. We don't leave them alone to heal.
Like adding yet more ingredients to a soup that only needs a bit of extra salt.
It's like when the wife arrives home after a tough day at work and airs her annoyances. The husband attempts to help her find a way through, assuming that's what she wants. This merely annoys her because all she wants is to be heard.
We try to fix the unfixable.
Society is sick because it followed the gospel of unnecessary accumulation, processing, developing, and adding.
It is an oversized reflection of a misguided individual.
And yes, I get it; some advances and innovations are, of course, important. I'm writing this on a laptop, for goodness' sake. But a smartphone is both brilliant and poisonous.
This is something to reflect on.
Maybe it's you who is unfixable that you are attempting to fix.
Maybe your life would be a million times better if you just took a deep breath for a moment and stopped freaking searching for a solution. Maybe it's okay to feel a bit off occasionally without instantly jumping to conclusions that something is terribly wrong.
Where in your life might you be overcomplicating it?
Where do you find yourself continually agitated?
Maybe it's time to do less.
Eat less.
Buy less.
Think less.
But surely I should do more of some things like, I don't know, love more?
Use your intuition. You're a clever being. Some things are evidently in abundance, and it is about opening up to more of it. If you accumulate and it leads to a heaviness in your belly, maybe you were better off without it.
That's the litmus test.
Your mind is more powerful than you think. It will give you the answer you're looking for when you aren't looking for it.
Maybe life isn't all about fixing, forcing, scratching, talking and doing.
Maybe it's about letting things be.
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Thanks for reading.
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I feel this deeply and am struggling to instill this into my young son's perspective. He is almost 8-years-old and has a brilliant curiosity for engineering. Last night as he was going to bed, he got very mad because of a capacitor that we had to recycle about 3 months ago. He hoards parts, motors, circuit boards, etc. They have taken over our house and his obsession. He also pines and grieves parts we got rid of because they were dangerous, unused. I encourage his exploration and he has made amazing things. It just borders on unhealthy habits.
I was thinking about writing a children's book about how holding onto what is not there and collecting items thinking they will bring us real happiness because I see he struggles with this. Of course, we all do to some degree.
Alex, yet more insights you share. Thank you. “Think less” will be my mantra this week. Sometimes my expectations become too grand and then I “think” about why others aren’t meeting them. After all, I would expect these of myself! Well, maybe these expectations aren’t a priority for her? So, I’m going to stop “thinking” she should rise to the expectation and just let it go. Rather than trying to fix it, I will just worry about myself.