We love looking outside the walls of our flesh to find objects that define us. We are what we own. What we own consumes us.
Not all objects are bad. I’m not advocating we all strip our clothes and walk naked into the forest, cultivating a lifestyle off the land. Although that does sound enticing.
Even in the case of a lifestyle of less we still have objects, we still have tools, we still have things we possess. We still have things we mourn the loss of.
The biggest shift in ownership comes from a lack of protection. We don’t need to build walls around our goods, because in the end we realize they are just things. They can be replaced. They can be built from scratch once more.
When we start to take a fear based approach to what we own our objects start to embody evil. This is when they start to gnaw at our core. We forget that true sustenance comes from within, not without.
We start to think that without our things we are without our life. We are nothing. We are left with nothingness, because we’ve forgotten where to look. The closest we get to finding what we desperately seek in our rampant consumption is when we lock eyes with ourselves in the reflection of our screens.
This is the pathway we can walk to truly find what we’re looking for. Are we looking for comfort? If we can surround ourselves with the best, then by default we are the best. Instead of becoming the best we look for the shortcut. We try to play the game that society has given us. The only rule that’s been neglected has been the final rule, the game is rigged, and our odds of making it out with our souls intact is virtually zero.
We must define a new game whose end goal is a revival of our forgotten nature. The kind that’s wild and free. The kind that’s supported. The kind that dwells deep within you and me. So, instead of buying the new thing to define yourself with, ask one question, what am I looking for in this object that I can find within myself?
We are not our things. They are just things. I’d like to hope we are much more than that. I’d like to believe our potential is greater than filling the role of the rampant consumer. I’d like to believe we can achieve more than simply scraping the bottom barrel of our potential. I’d like to believe with all the beauty on this planet, we can still create more.
We can find what we’ve forgotten. We can find what we’ve lost. We can reclaim the wild nature of our soul. It’s going to take some work. It’s going to take dedication. It’s going to take the full force of love flowing through our veins. But, when this hits there’s nothing sweeter. There’s nothing more alive and pure than the sweet taste of freedom.
The real kind. Not the kind we can buy with our invented money. Only the kind that can be found within. This is the freedom we all crave, the one from within, not without.