Tag Archives: Material things

For The Love of Stuff

Thought of the day: We want more, i want more, but why is that?

Watch out

Mini-MAX-malism: A Bigger Approach to Less is More

The Art of Doing Less – Your Time is Finite

Why “Selfishness” Doesn’t Properly Mean Being Shortsighted and Harmful to Others

Looking at a conservative review of Shop Class As Soul Craft

Additional reading:

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Material gain to honour God

Front cover of the first edition of Lenin’s Materialism and Empirio-Criticism, published in Moscow in 1909 under the pseudonym “Vl. Ilyin.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Around us we may find lots of material things which can attract and distract us. We have nature, something which can not be made by man but can only be adjusted or changed to man’s desires. We have all sorts man-made things which can be for use or just for being there, one moment to give pleasure, an other moment to be thrown away as useless.

The things from nature, the goods which make us able to create things they all come from somewhere. It is the earth that gives it to us. But behind it is the Master Hand. What lots of people do not see or do not want to know is that behind everything made there is the Master Creator Who allows others to be and to create such things.

For many it is a very hard thing to believe that everything we can see around us and all things we can have is because God allows it to be there. It is there because of God allowing it but it also belongs to God. We like to think that what we have is ours and no one elses. Man wants to have everything for him or herself. Man wants to feed the “I” and wants to satisfy the “I”. Man thinks by taking all things for him/herself he can be and can satisfy the inner person and fulfil his “I am” ambition.

Strangely enough people want to gather as much as they can and safe it, though they will not be able to take it with them when they die. Their possessions will either go to someone else or be thrown away to be incinerated or to go in oblivion on the trash pile.

In this world there are so many who want to flaunt with what they can gather. They are so proud, but in a way do know nothing, and dote on an argument and quarrel on the use of a word or on the way of life. With their earthly grabbing culture they are the cause of envy and controversy and blasphemy and evil premeditation.

Strife among men whose minds are corrupt and who are cut off from the truth and who think worshipping God is for worldly gain should alert us and make it that we keep away from such things. Those who love God should know that their gain is greater contentment, for it is the worship of God. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

1Ti 6:6-7 HNV But godliness with contentment is great gain. (7) For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly can’t carry anything out.

Donkey cart in Conlig A change from all the materialism that seems to arise early in December – these children take to more traditional activities, in this case dressing up in Victorian fashion and parading along The Green in Conlig village. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Therefore, let us enjoy the beauty of nature and the God given things and let us be satisfied with food, raiment and shelter. For those who desire to be rich, fall into temptations, and snares, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which causes them to sink in degeneration and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evil: and there are some men who have coveted it and have thereby erred from the faith, they have brought to themselves many sorrows.

1Ti 6:8-10 HNV But having food and clothing, we will be content with that. (9) But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction. (10) For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

In case you love God and you want to go for Him, you should flee these things; and follow after righteousness, piety, faith, love, patience, and meekness. We are told to fight the good fight of faith, and to let the right things reign in our mortal body, laying hold on eternal life to which we are called, having professed a true profession before many witnesses.

1Ti 6:11-12 HNV But you, man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. (12) Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you confessed the good confession in the sight of many witnesses.

1Co 6:18 HNV Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin that a man does is outside the body,” but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.

Rom 6:12 HNV Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.

Nothing but the all mighty God, mighty Prince, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, has immortality or deathlessness, dwelling in the light which no man can approach, and whom no man has seen, nor can see. To Him be honour and dominion for ever and ever. Even Christ Jesus, the son of God had to face death. He really died, was three days in hell and was than taken out of the dead by his heavenly Father, the Only One True God.

Even the son who has received authority from his heavenly Father to judge and to be a king shall have to hand over the Kingdom of God to his heavenly Father in due time, because everything belongs to God.

Like Jesus only did the Will of his heavenly Father, and not his own will, we should try to do also the Will of God. Like Jesus could not do anything without his Father, we should know also that nothing is possible without God as Sustainer of the world allowing it to happen.

As Christians we should know that we live in the world but should not be part of it. We may get many possessions but should take care those things do not take possession of us.
Everything what we gather in our life we should use for the good. Not only for the good of the self but also for helping others.

