Psychologically, do we not need to bond with people, places, and things for optimal well being? I would argue that a certain amount of “nestedness”, when combined with a general openness to the new in all forms, is precisely what most modern people are missing, and that efforts to denigrate possessions, a la John Lennon, are misguided. Clearly, in the developed world we need less than we have, but only in order, I feel, to value what remains more. We need some things. Native Americans had them, and so do all “primitive” peoples. They don’t own “nothing”. They just don’t have ten room mansions, and 4 car garages; and some of what they do have, particularly ceremonial items, is sacred to them.
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