I had issues logging in from my desktop this morning, so this post is late. My apologies.
The things you own end up owning you. It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything.”
-Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
This may seem a bit strange for a stoicism quote, but in my opinion this is something we should value. Only own that which is necessary for life. Things you don't need only exist to distract you from reaching your full potential. Spending all of your time playing video games is not helping you or your community improve. Do you NEED a 12 bedroom house with a 5 car garage? Only if you have 20 kids. And if your home is that big, you are going to spend a ton of time and money on maintenance, and for what? Instead you could live in a small home that requires a smaller investment in time/money,and only have the items you truly need, and you can spend more time with the people you love or improving yourself.
I am not saying leisure and luxury should be completely dismissed, as everyone deserves to unwind at times. I simply think we spend far too much time at leisure and not enough time improving ourselves. We have been blinded by decadence and we have forgotten what is truly necessary for life.
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[–] celestial-skylord 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I think this quote is quite in vein of the Stoics.
I think of my possessions more as companions. They have their own lives and for a shared period our lives intersect. This also fosters a better relationship with your items. Instead of just getting rid of broken stuff, you think more along the lines "lets get you fixed up, buddy". Very anti-materialistic, anti-planned-obsolescence point of view. Taking excellent care of your sparse but high-quality possessions. When the time comes to get leave something behind, you're not identified with your possessions as if you're losing yourself, but instead you're saying goodbye to an old friend.
I think a view like this is along the most healthy: you enjoy the time you have together, but when it's over, you don't feel bad, it's just bittersweet and time for new adventures.