Let us remember that those things which may life easier for us should be used to to do God’s will and to honour Him by what we do with it. And let us go for the real treasures.

Mat 6:19-21 HNV “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; (20) but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal; (21) for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Strife: heated, often violent conflict or disagreement; angry or violent struggle or quarrel; Contention or competition between rivals; trouble or discord of any kind; strenuous effort; open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals)

Preceding articles:

Thought of the day: We want more, i want more, but why is that?

Mini-MAX-malism: A Bigger Approach to Less is More

Stop and Think

How to Find the Meaning of Life and Reach a State of Peace

Additional reading:

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Stop and Think

To remember:

time flies by > so we better make the best our of it and take care no time is wasted
sometimes we don’t really stop to think
for many materials seem to rule the and their world
problem in the world = the materials that cause greed and chaos
because of greed: wars have been fought + lives have been lost + people have suffered
they definitely don’t come with us to an afterlife.
we think materials are what will make us happy
real way to get a sense of worth = helping somebody in need, loving somebody, listening to others
go back to our basic human needs, stand outside and look up- = actually see something
distraction from own realities
to fill void = only one way > through love

Preceding article:

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7 Comments

Filed under Lifestyle, Re-Blogs and Great Blogs, Uncategorized

Tagged as Distraction, Greed, Happiness, Love, Material desire, Material things, Material wealth

by Guestspeaker | 2015/06/14 · 6:52 pm

Hoarding Relationships and Things

Preceding articles:

Thought of the day: We want more, i want more, but why is that?

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2 Comments

Filed under Being and Feeling, Lifestyle, Re-Blogs and Great Blogs

Tagged as Appreciation, Facebook, Material things, Relationships

by Guestspeaker | 2015/06/14 · 6:51 pm

Learning that stuff is just stuff

Lindsay Felderman confesses she is a person that likes to shop and buy new things. Over the years she has accumulated a lot of stuff, from clothes to shoes to hats to Apple products to video games and more, like so many people have gone from one shop to an other or looked at the internet shops to find their liking.

Though many focus on gaining material wealth her eyes may have gone open by two life events that have happened/are happening now that are making her come to the realization more and more, that things are just things, and that what is more important is creating memories with people that you love.

What may be the changing elements that people come to see that they have to live more simply.

She writes:

if we haven’t used/seen/worn something in the past year, it’s out of here. Going to charity or the garbage. No need to keep so many physical items around. I have learned over the years and the amount of times I have moved, that stuff is just stuff, but every time I settle down, it seems I collect more and more. Well, not this time. I am getting rid of the clutter and starting fresh. {The Meaning of Material Things}

Today lots of people have lost track of the necessities of real life making issues. Several youngsters are clinging to the idea of having the most recent newest thing brings happiness, and want to do everything to get the new hipe. They have no idea any more that material things are nothing without real people behind it that get their love from those around it.

For many people it takes a lot of time before they come to see what Lindsay came to see and feel when she and ‘her’

Samantha and I’s families met for the first time, Ever, in almost 3 whole years.

She came to feel one of the most elementary things for building up a real ‘home’ and a real ‘family’ and got to see what

transpired that day was truly magical, it was so special,

that she will never forget

Each one of us only brought certain family members to the event for various reasons. But each one of our family members meshed in a way that I couldn’t have planned myself. Every one was laughing and joking, and conversations were flowing all over the place. Every one truly wanted to learn about the other. There was not one dull moment. It was honestly the way that family should be. No drama, no fighting, just pure love, honest and true love. I know this is really mushy, but if you know anything about the history of Samantha and I, you will know that this was a moment we were not sure would ever come. {The Meaning of Material Things}

It is incredible how many broken families we can encounter today. At school we find classes where there is not one kid who still lives by both its parents. Divorce seems to be the key word of this contemporary society where not many want to take time to talk with each other and to make it worthwhile living with each other instead of living next to each other.

Lindsay Felderman got reminded that family is what you make of it, but also came to see how it is possible for others to be there for you and how valuable this is. This is the most precious treasure so many do not seem to find, though it is so close at their doorstep.

