Things

 

I have noticed that conspicuous consumption is not always as easily recognizable as you might think.

It is one of those things that stands by, ready to fill in the holes left by disappointment.

When things do not turn out the way people expect they can grasp at straws. 

For some people it is all about bigger and better things. For others it is about more things. For some it is about any thing, but if it is about things it is generally not about the thing you think it is.

Collections do not, in and of themselves, make you happier. You can own a mansion full of Victorian furniture or a mid century masterpiece, but unless you are doing something with it, it will eventually fall short of making you happy. Simply owning it is not enough. You will need to keep adding to it again and again, feeding that emptiness that never fills up.

If your love is redecorating these houses, or refinishing this furniture with your own hands, you will have something that actually does fill you -- with pride in workmanship, creativity, the hours spent in loving action.

The same is true about clothing, or motorcycles, or anything else that you can buy. The more you buy, the less content you become in the long run, because you'll find you can't get "No satisfaction."

We come from a long line of hunters and gatherers, but they did these things to survive. We don't have to bury acorns to live through the winter anymore. Lining our nest with fur and feathers gathered all through the warm months is not necessary. 

Collecting is not enough.

Our minds and our bodies are not content to just survive. We want meaning to fill in those holes that show up when life gets easier.