Well, May 21st came and went and we’re all still here. I’ll admit I wasn’t worried that we wouldn’t be, but you never know.
Speaking of the anticipated rapture, I was reading a post written by Laura from Smash Your T.V. and Have Adventures this weekend. It was about an end-of-times sale she spotted on Craig’s List where a few nonbelievers were putting out a request for people’s worldly belongings. There was a common theme throughout the ads that indicated the *stuff* the believers would be leaving behind would be gladly taken over by the nonbelievers placing the ads.
Laura’s post was interesting in that it brought to light the importance we as a culture place on things over people at times. It’s sad really, that when the possibility of a great human separation is in question, all some could think about was how to get their hands on the possessions of those that were leaving this world.
The entire situation reminded me of a movie I saw a few years back called The Gods Must be Crazy. The film is a comedy released in 1980, but most of what I saw when watching the film was a truth so deep that the movie lingers in my mind years after viewing.
For those of you that haven’t seen the film, it’s based on a tribe of humans living in the Kalahari dessert called the Bushman tribe. The Bushman tribe is completely removed from civilization and live together in peace and contentment…until an unexpected gift from the gods drops from the sky. A glass Coke bottle.
To make a long story short, the glass Coke bottle creates all kinds of havoc within the tribe as the concept of ownership enters the tribe’s peaceful world. After all, there is only one Coke bottle, but a dozen or so Bushmen.
If you have 15 minutes and are interested in getting a taste of The Gods Must be Crazy, I’ve embedded a YouTube clip below for your viewing pleasure.
Obviously it isn’t practical for us all to dump all of our worldly possessions and conveniences to go live off the land in the dessert like the Bushman tribe. But the film does make me wonder how much better off we would be if there were less material items that separated us from one another.
What if we all adopted minimalism? What if our focus on consumption took a back seat to a collective focus on the betterment of humanity? What if there was less me, and more we?
These certainly aren’t new or groundbreaking questions — they’re just at the top of mind today.
What do you think? If we all focused more on our relationships with each other, and less on the acquisition of coveted things, how different would our world be? At what point does technology stop helping us and start stifling us spiritually and emotionally? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.
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I have close relatives who spend hours and days rearranging storage units and moving things from one room to another trying to fit more things into less space — and they haven’t actually used any of it in years. They could be doing something that benefits the world.
I’d like to have a wider circle of in-person friends. Mine is small and stale these days, but people mostly congregate in churches and bars, neither of which I plan to go to. I’d actually enjoy getting to know some spiritual people at a Unitarian church, for example, but I’m not willing to get up early on Sundays and driving 30 miles just to look at them and hope we get along. So I leave things as they are.
Gip
I’m going to vow right now that I will NEVER own a storage unit. The thought of paying for additional space to hold things I don’t even use sounds like a horrifying ordeal to me. Not to mention transporting the stuff around. Yuck!
I wonder if your church has a group that meets one night during the week? That way you don’t need to wake up early on a Sunday.
I used to attend mission committee meetings at the church where my sons were baptized. They were the first Monday each month and I met some great people there. I haven’t attended since my oldest was a baby, but I think about going back someday!
Just say no to storage units!
Gip, when we were in Arkansas we’d make the 27 mile one way trip to visit our spiritual group (a bunch of new age types/no denominations) a couple times a month. Weekly was too much but 2 or 3 times a month was perfect for our schedules. I miss that group of people so much!
We have a storage unit to hold physical inventory and raw materials for the small candlemaking business that we run. It lets us keep our excess business-related stuff out of our living area, and provides us with a lot of convenience.
I’ve seen other businesses (including mobile DJs) do similar things.
But in the case of a business, it’s off-site storage with a purpose – not just a repository for “we might need this one day” things.
For personal stuff, I have the same goal Jenny has – my stuff needs to fit in whatever space I live in.
Robert – Yes, I can see the benefit of having a separate space for your business goods. Living spaces could get pretty cramped and cluttered if your candle making supplies were in the living room!