Much more people should be there for each other, willing to share their love and time for each other, with comprehension and with patience. It is so important

That people who truly love you, will be there for you. That they will love you no matter what, that they will take you in their arms and hug you because you are special and unique and just You.

But to come to such a position people do have to be wiling themselves to be just their own and not somebody who fits the common trend of homogeneous people, wearing those clothes that shops and fashion magazines dictate.

When a person is really just herself and is willing to give her self openly to somebody else and to share herself with others than the doors may go open to build a good relationship and to build real ‘family’.

It is unbelievable what that lady could gather in whatever time it took to collect more than

18, 30 gallon trash bags, filled with clothes, shoes, hats, purses, and accessories galore. … They were just taking up space in our closet for no other reason than to take up space. That wasn’t all we gave away though, just the 1st round. I would say by the end of it, we had close to 30 bags that we donated, and a bunch of boxes of DVDs and books as well. It felt great to get rid of so much Stuff. That is all it was, just stuff, taking up space. {Do What You Say}

She also recognises that this doesn’t even include the amount of crap she had collected by the years and dared (at last) to threw away. We do not know if it would have been wise to throw a way her school projects she did when she was a kid, even to her high school yearbook, because in our country (Belgium) a student has to keep the school material for ten years, because it can always asked a s a proof of studies and work done.

She went with the mantra that,

“I will always have the memories”.

but has forgotten that perhaps one day in history she perhaps would have children and later grandchildren and than she will not have anything to show and to share.
Naturally there is no need to continue to lug around physical items to remind oneself of those memories, as long as they are not destroyed. For the moment she thinks it is impossible that her memories can ever be destroyed, but then she forget that accidents and illnesses are possible to wash away any sort of memory and by then it can be useful to have some materials to bring back the memory. (The writer of this article your reading, speaks of experience, having had a memory loss after a very serious car-crash.)

Though lovely to hear Lindsay Felderman immediately felt lighter as she packed and got everything moved to her new place in one weekend.

But the point of this all,

she writes, is

I did what I said I was going to do. I didn’t just talk the talk, I walked the walk. I wrote about how material things aren’t the true meaning of life, that I was going to start to purge the majority of mine and I did it.

We are taught from a young age, that actions speak louder than words. But many of us still grow up to be big talkers. We talk about our dreams and what we could be doing. But very few of us actually act on those dreams. We let life get in the way, and we let our words speak louder than our actions instead of the other way around. {Do What You Say}

Today we do not find many youngsters with aspirations and when we encounter people who say they want to do this or that, we see that they are not really taking steps to do so. Not many want to do what they say, but it seem Lindsay took the courage to do so.

Can you do it as well?

She concludes

You gain more credibility in life when you just do what you say you are going to do. Plus it feels better, you say something and you do it. People around you begin to trust you, they believe that you will do the things you talk about. When you only sit around and talk about it, you just become a talker, you become noise in their ear. Much like the “wamp, wamp, wamp” noises that the adults in Charlie Brown made every time they were talking to the kids. You don’t want to be that person.

Be someone who makes a difference, makes a change, follows your dreams and most importantly: do what you say. {Do What You Say}

Preceding articles:

Mini-MAX-malism: A Bigger Approach to Less is More

The Art of Doing Less – Your Time is Finite

Thought of the day: We want more, i want more, but why is that?

Why “Selfishness” Doesn’t Properly Mean Being Shortsighted and Harmful to Others

Looking at a conservative review of Shop Class As Soul Craft

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19 Comments

Filed under Being and Feeling, Lifestyle

Tagged as Broken families, Clothing, Clutter, Divorce, Family, Family members, Less, Lindsay Felderman, Material desire, Material things, Material wealth, Materialism, Memories, Pure love, Self, Shopping, the Self, Trash, True love

by Guestspeaker | 2015/06/14 · 5:19 pm

Looking at a conservative review of Shop Class As Soul Craft

Some might think we are

“constantly striving to develop lives of meaning without any outside recourse. The soul is increasingly insulated from the world outside our heads.” {Against Kant and Consumerism}

but today lots of people strive to enrich themselves with material wealth and consider their live worthwhile when they can be more wealthier and better showing off than others. Lots of people think they miss enough money or enough gadgets to enjoy fully life. For many everything seems to turn around the gathering of as much money as possible.

