Do we really need all this stuff?

"Art as a Technique" by Shlkovsky is one of the most interesting reads I've come across in a while, particularly concerning the part of Tolstoy making the familiar unfamiliar. In some parts it almost makes me consider Marxist theory because of the idea that we as humans might simply own only the things we produce or inhabit. A laborer does not own the products of their labor because he or she is usually working for someone else, which might be the case of the person who tends to the horse but is not the actual owner of the horse in Tolstoy's story. It is possibly one of the few aspects of Marxism and of familiarizing/de-familiarizing that I find simultaneously depressing and inspiring.

It isn't possible, really, in such a capitalist country to resort to selling and buy things from the person who actually made them with their own hands because we all demand so much. If we resorted back to this style, we could not in fact own as much as we do. I could not own this laptop because if it existed at all it would probably cost too much. I could try to make it myself but that would mean most people would have to know how to make their own cell phones and their own refrigerators.

But all of that comes down to desire. Should we, as capitalists, work on not desiring so much? It's the disease that spreads throughout many layers of our society. We desire so much in so many different areas of our lives that many of us are never satisfied. At this rate, the only thing we're teaching future generations is that the more you gain, the happier you'll be, even if you never again pay attention to half the things you purchase. Certainly no one would be happy living off of only what is necessary, such as food and shelter, but do we need five televisions on a three bedroom apartment? Do we need that brand new iPod even though our one year-old iPod is functioning perfectly? It seems to me that when you begin to own too many things by some form of decree, like a paper stating your ownership, then you're going way too far off the mark to be healthy. My best example would be if you own a home you never inhabit. Why own a home you never go to, that is only inhabited by people who keep it clean but don't consider it their own homes either? Isn't that unhealthy for you, that you desired a new home so much you decided you couldn't just have one?

I think there's something to be said over trying to keep with what we actually produce at a practical level. I can't produce my television, but at least I can try to keep the count of what I won and did not produce relatively low. I think, in the end, this would make for a happier mentality.