Better Life, or More in Life?

I like tech.  I like gadgets.  No apologies.  But I'm starting to think of my "stuff" (technology, gadgets, organizational tools, anything I order from Levenger, etc.) in two categories: stuff that makes my life "easier," and stuff that makes my life better.  The one category I should tolerate.  The other category, I should enjoy.

Faithful spiritual life isn't necessarily life without "stuff," but it also isn't life ruled by stuff.  And I think that when we start to forget the purpose of the various things in our lives (whether they be big-ticket items like homes and cars, or personal items like a PDA, camera, or notebook), we become more vulnerable to the lure of our possessions.

 

Ralph Wood, in a lecture on JRR Tolkein and The Lord of the Rings, made the point that the One Ring is quintessentially "modern," because it gives great length of life, but without attendant quality of life.  Modernity is all about cramming more into the world: assembly lines make manufacturing faster; digital organizers allow you to juggle more appointments and contacts than you otherwise would; economies of scale reduce prices, allowing people to buy more.

Maybe one small step of resistance for a materialistic consumer like myself is to ask, "Does this thing make my life better?  Does it make my life easier?  Or is it just 'cool' and exciting, just one more thing to cram into my already overloaded life?"  The first can be embraced.  The second, well, one should ask what the trade-offs are.  For the third, you'd probably better pass.

My cell phone makes my life easier, marginally.  It helps me keep in touch with my church office when I'm doing hospital visits in the city.  It helps me keep in touch with my wife during the day.  It helps us readjust plans when "church happens" and our schedules get changed on us.  It lets me save money by making free long-distance calls nights and weekends. 

The trade-off?  One more thing in my pocket.  My church office can call me any time.  I have to be careful about letting my cell number out.  It's worth the trade off, though.

So here's some of my "stuff" in the categories:

Makes life better: iPod, fountain pens, Moleskine notebook, digital camera, e-mail, blogging.
Makes life easier: PDA, cell phone, laptop.
Generally extraneous: hmmm... how many clothes do I need? 

"Having" isn't a problem.  Consuming isn't bad.  But when we've bought into a spirituality of having, an uncritical life of owning, and a mode of being that is consumerist, then Houston, we have a problem.  Modernism tells us more is better, bigger is better, faster is better.  What about less, smaller, slower?  What about elegance, balance, connectedness?  How do we become godly consumers?  Can one be such a thing?