How to Want Less Stuff

I wrote this dharma talk in 2008. Given our climate crisis's deteriorating state, this was the right time to share it more broadly.

How to Want Less Stuff: Buddhist Thoughts on Consumerism and Our Ecological Crisis?

The topic of consumerism and the environment sometimes comes up when we read the five mindfulness trainings: We end up talking about non-killing and non-harming and mindful consumption. We often discuss vegetarianism and environmentalism.?

Certainly today’s headlines are showing us how the desire to consume leads to greed, and the social, political, economic structures to enable and encourage that greed, which ends up harming us all, even those of us who aren’t greedy.?

I began thinking about this topic in a new way when I heard some podcasts from a conference on monasticism and the environment, bringing together Buddhist and Catholic monks.?

We are used to thinking about addressing our environmental crisis with technology (such as hybrid cars, fluorescent light bulbs, and ethanol fuel). But listening to the podcasts helped me see how our environmental problem is fundamentally a spiritual problem.?

I listened to a talk by Ajahn Punnadhammo, the abbot of the Arrow River Hermitage in Ontario, Canada. He focuses on the Buddhist notion that craving and clinging to pleasant feelings and experiences are causes of suffering. Our sense organs (which include eyes, ears, etc., but also mind) perceive these feelings.?

Here’s how our senses and clinging contribute to our ecological crisis: “Because we desire the pleasant feelings arising from sense contact, we produce and consume products made from petrochemicals and produce carbon dioxide as a byproduct. In other words,?

• because of sense desire, there arises consumerism,?
• because of consumerism there arises commodity production,?
• because of commodity production there arises resource extraction,?
• because of resource extraction there arises greenhouse gas release,?
• and because of greenhouse gas release there arises climate change.?

And thus this whole mass of suffering comes to be on account of sense desire.”?

Here’s the abbot’s core argument:?

“There is a widespread search for ways and means to satisfy our sensual desires without damage to the environment. This is ultimately a hopeless endeavor. The problem is not in this or that detail of our economy but in its very basis. Modern society is absolutely profligate in its use of resources primarily because our value system is based on finding happiness through pleasing the senses. Our economists are still fixated upon generating growth, on the production of more and better commodities designed to satisfy human sense desires.?

The underlying problem is not the way we produce things. It is in the sheer volume of things we produce, above and beyond what is needed to sustain physical health and well- being. The solution will not be found in seeking a different way of doing the same things, but in finding ways to do with less. For this to have any hope of working, it would require a radical change in our value system. We need to find ways to happiness that are not based on consuming resources.”?

He concludes: “the underlying causes and conditions of our environmental crisis are a spiritual malaise. And until that is addressed, the problem will not go away.”?

Whew! That’s a tall order. We have to change our very souls before we can get to work on the structural social change that will halt our environmental crisis. It would be so much easier just to buy a Toyota Prius and be done with it. What if we woke up tomorrow and all our energy came from solar and wind power but we still craved all the stuff in our lives? We would still be hooked by the cravings, and we would have made no progress transforming our spiritual malaise to spiritual freedom.?

Luckily, our Buddhist practice provides us with many tools to begin this transformation. Many are in the collection of essays “Hooked: Buddhist Writings on Greed, Desire, and the Urge to Consume,” edited by Stephanie Kaza.?

Our main tool is mindfulness. With mindfulness, we realize that these feelings of pleasant sensations are temporary: they arise, crest, and then pass away.?

Here’s an example from writer Diana Winston:?

“We can notice, ‘Wow, I want a pair of boots.’ We can feel the feeling of desire in our bodies (aching in the chest or gut area, pounding heart) and notice the accompanying thoughts (‘they’re perfect, I can’t live without them’). Then we can apply mindfulness to these sensations or thoughts. When we see them clearly for what they are—merely thoughts and sensations, not truths about ourselves—the mind may let go. We may relax some, soften the belly, notice, ‘Hey, it’s just a thought.’ By seeing it clearly, the mind can let go and stop the forward thrust into attachment, purchase, and the boot-addicted self.?

The revolutionary insight brought to us by the Buddha is that actually it is painful to want. Letting go of wanting stops the pain. Getting what we want only temporarily soothes the wound. Buddhist wisdom teaches us that a desire doesn’t have to be fulfilled?

to make it go away. We can recognize and let go of the desire. We can break the chain. All we have to do is catch a single point on the cycle. ‘Oh look, there’s pleasant contact with a desirable pair of boots! Oh, I feel body sensations of longing for them, hmm. Oh, I feel myself wanting!’ If we can bring mindfulness here, we can break the chain. It is up to us. We are not slaves to an automatic process. We don’t have to buy the boots.”?

Sometimes I fantasize about giving up my normal life and going to live at Deer Park. My mind starts to wander as I indulge in this fantasy. Sure it would be great, but I’d have to share a cabin with five other girls. And there’s no air conditioning. I just bought all these beautiful new drapes for my condo. How could I give those up? I tell myself that the monks and nuns seem to live at Deer Park just fine, in close quarters with no air conditioning or beautiful drapes. A voice in my head interrupts, “yeah, but that’s because they don’t want all that stuff, so it doesn’t matter.”?

And I catch myself: they don’t want all that stuff. So they are liberated and free and happy.?

As American Buddhist leader Joseph Goldstein put it: “The basic renunciation is internal...it is better to live in a palace and be free of desire than to be in a cave consumed by the wanting mind.”?

I came across an Associated Press article on The Compact, which is a network of local, grassroots groups who support each other in consuming less. John Perry, the founder of The Compact is quoted as saying: “The real surprise is that it’s so much easier than you would think. If you hang on, it’s like dieting: the hunger goes away.”?

The hunger goes away.?

Mindfulness and dharma teachings can help the hunger go away. And relief can come from an unlikely source of dharma wisdom: the Motley Fool personal finance website. In an article called “How to Want Less Stuff,” they offer 4 tips which are practical and also mindful:?

Step 1: Avoid people who want you to want more stuff.?

? Throw away catalogs without reading them.?

? Don't watch commercials on television.?

? Don't read the advertisements in the weekly paper.?

? Don't hang out in shopping areas for recreation.?

Step 2: Realize how much junk you have now, and how much trouble it is.?

? Take a complete inventory of your house's contents for insurance purposes.?

? Do a weekly “27-fling boogie” (go through the house and find 27 things that you don’t want to keep anymore).?

? Visualize moving all of your stuff to a new home, or your heirs going through everything after your death.?

Step 3: Learn to appreciate the stuff you have.?

? Keep warranties.?

? Perform basic repair and maintenance.?

? Loan things you don’t use frequently to other people.?

Step 4: Think about what else you might want, instead of more stuff.?

What else might we want instead of more stuff? How about a clean environment? A mind and heart liberated from craving and clinging? A social, political and economic order that is centered around human connection and not consumption??

So, yes, let’s change our light bulbs and our cars. But let’s also change ourselves, our hearts, our minds.?