The Power of [Getting Rid of Stuff] Now

[darkemeralds]

In a comment on one of my Project Empty posts, owzers said, "I'm still cleaning my house. I've been feeling this urgency to give stuff away - like maybe I'm not going to be around much longer or something. Kinda of freaking me out a little."

Groping for something useful to say, I replied that I'd had similar feelings, and that I was pretty sure they were a reaction to the death of an old way of life, and not a premonition.

Since then, I've started reading Eckhart Tolle*. In The Power of Now, Eckhart says something that accounts for owzers's decluttering panic better than any half-baked psychological theory I could come up with, and explains my own feeling that Project Empty is much bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside.



Slightly edited, Eckhart says:

As long as the egoic mind is running your life, you cannot truly be at ease. The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, belief systems, political and other collective identifications. None of these is you. All of these things, you will have to relinquish sooner or later. Your identity cannot be found in any of them.

You will know this, at the latest, when you feel death approaching. Death is a stripping-away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to die before you die, and find that there is no death.

None of this is to say that decluttering must necessarily be approached as a spiritual exercise. "Ego death!" would be kind of a hard sell for potential declutterers thinking only of tidiness and a reduction in household chaos.

But I do think that, undertaken with the conscious intent of creating change, decluttering will almost inevitably become more than you thought it was going to be, and reveal truths you would never have suspected an untidy shelf could conceal.




*Clutter-free reading: The Power of Now as an audiobook, and A New Earth as an ebook.

Comments

[roseambr.livejournal.com]

Score a big one for you! Yes, I think de-cluttering impacts the ego in a huge way. Some people, that may not be ready to consider the ego's impact on themselves, will be drawn to replace all the "stuff" they spent time getting rid of. Others will struggle with the letting go only to find it feels so good when you finally do. I think everyones reactions are a little different but underneath is the letting go.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

It does seem to be all about the letting go, doesn't it? I don't honestly think it matters what you let go of first, but for me, letting go of material stuff has proven the easiest route.

In theory, letting go of emotional attachments, false beliefs, etc., would be easier and faster, but somehow, working up from the material world is the one that works.

[communicator.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I understand what you mean. A German friend on my hypnotherapy course is a massive fan of Tolle. I have been wondering about getting The Power of Now on audio.

BTW This de-cluttering almost seems like a quest or pilgrimage for you.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I've read spiritual books (and books of spirituality--to borrow an idea from Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell) all my life--brilliant, obscure, hopelessly arcane, bogus, sincere, all sorts--and I can honestly say that what Eckhart Tolle has to say is among the best I've encountered.

It's a plus that he writes well, and another plus that he reads his own work very pleasantly.

And yes, this "spring cleaning" has turned out to be quite the pilgrimage for me. What I'm realizing is that "there's no there there," no destination.

[prime_meridian]

Tolle's take feels right intuitively. And since you're the second person in a week to mention his work, and I have a road trip coming up in a couple of weeks...your link to the audio book of 'The Power of Now' seems fortuitous. Thanks.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I could point you to it. I'm a fairly avid audiobook fan, and there's a wide range of quality in the field, quite apart from the quality of the material being read. I'm happy to report that Eckhart Tolle's reading of his own work is very listenable, and the production is professional. It's a happy convergence of content and form.

I'll be interested in your thoughts on the book if you decide to try it.

Happy road trip!