The Rationale
Philip Slater
To own or possess is to monopolize the use of something permanently. Hence the need to possess betrays a degree of insecurity. Possession is a way of ensuring access to whatever it is we want to use or enjoy: we are so anxious that the object be there when we want it that we are willing to insist that it be there even when we don't want it. Thus we have food on our shelves when we're not hungry, clothes in our closets that we're not wearing, cars in our driveways that we aren't driving, and so on.
The rationale is that when we do want to eat, dress, or drive, we won't have to waste time looking around for the food, clothing, or transportation. This time saving is questionable, as we shall see, but it expresses the sense of urgency that lies behind the compulsion to possess.
Source: Wealth Addiction
I think this has a lot to do with "books on the shelf that I'm not reading -- but tomorrow or next day I might just want to"...
3 comments:
Nothing quite like buying books that confront us with our addiction to buying books.
:-)
I keep resolving I'm not going to buy another book until I've made inroads on the books I already have. Hasn't worked yet.
I know, I have read the first 19 pages of more books...
I am currently working on clearing a shelf in the living room of "To Be Read" books, many of which have languished for quite a while. I've finished three mysteries, the last rather harrowing, so now I'm reading a nice cozy non-fiction book on British food (really!)
Slater was a prof at my college, rumor had it he owned a round bed. Take that for what it's worth.
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