Abandoned possessions were everywhere, oppressive and soul-worrying, creating a weather of their own… - DeLillo, White Noise
Even abundance has a downside. Abundance of work and activities, abundance of money and things can create an unhappy home. Abundance becomes a problem when we refuse to choose between all of the options we have. This refusal is part of a deeper denial of our finitude. And when arguments erupt in families about the abundance of choices and things they are a distraction from this denial and refusal.
The busy family refuses to choose and so their days are too full of work, school, helping others and buying things. Each purchase of a thing is a promise of having the time to use it. “I’m buying all these books because I am going to have time to read them all.” But by refusing to choose too many things are bought and committed to. This makes for a schedule and a home that is overflowing with neglect. When there is too much then everything suffers. The garden doesn’t produce what it could, the pets aren’t trained, nothing is fully cleaned.
All of the objects accumulate in the halls and on the steps, in the closets and in the cupboards of the home. Every time something is tripped over or a pile falls over, when there is no more room in the attic, the family is reminded of the hopelessness of abundance. The piles of stuff frustrate the family because the piles of unused things refute their beliefs in infinity. The neglected objects all say “There will never be enough time. You have to choose.” This is why work and the stuff it buys are “oppressive and soul-worrying”.
The family who refuses to choose instead chooses to argue about work and objects. Each person in the family resents the other’s stuff that is in the way of their stuff. The parents may argue, break things and fill garbage bags with each other’s possessions while the children listen from behind ajar doors. The parents and children may cry by the trash can where they find the things they never used, cry in the closet full of empty canvases and unopened board games, cry under the pale bulb of a storage unit full of plastic wishes for more time.
But there is also no time to dwell on this.
The family is busy at work earning the money they need to buy the things they don’t have time to use because they are busy at work earning the money they need to buy the things they don’t have time to use. And then they argue about it.
The downside of abundance and the refusal to choose creates misery in abundance.
Ajotabeats - Realidad Comun (Common Reality):
Connections to the Survival Complex:
The arguments about the family’s junk can be an example of one of the parents acting out the Rage Loop.
The busy parents can’t relate to their children directly so they relate to them through the stuff they buy.
The parents busy themselves with work, hobbies and helping others as a part of the Scurry to give themselves value and to avoid their inner emptiness.
Explore the Survival Complex further on Miro: Survival Complex Map
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