Hoarding and compulsive buying 2

In their book Stuff, Compulsive hoarding and the meaning of things Randy Frost and Gail Steketee dig into the behavior and thinking patterns of people who hoard (things, animals, food).

The book is published in 2010 in the USA. I am surprised that meditation and/or mindfulness is not mentioned once as one of the solutions to this overwhelmingly problem in a world where there is too much; too much food, too many pets, too much stuff. And too many people who cannot resist the impulse to acquire them. A hoarder lives in nearly every block in the USA. With all the implications this brings for the health and safety of many. In its’ description of the phenomena the book is haunting, especially there where hoarders describe that they would be nothing without their stuff. What a good starting point for meditation!

In monasteries all over the world people work hard to break their ego. Our Western societies, and lately also the Eastern world, is seeing a strong ego (a strong sense of personality, strong opinions, strong pride in the Self. . .) as an asset. This is not surprising as our societies are built on the assumption that is healthy to compete in a capitalist system. Since the collapse of almost all corrupt communist societies and the fading of democrat-socialist societies the capitalist system is all that is left, leaving many people to assume that it is the only good system. Those who doubt this system often end up in monasteries, where teachers begin to break down their ego. Serving with humility, bowing, and hard work (without pay) are instruments to break the ego. Only when the ego gets weaker the path to enlightenment can begin.

There are many people with a weak ego in our communities. Society looks upon this as a bad thing. In fact not having a very strong ego is a good thing. If you take up spiritual growth your weaknesses suddenly become assets.

Mothers and housewives ( who are used to hard work, lots of bending over and being unselfish are seen as ‘nobodies’ by society), and hoarders (who are 'nobody' without their stuff) are all on the right track. Because becoming a 'nobody' is the goal of meditation. Beyond the dense personality that is needed in society, for example to hold a job, and which belongs to the world of form, lays the stillness and fastness of the nobody, the realm of no-form. It is extremely refreshing to dwell in the realm of no-form for periods of time, it is even better to live there on a permanent basis.
the Buddha called this non-self. i will get back to non-self soon, somewhere this week if I can.