This Christian Life

Material Obsession

I love to obsess. I do it all the time without realizing it. I find it easy to obsess about things like sci-fi movies and books, photography, techy gadgets… Sometimes I wonder if I should obsess about things as much as I do.

A coworker once wisely observed that we are getting more and more obsessive in general as a society. I had never thought that my need for obsession might have something to do with the fact that it is ingrained in me by the society in which I live.

Which makes me wonder. When did it ever become socially acceptable to want comfort and convenience more than the basic human need for food and shelter? We have so many conveniences, so much at our fingertips, and so much free time to attain what we want, that we have collectively forgotten how to live in the simplest form. We are oblivious to our need to have more. All of our lives are geared towards keeping up apperances and addictions. Where is the primitive human existence? I’m not talking about cave-like existence but, simply, existence without modern conveniences. When have you ever had to walk more than 2 miles to get basic things for living? How many of us own a piano? A T.V.? A computer? A house? Even 100 years ago, the extravagant modern conveniences most of us take for granted were reserved for the wealthy elite.

Is all of our obsession justified by the advancement of technology? Obsession is just another level of existence that supercedes our comfortable living. It goes far beyond convenience and comfort into a whole new level of humanism.