There’s no way that Michael Jackson or whoever Jackson should have a million thousand droople billion dollars and then there’s people starving. There’s no way! There’s no way that these people should own planes and there people don’t have houses. Apartments. Shacks. Drawers. Pants! I know you’re rich. I know you got 40 billion dollars, but can you just keep it to one house? You only need ONE house. And if you only got two kids, can you just keep it to two rooms? I mean why have 52 rooms and you know there’s somebody with no room?! It just don’t make sense to me. It don’t.
TUPAC SHAKUR
It is not wrong to want to live better; what is wrong is a style of life which is presumed to be better when it is directed towards “having” rather than being.
POPE JOHN PAUL II in Centesimus Annus
I recently had a conversation with a believer in the prosperity gospel. For those who don't know, the prosperity gospel is a materialist theology preached by the likes of people like Joel Osteen that teaches that Jesus died on the cross, so you could have a big house and a nice car. Nevermind that Jesus condemned material wealth and told people to sell their possessions and give the proceeds to the poor. Somehow or the other, Christians are supposed to live the "abundant life."
Secularists can condemn this sort of thing as moral hypocrisy, and it is. But they are not much better in living their consumerist lifestyles. The only favor they do us is by not claiming divine sanction for their lifestyles. An honest sinner is always preferable to a counterfeit saint. But this is only because they are one step closer to the true path.
My friend with the prosperity gospel was taken aback when I criticized preachers that drive Cadillacs. This was because my friend drove a Cadillac. His only defense to the log in his eye was to try and remove the speck in mine by criticizing my humble Toyota pickup truck. I bought it used, and I like it because I can haul stuff in the back. Otherwise, it has zero status points except over those without a vehicle. But I need it, so I own it.
I'm not big on owning things. I am a minimalist. If I lived in New York or San Francisco, I would sell my vehicle and take public transportation. I live in a humble apartment, and I still take my laundry to the mat. I buy my clothes from Walmart and Tractor Supply Company. I don't even like to write about these things because I feel like I am making a show out of being modest. But I have a really great life relative to those in the third world. So, I am grateful but also measured. This is because I would live no differently if I won the lottery.
I think we have a moral duty to live a minimalist lifestyle. This is a change for me as in the past I considered it as purely optional. But I don't think this way anymore. I think if you live a life of material excess, there is something morally wrong with you. Naturally, the only defense people have against this viewpoint is to make things ambiguous about where you draw the line. This is why someone like me with a modest utilitarian vehicle is suddenly as bad as someone with a Bugatti.
I think there is a limit to how well you should live. If a material possession legitimately improves your life, you should get it. This means that you should get a good reliable car like a Honda that serves your needs. But you shouldn't get a BMW, a Mercedes, or a Bugatti. This is because they are no better than the Honda at meeting your needs, but they are awesome at filling others with envy. In short, they are purchased for the sake of vanity.
Whenever you buy something, you need to consider this person:
You know this person. You already know his name. His name is Jesus. While you are driving around in your Cadillac living the victorious Christian life, Jesus is dying from malnutrition. It isn't your fault that Jesus is dying from hunger. You didn't cause that. But you can do something to remedy that. If you can blow money on needless things for yourself, why not blow some dough on this guy?
The response to this guilt trip is that our donations to charity aren't going to change anything. The poor will always be among us. This is true. But this is poverty in the abstract. You might as well close hospitals because death always seems to win. You might as well close restaurants because you will be hungry again tomorrow. Futility is simply the refuge of the scoundrel. If you feed one hungry person one single meal, you will have your reward. It will not be wasted.
The real waste is to add additional rooms to a house that have no additional bodies in it. The real waste is to buy a car with a fancier emblem to get you to the same exact place a Hyundai will take you. The real waste is buying expensive clothes that are trash by the end of the season as tastes change instead of buying real clothes that last and function. The real waste is buying a boat or an RV or a motorcycle you never use, and then paying to shelter and store that crap while Jesus gets to sleep under a sheet of plastic.
Consumerism and material gluttony are forms of intemperance. Life is not to be lived for the accumulation of material possessions. Material possessions are for the accumulation of life and being. This will be different for different people depending upon their lives, their work, and the size and location of their households. But we know when we have enough, and we know when we have too much. We should be satisfied with enough.
The price we pay for materialism is a spiritual price. This is why the USA is simultaneously one of the richest nations on earth but also one of the least happiest. Consumerism does not produce satisfaction but endless dissatisfaction. The appetite for more is insatiable. This is the price of vanity.
Minimalism is not about poverty. It is about modesty. Modesty is the mean between vanity and poverty. Modesty limits you to the essential while eliminating the needless and the extravagant. You should never buy things for the sake of impressing other people or to satisfy endless boredom within yourself. Choose a modest home. Drive a modest car. Wear modest clothing. Keep a modest number of outfits. And if you want to blow some dough, give it to a quality charity. And if people want to buy you needless crap, ask them to donate to your favorite charities instead. And if you have needless crap around the house, donate it to Goodwill.
I don't think there is anything wrong with being rich. Wealth is a blessing because it gives you the privilege of helping others. Rich people help when they employ others with their capital and when they aid the poor with their charity. And it is always to a rich person's glory when they live modestly. This is the pickup truck for Sam Walton, the richest man in the world when he was alive:
You could probably get one just like it from Craigslist for less than $2K.
Pride and vanity are vices. People who consume in a conspicuous way have something wrong with them. Modesty and humility are the better paths. Minimalism means being humble and modest. It means living with less, but the irony is that living with less is more satisfying. It brings fulfillment and contentment. This is why the wisest and most contented people are usually poor. It could be Gandhi, the Buddha, St. Francis, or Jesus Himself. I just know that the walls of a mansion become the walls of a prison and then the walls of a tomb. Enough is enough.
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