Indeed you are correct! And all the media is about me, me, me. I’m often up in the wee hours and look at the ads/infomercials as I surf the channels. Of course the objects/devices for sale are prevalent, but good golly the amount of things offered for the human body! Weightloss is probably the biggest, but there’s the vacumn thing for men with erection problems, all kinds of strenuous work-out programs, etc., etc.. We are all part of the human community. There is but one race, the human race (though some would offer that there are many composed of ethnicity, skin color, and such). It’s not about stuff nor our physical bodies – it’s about each other. The noblest profession is that of service to others. And we can all be professionals in this whether it’s out money-maker or not. If you can’t give a dollar, give a smile or helping hand.
Hi Rick! I know what you mean. There is such a focus on image and product acquisition that it’s easy to lose what’s actually important here…people/relationships! I have yet to meet someone that was thrilled with his life because he thought his personal image was great and he owned lots of crap BUT didn’t have any meaningful relationships.
The informercials and media you speak of even try to convince us that we can’t have meaningful relationships without the garbage they’re trying to sell us. By convincing us that we’re not smart/desirable/skinny/rich enough, and then promising to solve our problems — we oftentimes start to believe them and buy their products in an attempt to *fix* our perceived shortcomings.
The truth is, none of it matters. It’s all meaningless, superficial nothingness.
Jenny,
I so agree with this post. I would like to sell everything and move to the bush, except well, I WOULD really like to have a bathroom, lol!
But for real, I am so over having this and collecting things, especially as a status symbol.
Our family is involved in a local church that gives back to the community regularly. We serve a weekly meal as a thank you to the local teachers. We give personal care items and food to 2 different tent cities of homeless people. We sent one trailer to AL and will be sending another this weekend. We support missionaries around the world who work daily with the very poor and widows and orphans. It is refreshing to meet with others who are committed to giving back as well.
As we seek to lighten our load even more, I hope to be able to physically and monetarily do more to help my fellow man.
I have never seen the movie, will come back and watch the clip later!
Bernice
Hi Bernice! Yep, I’m a BIG fan of bathrooms too.
Your church group sounds great! It’s such a rewarding experience to give back rather than hoard.
You’re right, it wouldn’t be sensible for everyone to drop all their belongings and run off to live in the forest, but we need to be a lot more mindful of our purchases/possessions and not place them higher than human relationships.
I have never heard of the film before – will check it out!!
And thank you for the link! Glad I triggered some thoughts!
Laura – The film is quite funny at times, but there is just so much truth to it. That’s why I selected the above clip — it really highlights the deeper message I received.
I LOVE this movie! I watched it for the first time in the 80s, and it was so funny, but now that I’m older, I do appreciate the message of “mine vs. ours”.
Funny, the whole idea of dropping everything and starting over was almost an involuntary life experience for my husband and me. Back in 1996, he got a job as an instrumentation engineer at one of the volcanoes on the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island. During his first week on the job (I was still in Canada and hadn’t joined him yet), he received word that our things — which were in a giant shipping crate on a boat to Hawai’i — may have dropped to the bottom of the Pacific! He told me that he had such a powerful feeling of release and freedom, like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. When he found out our things were safe, he was almost disappointed.
We’re striving for that feeling again… little by little this time.
Hey Nenette! That is crazy that all of your things almost dropped to the bottom of the Pacific ocean. And it’s so interesting that your husband felt a sense of relief at the thought. I can really relate to that.
I just put The God’s Must be Crazy in my Netflix cue yesterday because now I want to watch it again.
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Great post! Why don’t we re-focus?! Instead of focusing on individual ownership and consumption why don’t we work together as a community and share, trade and swap products and services? I have recently been reading up on the movement collaborative consumption – http://alifeonthisearth.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-is-collaborative-consumption.html.
If we can embrace a trading lifestyle we can do all the things we want to do without being weighed down by possessions.
I love this idea Rachel. The Amish live this type of lifestyle and also pool their resources to self-insure the people in their community. It’s an interesting take on life and one that I’m very interested in.