You Don't Need More Stuff: Diogenes and the Buddha on Consumerism

Key takeaways

• Scientists call it hedonic adaptation: when we get something new we are happy for a while, then we get used to it and our feelings return to where they were. In a well-known 1978 study, big lottery winners were, after a while, not much happier in daily life than ordinary people. Money really helps when we lack the basics, but after that each extra thing gives less happiness.
• Often we are not buying the thing but a feeling: relief after a hard day, worth in other people's eyes, respect, a sense of growing. Those needs are real, but things give them only for a moment, like drinking salt water when thirsty. Ads and online shops work to shorten the gap between wanting and buying, the gap where we could ask: do I really need this?
• Diogenes threw away his only cup after seeing a boy drink with his hands. Every thing we own also costs time, space, care and worry for as long as we keep it. According to Plutarch, Alexander the Great said that if he were not Alexander he would want to be Diogenes.
• Debt is a chain we put on ourselves: when we buy a feeling on a 12-month instalment, the happiness may last a month or two while the payments go on for twelve. Not all debt is bad; borrowing for a business, study, a home or urgent medical care can be the right choice, and the video gives no personal financial advice.
• The Buddha tried both the palace and near-starvation and found the middle way. The problem is not things but craving (taṇhā); the Dhammapada says contentment is the greatest wealth. Laozi adds that wealth is the gap between what you have and what you want. Five habits: draw your 'enough' line, wait before buying, ask what feeling you are buying, count what you already have, and let go of one thing a week.