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Fighting with Yourself

Are we the owners of our possessions or are our material goods the ones that own ourselves? Our happiness cannot be encompassed in any amount of material belongings; the inner wealth is far more precious!

Fight Club is a good example of a film that was seen by most people before reading the book. I, for one, haven't heard of the existence of the book until quite recently. And of course, after having seen the movie over and over again.

What I enjoyed most about this film is the idea of rejecting and even trying to destroy a consumerist society, a society where everything is valued by its material aspects, by how much it costs. Advertisement fools us all. It makes us think that there are things that if we buy, they will certainly makes us feel happy and fulfilled. Things we don't really need - like pieces of furniture, designer clothes, expensive perfumes, refined, expensive beverages and foods, and so on.

One of the best quotes in the movie says that: "The things you own end up owning you." So you are no longer your very own master, you belong to the objects' world. The main character in the movie seems to suffer from schizophrenia, having a split personality. But that is not the point. The point is he manages to see beyond the ideology implemented in us by education and living in a society.

He realizes that fulfilling the desire of buying expensive things and having important positions cannot make anyone happy, though they come from deeply human feelings and needs - the longing for acceptance, for recognition, for affection. But like he says, "you are not your job", your house, your car, your expensive furniture. No matter what commercials tell you, using certain antiperspirants, perfumes, after-shaves, etc won't make a man stronger or more desirable and acceptable.

Also, for a woman, buying certain cosmetics and clothes won't make her more irresistible and self-confident, it will at least make her spend an enormous amount of money on things she doesn't really need and will not help her in any way. Yet it is indeed extremely difficult to give up this concepts, because we are so often blinded by "the riches of this world".

Too often have we heard from the lips of our parents or grandparents that they want us to live a better life than they did. And too often this better life means a better place, like somewhere in the city instead of a peaceful village, a better apartment, nicer furniture, better food, better clothes, the latest technology computers and mobile phones, washing machines, and many other. Things that, instead of making our life easier, can only complicate it. Because we further depend on electricity, heating and other resources that require artificially-generated energy.

So we strive to make money that we spend on things we do not actually need. How can we escape this? "Only when you've lost everything, we have the right to do anything." Although we probably won't take this literally, like the main character in Fight Club did by blowing up his condo and therefore everything in it - IKEA furniture, collection pieces, etc. … we might take into account the idea behind this gesture.

By "losing everything" we may understand giving up the manic desire to possess things, to be happy with having what we need to lead a simple, peaceful life. To lose in the eyes of a commercial, mercantile society, but to gain mentally and spiritually. To get inner wealth and wisdom instead of things that are considered valuable in the eyes of this world. "For where your treasure is, there your heart is also." Don't put your hope in things that fade, or can be stolen from you. In order to do that, you have to fight the greatest enemy you make encounter, and that is your very own self.

This is also suggested in the movie by the main hero's constant struggle with himself, which eventually ends in reconciliation between his two personalities. But this can be seen by us as a metaphor, as, if we want to fight the things that may enslave us mentally and spiritually, we must first of all win the fight with ourselves. It takes a lot of perseverance, and implies having a solid spiritual support. And a positive, respectful attitude towards the others, unlike the usual typical tendency of regarding ourselves as better and more important than other people.

By Claudia Miclaus