Lots of people do not look for the depth of meaning of life and are not so much interested in the others around them and the influence or necessity of them for them.

The American Conservative in the May/June 2015 article speaks about Matthew Crawford his books “Shop Class As Soul Craft” plus “The World Beyond Your Head” and looks at ‘the subtitle to his latest book which promises a look at our “age of distraction“.

The article says:

The premise of Crawford’s book is that our distractedness is merely symptomatic of a deeper cultural defect, a misrepresentation of the self that has permeated our society. He traces this back to Enlightenment philosophy, especially the thought of Immanuel Kant. Enlightenment thinkers of the late 17th and 18th centuries presented a view of the person that contrasted drastically with medieval and ancient thought: they put unprecedented emphasis on the rational individual as separate from society or community. They posited new theories about freedom founded upon reason and self-determination, with epistemological roots in ideas such as Descartes’s famous claim that “I think therefore I am.” Kant believed that knowledge and ethics must necessarily be situated within the mind—that existence must be interpreted through the autonomy of the individual.

The writer thinks

The soul is increasingly insulated from the world outside our heads.

Whereas in the real world, Crawford writes,

“we are subject to the heteronomy of things; the hazards of material reality,”

and continues

what Kant has given us is our modern identification of freedom with choice, in which choice is a “pure flashing forth” of the individual will.

that identification of freedom with choice has been there already from the period of the beginning in the Garden of Eden. Man had the choice either to follow his Creator His Will or to go his own way. Man choose the latter.

Thousand of years later, many think the world around them limits them and nature is to block their leg.

dumb nature is understood to be threatening to our freedom as rational beings, it becomes attractive to construct a virtual reality that will be less so, a benignly nice [reality] where there is no conflict between self and world

How many people do not want to be on their own and have the world turning around themselves. For many it is most important that everything turns around their own “I” so that they can say with proud: “I am“.

The associate editor of The American Conservative Gracy Olmstead writes:

Consumer culture tries to destroy the discomforts and imperfections that are necessarily part of life.

Is not there one of the greatest problems of our present society, which has put most of its hopes on the material things it can require to make its own. It is not that they want to hoard things, but they love to gather all the newest things so that they can show off against others who have to do with older things.

Though the writer of the article finds that modern cars are designed in an insulating and distracting way, we more see them as copies of each other not having any more the specific personality or difference as the cars had in the 1950ies, when each car looked so specific and really could get its fans for one or another model and each model with its own flashy personal colours. to us it looks like that car owners lost the interest to have a car or any other object (clothes, houses) that look very personal and have their won story to tell. People do want all the same and are willing to cue for the latest gadget. Everybody else has to be able to see that they have this or that brand and can afford this or that mobile or i-pad, which has to be of the latest and newest ‘invention’.

Concerning the cars we could agree with the idea the critic has

Everything within a car is constructed to give a sense of isolation and ease.

When the author would mean that the person who is driving the car would like to have the feeling to being his own world, having his own little world where nobody else around is being part of it. When the music can play loud it does not matter that others can hear it in their bathroom or are whipped out of bed. It is there music and everybody else should have to hear that is the best music to listen to.

Naturally the cultivation of “me-worlds” extends beyond auto-mobile design, but form men this might still be the thing to make their ‘me’, though the i-pad has taken a lot of that place.

Olmstead finds that Crawford spends a good deal of the book arguing that an Enlightenment approach to epistemology leads to narcissism: an understanding of the world that revolves entirely around the self and writes

The narcissist “treats objects as props” and struggles to comprehend them as objects with a reality of their own. The fantasy of autonomy, when full-grown, results in a “project of open-ended, ultimately groundless self-making.” {Against Kant and Consumerism}

Interestingly, Crawford identifies our treatment of others as the root of online narcissism in the age of Facebook:

“We increasingly deal with others through representations of them that we have,” he writes. “This results in interactions that are more contained, less open-ended, than a face-to-face encounter or a telephone call, giving us more control.”

