Thoughts on Materialism and Happiness

I tend to think alot. I naturally think about everything and as a result I have a philosophy about almost everything. I don't believe in my philosophy as necessarily being the only way or even the right way, but it has helped me navigate life and live happier.

I love western civilization, but I also feel that we have lost focus a little. I've always felt a little queasy about how we tend to think of technological progress as being inherently good. It seems to me that improvements in quality of life would be a better measure of how good something is. (disclaimer: i develop software by trade, so i'm not suggesting that we stop technological progress because then i'd be broke and homeless)

Have you ever noticed how society always await the next great invention that will alleviate the need for us to do some task? As Americans, most of us leave our house in the morning to walk about 10 feet into our attached garage. We then drive to work, but first my open the garage with a push of a button. We then drive to our place or work, which often is also within a garage, but certainly not too far of a walk. Next is an elevator ride to the designated floor, etc, etc. Is there any wonder why America struggles with an epidemic of obesity? It seems to me that our societal goal is to create devices that alleviate our need to do absolutely anything at all!

I also believe that we are slave to the things that we own. We must find places to put them, clean them, maintain them, and worry about their well-being. All of this creates mental clutter and ironically cause us to waste both time and effort.

I believe that such things will never bring lasting happiness. Rather, I believe that happiness is enhanced by doing things and our social connections. The human body, mind and psychi tend to atrophy when not used. Therefore, the goal of work-saving inventions cannot be that we do less, but that we have more freedom to do that which we love. I believe this is critical to understand. The sooner that we accept that struggle are a necessary and vital part of the human experience is the sooner we can arrange our lives such that we that stop lamenting that struggle and take an active role in determining what we want to struggle for.

For this reason I have always advise people to do something... do anything. Rekindle your passion for life. Ensure that you always have some project that you are working on that either builds you as a person, accomplishes something you've always wanted to do, or that you simply enjoy.