Pretty much all I (own) need is here. Even the hat.
I’m digging Sean Bonner’s thoughts about things, how they end up to own us, what you really need to be happy etc
I always have been tempted to reduce things. I got this philosophy by starting my home studio in the 2000s. I hadn’t the resources to buy a Fender Rhodes, and a Juno and a Moog or these really expensive bass pedals that you use once in a while.
I always tried to reduce the amount of stuff because I want to be mind-free (fighting the addictiveness of the buying reflex) and not having to deal with a lot of inconveniences of owning things like:
-Room
All that shit takes room, a lot of it.
-Dusting
Dusting is obligatory and I hate it so hard. The less I have things, the easier it is.
-Maintenance
Things can break. Can have to be fixed. Things can be fucking annoying (expensive).
Having less space, more work to do around things I own is not making me happy, it’s making me tired and confused.
So the only things I really want to own are the things I need everyday and other than my music tools reduced to less than a dozen of piece and some funky pants shirts and hats, well I don’t care that much.
I guess I got that from my parents. I grew up watching them invest their money in their business, always. No “little pleasure” like owning a brand new car. My dad has always been using his company’s car as his main vehicle. They always made me aware of inconveniences of ownership. The only thing worth owning for them was a great house to rebuilt and customize. I kind of think the same.
I grew up with libraries in every town with shitload of music movies books to borrow, copy, encode. I quickly learned that access was the important thing. Once you’re in, you’re in. And you can come back anytime you want. Why dusting these things?
Of course I always felt in conflict with the overall feeling that you have to own things and mostly cool things, to shine in social circles. But it wouldn’t matter. If you have access to culture you still can talk about it. You don’t have to own a Picasso to discuss his style do you?
So I’m already at a low level of ownership. What I care more is to live in places feeling good to live in. Moving around or staying at one place is not important –it depends-, but the places you are going to be for some time need to be great!
I wish we would spend more time to make spaces where we live better places. Like how L.A. buildings should all have their rooftops available for residents or how AC should be carefully designed and integrated to reduce noise pollution to the max. Of course moar bikes everywhere. Stuff like that.
Because I don’t want to try to get the best place. I want all of them to be great, like I want to have access to all the culture.
I don’t want to spend time searching for these basics. I’m lazy.