Automobiles, the reviewer says

“can foster circumspection—literally, looking around for others and regarding oneself as an object for others in turn—or a collection of atomized me-worlds.” Our experience becomes ever more “mediated by representations, which remove us from whatever situation we inhabit directly, as embodied beings who do things.”

Throughout the ages the world has received its many distractions. The tools may have changed but the aim and way has stayed the same. Today “virtual reality” allows many to find back lost friends or schoolmates and gives the opportunity to interact with more, and more diverse, people, not fewer and not more homogeneous.

For American society to emerge from the distractions of consumer culture and virtual existence

Ms Olmstead finds

we must look beyond the symptoms and consider the disease: the shroud of individualism that prevents us from fully embracing the real world.

The individuals looking for themselves to acquire as much material wealth as possible have to come to see that they would be better to work at their social contacts spending more time to be with each other in real life than in chat sessions, never going deep in a conversation. For sure we we must

cultivate an awareness of—and love for—the world beyond ourselves.

Preceding articles:

Why “Selfishness” Doesn’t Properly Mean Being Shortsighted and Harmful to Others

The I Am to explore

little i

Path/Walk/Sink

Comic: The Last Time I Felt Accepted For Who I Am

Be realistic, do not pretend

The world starts with yourself

Believe in yourself!

Believe in your greatness

Find Inspiration and Follow Your Dreams

Wishy-Washy…

There can only be hope when there is a will to be and say “I am”

Additional reading:

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Filed under Lifestyle, Social affairs, Welfare matters

Tagged as 1950s, Age of Enlightenment, Cars, Circumspection, Consumer culture, Consumerism, Distraction, Distractions, Enlightenment, Enlightenment philosophy, Enrichment, Freedom, Gadgets, Gracy Olmstead, I Am, I-pad, Immanuel Kant, Individualism, Isolation, Material things, Materialism, Matthew Crawford, Me-worlds, Meaning of life, Narcissist, Nature, Rational beings, René Descartes, Self, Self-determination, Society, The American Conservative, the I, the Self, to Strive, Virtual reality

by Guestspeaker | 2015/06/13 · 7:57 pm

Why “Selfishness” Doesn’t Properly Mean Being Shortsighted and Harmful to Others

To get somewhere it certainly needs not a short-sighted vision. There has to be a plan somewhere in the head, or for sure a will and hope to reach a point, where one wants to strive for.

At first the foundation may be to reach something for the self. Self-interest at the base, does not mean it has to put the interest of others at the side or to ignore it.

Today we may see lots of people trying to pursue their dreams by short-sighted and hurtful means, like trying to shape wood into a beautiful statue by shooting it with a pistol, which is possible but for making a chair would utterly be doomed to failure.

What is wealth? Are we today really so much better off than those people who had no intercom, no telephones, no television, no electronic gadgets to divert their thinking?

It may be very handy to have the kitchen robots, but are there better things made with than the housewife’s did centuries ago?

We would agree that materially we are better off than years ago, but spiritually and socially it seems we are developing to a mess if we are not careful.

Who is willing to present himself to help others? Who is willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of others? and would such acts make the person happy? Often we see at the end that the person has become more disillusioned and/or frustrated. Lots of times those who wanted to help the poor, the needy, or wanted to get the crooks on the right path, got so many disillusions that they are not happy and have to confess they could not reach their dreams.

To get a place in life, to make yourself respectable and to build up a nice life, the person has to think about himself and about those around himself (partner and children). There is a need of a certain selfishness, because otherwise the self is shuffled in the corner and will possibly drown in the battle of those around him/her, who want to find a place for themselves in this world. finding a good balance is important. Placing the ‘I’ in a good perspective. Working on the ‘I’ and the ‘I am’ without destroying the other.
As Ayn Rand may have seen that there is another way of life that involves the destruction of no one, we are to try to build a life in respect to all other beings around us (plants, animals, humans).

It would be nice if we could see our society growing to a way of life that enables all good individuals to prosper, with no victims. Lets Go for it!

