There’s a recent trend in American consumerism, or lack thereof. According to “Purchase Power: Does It Make You Happy,” as people save more money and attempt to live with more simplicity: “New studies of consumption and happiness show, for instance, that people are happier when they spend money on experiences instead of material objects, when they relish what they plan to buy long before they buy it, and when they stop trying to outdo the Joneses.” The article explains that money brings you happiness to the degree that it provides for basic needs. After that, money isn’t so great. Buying more stuff doesn’t increase happiness. And competing with other people for status via financial success doesn’t either.
But perhaps personal happiness shouldn’t be the only consideration. Whether it’s in buying stuff or in living simply, money can be a means to self-centeredness and to stress (see Ellen Painter Dollar’s “Simplicity: It’s Complicated“). Or it can be a means to loving and serving other people. My friend Paul Miller has spoken before about the way that we usually use money to divide. Buy a bigger house that is farther away from your neighbors and where your children don’t need to share rooms. Buy another car so you can have one all to yourself. But your own jungle gym so you don’t have to go to the park with other people. In other words, money can be a means of isolation. And simplicity can be a means of avoiding the messy complication of inviting other people into our lives.
But money can also be used to bring people together. Have a dinner party. Invite someone in need to stay in your guest room. Offer your car when someone else’s has broken down.
With that said, I aspire to a simpler life. I don’t want to be jealous of my neighbor’s stuff. I want to cultivate an attitude of gratitude and contentment, whatever my material circumstances. But I also want to live a complicated, and sometimes stressful, life of radical generosity and hospitality.
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