The story is told of a man named Arenius who lived in the fifth century. Determined to live a holy life, he abandoned the modern comforts of Egyptian society choosing instead to follow a simple, solemn lifestyle in the desert.
Yet, whenever he visited the great city of Alexandria, he would spend time wandering through its bazaars and markets. When asked why, he explained, “My heart rejoices at the sight of all the things I do not need.”
Im not at this point yet, but i will be at some point. I went around the mall with a coworker and saw so much beautiful stuff! I’ll admit that some of it i would have like to own. But i did not buy anything, a small success, it does help that im on a very tight budget.
Out of curiosity, I like to window shop online.
There are many alternatives, including going without.
This reminds me of 5 years ago when I decided I had had it with accumulating ‘stuff’. I had some time to kill so I went into Meijer to browse and shop. I had a mental list of ‘stuff’ I wanted and after an hour of meandering through nearly the entire store I looked at my overflowing cart and asked myself – What am I doing? Is there any of this that I actually need? The answer was NO! so I left my cart right there in the women’s clothing section of the store where I had been trying on clothes that I didn’t ‘need’, walked out of the the store completely empty handed. It felt sooooo good! Since that time I strictly go shopping for absolute needs with a specific list. No more aimless shopping nor filling my cart (nor my life) with useless items that advertisers try to convince me will make me happy and content.
I feel like that whenever I go through the supermarket and look at all the prepackaged and processed “food” loaded with numbers as ingredients. Don’t need that, nope not that, nah hah no way…
What a nice idea to spend your time in a rushing city :)
The joy must be great!
Yes, I completely agree with Arenius! This afternoon I walked through a mall to get to the store where my sunglasses were being repaired and I experienced exactly the same sense of rejoicing.
Minimalism and the Desert Fathers- I love it!
Keep up the excellent writing. :-)
Peace.