Stuff that Binds
"Are you sure that's what you want to call it? You must know some of your friends will take it entirely wrong."
I stood in the center of my room and shrugged. "That's half the fun," I said, "Besides, they all know I'm boring and any title like that is going to be just innuendo. Until one day I decide to link to a sex toy store or something, just to see them react."
The buddha spun lazily in my computer chair. "Huh," he said.
"I have way too much crap."
"Coming around to the idea that possessions cause desire which causes suffering?" he asked.
"No, not really. I just mean that I can't see half the floor in my room. And there's hundreds of books on my shelves I haven't read. Not really a spiritual angle at all. If anything, it's the opposite, because all the stuff is keeping me from making more connections with people, the kind that matter. Because there's a lot of it, and it can't be easily moved. And then there's the opportunity costs of it, too. Even with my old discount, and buying things at used bookstores, how much did those couple shelves of RPG books cost me? Games I've never run, never played in, hell, a bunch of the books I haven't even read. At all. Or the shelf of graphic novels, and the boxes of comics. I haven't pulled anything out of the comic boxes in months. And the random computer games. What else could I have spent that money on? School? Moving? Pornography?"
"You have the internet, free pornography abounds there."
"Okay, bad example. Travel. Maybe I've just done too much RPGs and fantasy stuff, but I keep thinking about traveling. Just wandering."
He stood up. "It's not nearly so romantic as it's made out to be. Especially when all you've got is a robe and a bowl. Spiritual, maybe, but not romantic."
"Meh," I said, "I'd rather have a bike, and GPS, and some kind of portable computer thing. The monk thing never has appealed to me. Much more ninja, be prepared, that's their motto. And the Boy Scouts. Anyway, things just take up too much space, and I haven't watched many of these movies or read any of these books in a while. Or ever, in some cases. And a lot, I read or watched once, then that was it. Movies don't hold much interest for me lately, at least as a solo thing."
"Wait, are we still talking about pornography here? I wasn't paying attention."
"One thing I'll give the Catholics, sloth is pretty bad. Not always, but overdone, oh yeah. Keeps things from getting done. What you need is applied laziness. Well, what I need. So what I need is something else that I need to feel I need to do, so I can put that off by cleaning and getting rid of crap. People usually only clean to avoid doing something else."
"So when will that happen? And are you going to get rid of Voltron?"
"Hell no. Voltron's the defender of the universe. He stays. But I can probably cull at least a third of the books. Just gotta sit down and look through things and ask myself 'Do I want this badly enough to keep it if I only had X space?' and then the stuff that's not, I give to friends, family, or the library or something. Maybe sell to a used bookstore."
The buddha turned and looked at me. "Why am I even here? This is your monologue, there's no questions or anything. And who do you think will be interested in any of this?"
I shrugged. "Probably nobody, though they might all leap t me and try and get me to give them the stuff I'm getting rid of. Few people would turn down loot."
Previously, on X-Men:
Stories from the Rabbit Hole
Stories from the Rabbit Hole, Part 2
There's a Buddha on My Bed
A Discussion of Procrastination and Buddhism
Buddhablog
Haven't Seen Him in a While
The Illusion of Pain
I stood in the center of my room and shrugged. "That's half the fun," I said, "Besides, they all know I'm boring and any title like that is going to be just innuendo. Until one day I decide to link to a sex toy store or something, just to see them react."
The buddha spun lazily in my computer chair. "Huh," he said.
"I have way too much crap."
"Coming around to the idea that possessions cause desire which causes suffering?" he asked.
"No, not really. I just mean that I can't see half the floor in my room. And there's hundreds of books on my shelves I haven't read. Not really a spiritual angle at all. If anything, it's the opposite, because all the stuff is keeping me from making more connections with people, the kind that matter. Because there's a lot of it, and it can't be easily moved. And then there's the opportunity costs of it, too. Even with my old discount, and buying things at used bookstores, how much did those couple shelves of RPG books cost me? Games I've never run, never played in, hell, a bunch of the books I haven't even read. At all. Or the shelf of graphic novels, and the boxes of comics. I haven't pulled anything out of the comic boxes in months. And the random computer games. What else could I have spent that money on? School? Moving? Pornography?"
"You have the internet, free pornography abounds there."
"Okay, bad example. Travel. Maybe I've just done too much RPGs and fantasy stuff, but I keep thinking about traveling. Just wandering."
He stood up. "It's not nearly so romantic as it's made out to be. Especially when all you've got is a robe and a bowl. Spiritual, maybe, but not romantic."
"Meh," I said, "I'd rather have a bike, and GPS, and some kind of portable computer thing. The monk thing never has appealed to me. Much more ninja, be prepared, that's their motto. And the Boy Scouts. Anyway, things just take up too much space, and I haven't watched many of these movies or read any of these books in a while. Or ever, in some cases. And a lot, I read or watched once, then that was it. Movies don't hold much interest for me lately, at least as a solo thing."
"Wait, are we still talking about pornography here? I wasn't paying attention."
"One thing I'll give the Catholics, sloth is pretty bad. Not always, but overdone, oh yeah. Keeps things from getting done. What you need is applied laziness. Well, what I need. So what I need is something else that I need to feel I need to do, so I can put that off by cleaning and getting rid of crap. People usually only clean to avoid doing something else."
"So when will that happen? And are you going to get rid of Voltron?"
"Hell no. Voltron's the defender of the universe. He stays. But I can probably cull at least a third of the books. Just gotta sit down and look through things and ask myself 'Do I want this badly enough to keep it if I only had X space?' and then the stuff that's not, I give to friends, family, or the library or something. Maybe sell to a used bookstore."
The buddha turned and looked at me. "Why am I even here? This is your monologue, there's no questions or anything. And who do you think will be interested in any of this?"
I shrugged. "Probably nobody, though they might all leap t me and try and get me to give them the stuff I'm getting rid of. Few people would turn down loot."
Previously, on X-Men:
Stories from the Rabbit Hole
Stories from the Rabbit Hole, Part 2
There's a Buddha on My Bed
A Discussion of Procrastination and Buddhism
Buddhablog
Haven't Seen Him in a While
The Illusion of Pain