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The Spiritual Value of Things
I hope you see your possessions differently after reading this.
We’ve all heard the story of the stranded person, a natural disaster, the rescue helicopter, and the voice over the loudspeaker that says, “You have to leave everything behind now. Pick one or two things that are most important to you and hang on to the lifeline.”
If you were that person, what would you take with you?
Whenever people imagine themselves in this scenario, or if ever they’ve experienced anything close to this in real life, most people come to these two conclusions:
- That most possessions are too bulky to carry in a flight-to-survival situation;
- That the lighter things one would consider taking are those things that will ensure one’s continuous survival, and those things that hold a good memory they want to keep alive.
At that point of leaving everything behind, our mind recalibrates and comforts us by reminding us that we can get back what we have left behind, as long as we are still alive. It is at this point that most people see most of their possessions as not being as important as they’d thought it was because this isn’t the way we feel about those things when the winds of life blow gently, caressing our sails, and thoughts of survival are far removed from us like a castaway on a…