3. Youre Not Your F***ing Khakis We Are Not Defined By Our Possessions
The line
the things you used to own, now they own you is possibly one of my favourite in both the book and the film. It may be a very 60s vibe but the concept that we as consumers are more concerned with our possessions than our personalities strikes a particular cord. Think of the grandmother, religiously polishing the family silver they never use. I mean when was the last time you bought clothes purely for their physiological properties? If that were the case, rather than squeezing into an uncomfortable suit, we would all wear our pyjamas everywhere. Ok, I know many a student has taken a trip to the local supermarket in their Hello Kitty finest, but really, would you go to a job interview like that? Oh this, yeah, Spider-Man, whats the pension scheme like? We buy cars and houses and before long we are working just to pay for our possessions. Then before you know it you wake up at 70 and youre retiring, wondering why you only have 10 years left (if you're lucky) to try and enjoy these nice things you've worked for. Fight Club bases much of the apathy felt by the narrator on his relationship with his '
Ikea nest', defining himself by his hand crafted dishes and his Strinne green striped armchairs. But it was when he lost it all that he truly felt delivered. In his book, The Philosophy Of Ownership, Robert LeFevre talks of the history of the idea that an individual's virtue relies on not owning multiple possessions. In Plato's Republic, the philosopher Socrates proposes a city in which there is no private property, with its citizens sharing everything. LeFevre also notes that Buddhism and Christianity also emphasise that possessions are a burden to achieving enlightenment. Simply put nice things are, well, nice, but they shouldn't encompass who you are.