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Preceding article:

Material wealth, Submission and Heaven on earth

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Additional reading:

Epicurus’ Problem of Evil

Why God permits evil

Fear the battle climb

Subcutaneous power for humanity 4 Not crossing borders of friendship

2nd Half 20th Century Generations pressure to achieve

112314 – A Peculiar People

How we think shows through in how we act

Love envieth not

The Greatest of These is Love

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South Wales Echo letters: Wednesday, May 27, 2015

The facts about those comments

Objectivism In Depth

The definitions of the terms we use have consequences for our ability to think and communicate clearly.

Imagine for a moment that your friend told you that he defines “carpenter” as “one who shapes wood by shooting it with a gun.” You’re baffled and you ask him what word he uses for someone who shapes wood by other means, such as a saw, lathe, and/or sander. He says that he really has no word for this. He has a couple of synonyms for “carpenter,” but they also carry the implication that the person shaping the wood used a gun.

Hopefully, you can see that the problem with this hypothetical situation is not merely that you and your friend are using terms differently: shooting wood with a gun is a terribly impractical way of shaping it into useful forms. If the only concepts you have of wood shaping mean using a…

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Tagged as Andrew Carnegie, Ayn Rand, Bernie Madoff, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Disillusion, Disillusions, Egoism, Failure, Frustration, Harmfulness, Harming others, Helping others, Hurtful to others, I Am, J.P. Morgan, Material things, Materialism, Mother Teresa, Other-destructive, Rational thought, Robber barons, Self-deception, Self-destructive, Self-destructive behaviour, Self-interest, Self-sacrificial, Selfishness, Selflessness, Short-sighted vision, Society, Soul-Body Dichotomy, Steve Jobs, Technology, Wealth

by Christadelphians | 2015/06/10 · 7:04 pm

Summermonths and consumerism

Summertime seems to have difficulties to show her face this year. Over a few days the days will shorten again and we did not have yet some real good nice warm days.

In the supermarkets they feel the consumption of meat not taking off like they want and therefore they are presenting special bargain prices, advertising against other trying to present the cheapest products. If they would be the best products would be an other matter. Also if they would be produced in a decent ethical way is for many of no concern.

We can imagine Middle School teacher Bob James throughout the year has to face his pupils with all sorts of gadgets, disturbed and tempted by lots of consumer products and market activities.

Real teachers do find it necessary to help others. Bob James also is firmly convinced that all of us need to be more proactive in helping others.

We need to help them when disaster strikes, when they are recovering and then when developing their lives to be the people that God intended them to be. We are meant to be independent of all except for God. On Him alone should we be dependent. Thus, as I seek to help others, I seek to move beyond mere relief and am focusing on rehabilitation and reconciliation. We are to be reconciled with God, with our fellow human beings and with our environment. If any one of these is missing, we will have problems. This is a tall order, but I will always seek to bring reconciliation. {About Me}

He, like many teachers are daily confronted with the non-interest for God, is probably also seeing that today the kids, but also their parents, have made new gods and have more interest in the material belongings than the spiritual.

The Human Use of Human Beings (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In previous articles on this blog we pointed out to this behaviour which is destroying our society like CO poisoning, not seen, not smelled, not heard. We are living in a society where eyes are directed on gaining capital, even if we need not to take notice of necessary protection for man or do not mind bringing shortage or harm to others, to get more money.

Our economy is based on consumerism. Ads are designed to appeal to people like me and make me not just want, but Need, the latest thing – whether that be a soft drink or the latest model car. {June 8 – What I Really Need}

In the years straight after the World Wars people seemed to know again the value of the necessities of life. Folks appreciated again the small things. (We remember sitting with three on a bench, having one study book, which we savoured like the best we could have to receive knowledge. We never wanted to have it for ourselves alone and where pleased when we could share things with others.) They were pleased with what they could get. They also wanted to show to others who they were and used their cloths to present their identity.

Today everybody seems to be hiding behind their clothes. They now have to be from one or the other brand, design and colour which is in fashion. All want to belong to the group and hide their own self behind brands which are ‘in’. Everything must be dictated by the market. Nobody wants to go against what the market dictates.

