Modern Ascetic

I do not always relate to the more-than-human world in kinship. I am mildly embarrassed about this. Here are the things I do that feel exploitive… 

I order from Amazon. 

I buy too many shoes. 

I buy non-local food wrapped in plastic. 

I prefer leather shoes and jackets.

I am often inattentive to my surroundings.

I am extra sensitive to exploitation these days. My Amazon ordering feels especially exploitive. It's not even only books. I purchased a laminator recently, which I was sure I needed. To. Laminate. Things. I bought something to make paper last a lifetime and beyond. It makes me wonder where we have gotten to as a civilization to even come up with the idea to produce something like that. And where I have gotten to think that I need it. 

I do not want to purchase things that are non-essential from companies whose only goal is to make money. I think companies should move away from the unidirectional goal of making a profit to a multidirectional goal of including social and ecological justice. Moreover, I am so deeply engaged with the suffering that comes from the common business practices that my empathy channels feel wide open, and I can pick up on the suffering that was involved in resourcing, manufacturing, distributing, and eventually recycling. The laminator.

At the same time, it is very easy for me to shut down these empathy channels.

Practice is my answer to living in less exploitative relationships. We are always practicing, and eventually, these practices become who we are. For example, practicing to buy less trains my muscle of essentialism and, with that, makes me more resilient and brings me closer to living a future that I find worthwhile. I believe practicing to say no to stuff is making me more of the person I want to be.

What is my practice of "buying" doing for me? It makes me feel good for a second, and it also makes me spend too much money, which makes me feel more dependent on a high income. 

I don't think individual buying choices are the solution for overcoming systematic global challenges. Companies shouldn't even be allowed (and subsidized) for their exploitative practices. Yet, I am part of "the system," and if I change my patterns of relating, I create conditions so that others might also eventually change their patterns of relating. How can I expect Jeff Bezos to say no to a yacht when I can't say no to a laminator? The environmental impact differs. The psycho-spiritual patterns of "more" remain the same. 

So what is my practice for "buying"? I have rotated from being a more compulsive buyer and, at other times, being more thoughtful. "Buying less" is a simple formula advocated by sustainability enthusiasts and minimalists. But it depends on where you stand. For most of us, this is probably true. Just radically deciding to buy less seems like a backlash to overconsumption, though. It doesn't seem like a wise response to the question: what do I want to or need to buy? Instead, it's a reactive response, a fight response, or maybe a freeze response in the sense that I freeze my money. If this happens without thoughtful consideration, if I just stop buying, chances are that I either eventually give in and buy even more than before or that I secretly envy everyone who does continue to shop thoughtlessly and is able to buy all those things that I deny myself with the result of my being miserable and likely complaining about everyone who does continue to shop, openly or secretly. 

"How can he still buy at Zara and H&M? How can she buy a Diesel? How can they buy a house this size for just two people?" While secretly wishing that I had lived in the house and left in the afternoon with my Diesel car to go shopping at Zara and H&M. 

So, what practice can I replace it with? 

I like the idea of what John von Büffel refers to as the modern ascetic. Compared to the classic idea of ascetics, the modern ascetic doesn't simply aim for less but aims for wanting only what is essential. He says

"The ascetic of the future does not renounce

He detaches himself from the unimportant

His 'renunciation' is a liberation."

Yes. This is a practice that calls me. It brings me in better relation to the more-than-human. At times, this might mean that I overindulge in what others consider to be unimportant. Only I can know. To practice detaching myself from the unimportant, I have to discern what it is that is truly important to me. What's important to me can be what I want, and it can be what I need. What I need is a lot easier to discern. It's simple: healthy food, good relations, a place to live, everything that keeps my body functioning (good relations, as research shows, are crucial to health as -for example - not smoking). It's a lot harder to discern if what I want is important or not. The practice is then to learn to discern what's important to me. If I apply that practice to the lamenter, I can sense a clear UNIMPORTANT. 

How to Practice Modern Asceticism

A good navigator to consider what is important is to imagine to advise a friend on your buying decision. If my best friends were to come to me and ask: 

"Jes, I really want to buy a lamenter. I really need it because I want to lament those pretty note cards I make and some pictures and some other stuff I print. Should I buy it?" 

I'd clearly say no. 

On the other hand if my best friend were to ask me, "Jes, I really want this bus to go on a trip to Europe. I've wanted to do that all my life." 

Because I know that it is true and that she always did want to do that, I would say, "Okay," although I am aware of the negative environmental and social aspects of cars, and I am also very judgemental and critical of that sort of travel. Yet, it's important to her. 

From now on, I will make it a practice to double or tribble check if what I want really is important as it seems like detaching myself from the unimportant is crucial to transforming towards socialecological just futures. 

Afterthoughts: in an ideal world, I wouldn't have to make those moral decisions. In an ideal world, what we sell and consume is not harmful to the planet. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) proposes that each person should have a carbon budget of 3t per year. This would force us to decide what is important to us and what isn't. There is much to say about the pros and cons of such budgets, but as it doesn't seem to happen anytime soon, we could give ourselves a carbon budget in order to help us discern what truly is important.  

🐒 Something fascinating I learned about others

Many seahorse species are monogamous, forming lifelong bonds with their chosen mates.

📚 A book I recommend

Less is More - How Degrowth Will Safe the World by Jason Hickel because it challenges the prevailing economic growth model and offers an opportunity to explore alternative economic paradigms that prioritize sustainability and well-being over perpetual growth. It also offers an alternative worldview - to the mechanistic worldview - and points out how this is essential. 

💌 A quote that matters

"For freedom is not the capacity to do whatever we please; freedom is the capacity to make intelligent choices." Frances Moore Lappé

✍️ A journal prompt to practice philosophy

What is truly essential to you?