I wrote last time about my reflection from Mexico. Beyond the normal love of serving others and some private things the Lord shared with me, a main point that I felt was about a problem with our country. To sum it up, we are sick with gluttony. Beyond the normal gluttony of food, we are also awash in an illness and the problems associated with a gluttony of possessions and a gluttony of stimulus. And, like the person is who is heavily overweight but who also convinces himself that “it’s not that bad,” we don’t understand that our journey back will not be quick.
I wrote about the issue of a gluttony of possessions here in 2012, here in 2011, and here in here in 2010. In the 2010 piece, I wrote, “In any case, the issue is never about how much money we have, but what we are willing to live with, and live without. I am often reminded of the wonderful quote from Fight Club–“the thing you own, end up owning you.” Most of the stuff we have, we don’t really need, and usually the desire for a new thing is only motivated by the lies from Madison Avenue on TV.” This reality is, of course, still true today. Bottom line is that we made a deal with the devil coming out of World War II when we became a fully consumer-based economy. Of course, through the ’50s and ’60s, we had a strong enough industry that our reliance on purchasing total, but by the 1970s, we simply ceased to make enough stuff. You can see this reliance on possessions and purchasing by considering the concept of “planned obsolescence.” This is, of course, the notion “so that in future the consumer feels a need to purchase new products and services that the manufacturer brings out as replacements for the old ones.” To keep the economy rolling today, we must buy, buy, buy.
Of course, regardless of what industry does or doesn’t do, no one makes us purchase things. And therein lies the first part of a solution. Choose discipline and do not buy simply because ads say you should. I currently drive a 1998 Ford F-150, am writing this on a 2007 iMac (ancient in technology terms) and wear clothes that I bought in the 1990s. Just as with ending the problem of gluttony of food, we have to stop consuming so much. Become comfortable with what you currently own; if need be, stop watching advertising.
One key strategy that I have employed for over 15 years is to de-clutter. Every year, usually more than once a year, I go through my closet to pick out clothes to give to others. In fact, when I came back from Mexico, after realizing just how much clothing I had compared to these people, I realized that even with my efforts, I had still allowed myself to consume too many things. No one needs five white shirts or three blue ones or seven pairs of blue jeans. So, I attacked my closet and eliminated two bags of new clothing. Don’t just remove things you don’t really wear anymore or that you think is out of style…de-clutter good clothes that you enjoy wearing. This helps break the bonds of possession.
However, in the area of too much stimuli, the problem isn’t solved by merely getting rid of things. Ok, I mean, I guess you could not carry a phone and certainly you could choose, as I have, to limit your social media options. But the body and soul need a discipline that allows it to find solace and comfort without needing to always be on, always “chatting,” always liking or retweeting. This incessant throb of info, like the ancient Chinese water torture, beats into our system until it feels impossible to go five minutes without checking. Today, experts are finding that the under-30 crowd has sleep issues because people feel it necessary to sleep holding their phone; of course, in doing so, even on “silent,” the buzzing continues and some people just keep waking in order to check lest someone messaged them or sent them some animated gif figure.
The solution here is in the old Christian disciplines of silence and solitude. Note how many times we are told that Jesus started his day by going to a place of aloneness, usually in the wilderness (for instance, look at Luke 5:16) or that after a time surrounded by crowds, He would go off alone for silence, for stillness. Theologian Brennan Manning writes masterfully about this need for solitude in his book The Signature of Jesus.
He writes “if we ‘center down’ as the old phrase goes, and take our daily agenda into the silent places of the heart with honesty, openness and willingness, much of our activity loses its importance and inviolability.”
Manning suggests as a strategy of at least twice a day, sitting or laying quietly, stilling the mind to simply be present before God. He suggests choosing a word or maybe a name of God or perhaps a phrase from a verse, and “repeat the word inwardly, slowly, and often.” Be aware that other thoughts will fight to get in…the to-do list or the thought that someone on social media might have reached out…when that happens, don’t panic but simply return your mind back to your word or phrase. He says to “picture yourself sitting quietly in a rowboat in the center of a placid lake. All is still and quiet. Suddenly a speedboat roars by about fifty adds on your starboard side. The ripple of its waves rocks your little robot violently. The ripple represents the wandering of the mind. Again, gently return to your sacred word” or phrase and, like the waves, the distraction will eventually subside. Conclude your time of silence with reading a favorite psalm or praying the Lord’s prayer. Short, simple…this isn’t the time for a long list of things you want from God or the ramblings of a conversation with Him about life….that can come at other times during the day. Instead, just sit quietly with Him, much like lovers can sit side-by-side without the need for continued conversation. Sit, and be.
This is not an easy path. Manning writes “it takes more effort to be still than to run.” Our society has programmed us to be consumers; “even when hard pressed financially, we are pressured by our culture to consume.” Churches are little help here as more and more feel the pressure to build big buildings or create schedules of myriad things to do. Our society won’t break this illness, this curse of gluttony, with bigger buildings, more activities, more food or more things. We could learn a lesson from our neighbors to the south who enjoy the afternoon siesta; in my limited experience, that wasn’t nap time (though that’s not a bad thing according to our health experts), but rather quiet, down time for reflection, quiet conversation and often just sitting in solitude.