RedEye Sailboat one of the things people like to have for enjoying themselves and to show off (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In Summer this is made even more clear by everybody wanting to go in the garden and show off with what the market advertises and wants to press on everybody. As such, once it is beautiful weather, we can not sit outdoors without having to smell all the combustion products, from the people who do not know how to use properly those advertised and bought barbecue sets.

Having holiday also became equivalent to travelling. When people to day are saying they go on holiday, they mostly mean and want the other person to think they are going to travel abroad. For many taking a holiday in the own garden or in the own country is not having a holiday any more. The market made them to believe to relax and to take vacation or to take leave has to be going abroad and spending a lot of money at enjoyment, entertainment parks, luxury meals and pampering and health treatments.

People have to believe they only count in this society when they can show that they are using the latest gadgets and are ‘by the time’. All people who have not the newest things are ‘old’ or ‘out of date’. They best are ignored or put aside, as not being the right people to associate with. Or they are laughed at as old fashioned or ‘nerds’.

Bob James remarks:

How easily we buy the latest thing and throw away the old. One of the problems is that we not only throw away things, we also tend to throw away people or relationships if they don’t “meet our needs.” {June 8 – What I Really Need}

Those needs have become very selfish. Everything is directed to the ‘I’ and to the ‘what can I gain from this relationship’. Most people want to associate with other people in such a way that they may be sure others will find them interesting for the knowledge and acquaintances of such people. Most relations are build on the use they can provide for the self. Not the giving away has become important, nor the meaning something for some one else, but the meaning for the person him or herself, has become the landmark.

Clearly the focus of most people came on to the wrong things. This also made many relationships not last and break down. Often we see the other person has become of no real value, when not usable any more. We see that at work. As son as a person gets to ‘old’ or to ‘experienced’ and to ‘expensive because of ‘seniority’ he is made redundant.

But also the material things do not get time to stay in use as valuable. As soon there is a new model, the old one is considered as ‘passée’ .
Most people have placed their mind on things which are disposable.

What we should be thinking about is not “things,” but people. {June 8 – What I Really Need}

writes Bob James.

What we should be focusing on more than anything is our relationship with God. {June 8 – What I Really Need} (Though in his article gives a quote about focussing on Jesus, who is not God but the son of God, but who also deserves our attention.)

Today, we can see that a lot of people who are debtors to the material things of this world. Most have forgotten that their body should be a temple, a place for clean things. Natural products for many are a laugh-stock. Biological products for many are either for the ‘loonies’ or have become a way to show off, because they are much more expensive and a way to proof they can afford it and belong to such a class of people, having enough money to buy such things.

Instead of respect for nature and respect for the Creator of all those things man shows more interest to the highly perishable idols presented on television and more and more on the internet, which brings totally new sorts of idols in the living room. All those living according to flesh, often forget that they too, like anybody else, are going to die, but if in spirit they kill the deeds of the body, and that they have much better prospects. For those who live in the spirit can find real intense worthwhile life.

Part of our problem with this issue is that our desires have been made to seem like needs. If we began each day with a focus on Jesus Christ, many of those things we think are “needs” would be shown to be desires. {June 8 – What I Really Need}

Christ Jesus is the man of flesh and blood who gave the world an example how to live according to the will of the Only One God, Whom we should consider the Most High and the Most Valuable. Jesus knew he could not do anything without God. Jesus never did his own will but always wanted to do the Will of God. Today most consider God a flaw or useless invention.

Lots of people, having all those modern gadgets still do not feel happy. Having so many things they do not yet feel satisfied. They still have a hunger …

They are starving for the real better thing which they do not seem to see by the mist of consumerism. Lots of people are running into problems when they work so hard to take care of all their desires for material things, that they forget to spend more time to build up good relations.

Most people do not see or forget about what they really need.

Bob James thinks about a strong relationship with Jesus Christ, but seems to forget an even more important relationship, namely that with the heavenly Father of Jesus, the Only One True God.

This world needs to find the way back to God. It has lost connection with the Creator. The world has become strayed. We have to take care we become not astray by the temptations around us.

Keep your eyes on Jesus and as such find the Way to God and the way to God’s Kingdom.

Preceding articles:

Lonely in the crowd

Misleading world, stress, technique, superficiality, past, future and positivism