Spent that last half an hour curled up reading the final two short essays in Alan Watts’s collection of essays on “Man’s Relation to Materiality” called Does It Matter?
(Yes, in case you’re wondering, it does matter. Materialism ought to be cultivated like a virtue, because materialism isn’t the love of money, materialism should literally refer to the love of matter. So a true materialist would love and care for the natural world, would love and care for beautiful objects, well-bound books, gourmet food. Part of our problem as a society is that we want stuff so much we’ll compromise on the quality in order to have LOTS of it. Who cares how well the car runs as long as it’s a New Car, you know?)
Can’t say I uber recommend the book, as it gets a little slow and a little silly at times, but two ideas will remain with me. In fact, I knew when I read those bits that that was probably all I would care about and I probably didn’t need to finish the book, but I’m a book-finisher by habit, so I did.
Point the first: money and wealth are different things. It’s a stupidly simple comment, but it struck my as oddly profound. MONEY is an idea. The paper in itself is worthless. Money does not have any actual worth. True wealth is having a chicken defrosting in your fridge so you can make roast chicken for dinner… so also the abstract want for more money is a completely illegitimate desire. It’s one thing to want money because you want to take a trip to London. It’s ridiculous to want more money to fulfill desires you don’t even have yet. Desires that will be created by the possibility of having more money… Am probably not explaining this v well, but the “Wealth versus Money” essay was v eye-opening to me.
Point the Second: kitchens are much more the center of family life than the living room with its cursed eternal TV. Kitchens of the future ought to have large bar counters, couch nooks, indoors (hooded, of c) charcoal grills, and be well able to absorb the entire household comfortably.
Next on the philosophical book list: Still the Mind by Alan Watts and a collection of essays on Zen by D. T. Suzuki.
3 responses so far ↓
kathrynwarmstrong // June 9, 2008 at 2:13 pm |
Interesting! I’ll have to think more on these ideas. I do love the idea of a big kitchen and no TV, although for those of us Americans who struggle with weight, I wonder if a comfortable living room with lots of comfy chairs wouldn’t still be better…
Andrea // June 9, 2008 at 3:15 pm |
I totally love the idea of an Alan Watts kitchen. I keep thinking about how to do something to our house to make the kitchen more like that.
b-head // June 9, 2008 at 5:27 pm |
I dig the kitchen idea. I don’t see making the kitchen a center of your activity as unhealthy. You just have to conscious about what you stock your kitchen with, right? More fruits, more fresh veggies, treats that are good for people and full of nutritious goodness. Sounds good anyhow.