The Material Self

“What do your possessions mean?”
"When you shop, have and possess something, does that determine who you are?"


You may have heard the adage, “You are what you eat.” The material self goes it one step further and claims, “You are what you have.” The material self is the sum total of all the physical items, people or places an individual bear the name my or mine.


There are two subcategories of the material self:
1. Bodily self - talks of entities that are plainly an intimate part of who a person is. It speaks for a person’s pet, (my cat), goods (my watch), places (my home town), and the fruits of one’s labor (my research paper) (my research paper).
2. Extracorporeal self - A person’s sense of self is not just confined to the physical entities but also includes their psychological ownership of them.


Ways a human can discern whether a thing is a part of themselves:
1. Assessing ones emotional involvement in the thing or entity. If a person answer in an
emotive way when the entity is being complimented or denounced, the entity is likely to be part of their self.
2. Assess how you act towards it. If we put attention on the thing and attempt to progress and sustain it, one might deduce that the entity is a part of oneself.


THE SELF AND ONE’S POSSESSION
People live in a sales and shopping binge society.
Advertising for products that promise to make one feel comfortable or look good is quite appealing. Many more people would go to great lengths in order to obtain these commodities.
When one defines oneself by one's possessions, it may produce emotions of well-being, but it may also cause feelings of emptiness and vulnerability.


The Diderot Effect: Why we desire things that we do not require
- a loop of addiction that compels you to purchase further products
- only to add a finishing touch to a recently acquired item
- it is unacceptable for us to search for downgrades, simplicity, deletion, or reduction in any way.
- to put it another way, according to sociology professor Juliet Schor, "The desire to keep our inventory up to date is strong unrelentingly unidirectional, with a continual upward trajectory"


MATERIALISM
- is defined as the emphasis that a customer places on his or her material goods.

The highest levels of materialism elevate such possessions to a major position in a person's life and are regarded as the most significant sources of happiness.

Purchases of commercial items have the capacity to alter the self in a magical way for the very materialistic individual.


THE MATERIAL SELF: BEING A MATERIAL PERSON IN A MATERIAL WORLD
Personality Shrinkage- regarded by William James to be a rationalization for one's actions.
When they lose any of their personal belongings in a fire or when they witness their loved ones die, they are likely to be sad.
The current shoe collection was completely wiped away in a storm. This is why you "die a bit" every time you watch a movie.
You have some of your belongings taken away from you.


A question to oneself: In your life today, how content are you in your life, materially?
"To be content doesn't mean you don't want more; it means you're appreciative for what you have and patient for what's to come," according to Tony Gaskins, and in my life, it is not difficult for me to declare that I am almost completely contented with my situation. This makes me happy and glad that I have tangible possessions that are just what I require in my daily life to function well. I am fortunate to have an excellent family, two devoted kitties which I consider to be my daughters, a solid group of friends, a welcoming town, and whatever material possessions I may require. The goal of my life is to be happy, and the first step toward achieving that goal is to be pleased with what I now have. According to the saying, I also wish for certain things, but I am grateful for what I have and remain patiently anticipating what may come my way.


Reflection
Going back to the first questions mentioned above in this article,
“What do your possessions mean?”
"When you shop, have and possess something, does that determine who you are?"
And, ask yourself also, "In your life today, how content are you in your life, materially?"

I would like to read your realizations in the comment section.


Greetings From The Author
Thank you for reading this article.
I hope you learned something.
Have a good day, everyone.

Photo credit and source is from https://caylacabagnot.home.blog/2018/12/06/the-material-self/.