Materialism Thought Expeirment: My Take

Here it is 6:15 am on the day that I need a post.  So bombs away!

I said last time that I would throw some thoughts out there on the thought experiment and what it means for me.  In 15 minutes…actually 14 minutes now…that means it will be largely unedited and a bit like a stream of consciousness at times.

The first thing to hit me when thinking of getting plucked from my life now and placed somewhere in the middle of nowhere is that I would not be anxious about losing my stuff.  In fact, I look forward to paring down to just the necessities.  But then at that point, I start to become anxious.

As much as I tout myself as being unmaterialistic, I do lean on materials to be happy or achieve a purpose.  For example, my computer.  Do you know how long it would take to write this post with a stick in the Gobi desert?  To be honest, I don’t really care so much about this particular computer, but the hours of music that I have written and recorded, two books that I have written, and countless other intangible goods of mine are on here.  And they all haven’t achieved their purpose.

Which gets to the heart of my anxiety: I am most anxious about not fulfilling my purpose.  I have this grand scheme of what my purpose is, or at least what I think that it should look like.  I need to have a way to be creative for the betterment of humanity – or so I think.

Then I think through this thought.  I am Catholic, and I believe that all things occur within God’s Will.  Either His Ordaining Will, which is where God explicitly states what should be done, or His Permissive Will, the route where evil is allowed to exist in the
world by us persisting in our sin.  An act of transporting me out of where I am into Mongolia, would be an act of God’s Ordaining Will.  So, some relief that I get from my anxiety is that God is there; I am not alone.  And in so being, there is some purpose for me to be in Mongolia herding pigs (I’m a pork guy).   Even if that purpose is for me to become fully detached from the things of this world, including what I initially considered my purpose of existence was.

In the end, we all die.  We all have to leave this behind.  How much easier it is for our souls to fly to the next life if we are not attached to this planet!  Because even if we live for a purpose, in the grand scheme of things, it will not amount to anything.  Only what we do to help others and amplify God’s goodness in humanity will matter – but even that, credit is not usually given to us on earth.  Any reward will be in heaven.

OK….whew.  Done.  I’m going to load this in for Svetlana to review!

God bless,

Sven