The Fractal Nature of Things

I just had a major life realization.

For the past 5 years, I had told myself that I was claiming my divine mobility by shedding myself of material things. I let go of my house, my furniture, my wife, everything; all attachments. I reduced my possessions to those things that would fit into a backpack. literally. and hiked. and worked. and got healthy.

Now I am digging through my very austere, very organized things, and think: I need to go through all of this and throw out some pieces of it. And I realised all the sudden: there is no effective difference between sorting through a garage, a storage compartment, or a backpack. In fact, at any scale, material things only fall into a few core categories:

• sentimental
• necessary
• luxury
• tools
• toys

...these categories simply expand and contract with wealth and stability. A home is simply a very large, very rooted tent... a container in which to hold possessions and within which to seek shelter and safety.

The irony is that I've learned that safety is everywhere you bring it... and no where. I've successfully fended off 350 pound wild bears while camping in the wilderness, and been overwhelmed with armed force breaking down the locked door of my 'secure' apartment.

So, here's to responsibly building up the fractal of material possessions again... and to always remembering my humbling moments of need and poverty, and to fundamentally CHANGING THE METHODS BY WHICH I INTERACT WITH THINGS.

It is, after all, not the things we have, its how we treat them, how we use them, and how they effect our interactions with the most important thing in the universe, our fellow humans.

What things do you have in your life that hold you back?

What things do you have that help you relate to others?