A Natural Remedy for the Gotta-Have-It Moments in Life!

You know the feeling: I gotta have it. Sometimes this overwhelming feeling comes to us at the mall, online, on vacation, watching T.V. - anywhere. It can be a dangerous, enslaving feeling whose very pursuit of obtaining what it seeks gives us a devilish joy. We loose focus of everything else around us as we become fixated on this one thing like a hunter who sees his prey. Fixated. Blessed to live in such an affluent county it is within our means to buy many things or put them on our credit card as we add more weight to our heavy debt.

Having lived in a religious community for six years I know what it is like to live a vow of poverty. As millennia of religious brothers and sisters attest, this temptation to own and accumulate follows one into the convent and rectory. Instead of clothes or cars one is tempted to have more of what one already has, a better one or, better yet, a new one - whatever that thing may be. We seem to have this inordinate desire to own whatever we desire. We are not content with enjoying something. We gotta own it!

I recently bought an IPOD. Now, when I listen to a song on the radio or the internet I gotta have it - I have to buy it, own it, ts mine, my precious. Obviously there is absolutely nothing wrong with buying music. I will continue to do so, however, I think there is a valuable lesson in being aware if this passion within us.

Can we simply enjoy something (or someone) without having to own and possess it? Can we enjoy something and let it go? When I go on vacation I am always tempted to buy stuff that I'll never ever use. I understand some of this passion comes from our desire to remember or memorialize different experiences in life. A tee-shirt reminds of where we bought it and in some way helps us to relive some part of that particular experience. Isn't that true? Even in our Catholic tradition we have relics. We naturally want a physical connection to whatever or whoever we love and desire. This reality is deeply rooted in something very true and beautiful: "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." (Jn 1:14) The spiritual and physical, the natural and divine are forever wedded in us.

Our thirst for material things comes from the fact that we have an unquenchable spiritual hunger that will only be satisfied when "on that day we shall see you, our God, as you are. We shall become like you and praise you for ever "(Eucharist Prayer II). Because we are not angels (pure spirit) but human beings (body and soul) we are made to experience reality through our five bodily senses.

Our passions, including the passion to possess, however, must be subject to reason. They need direction, they need to be informed, to be disciplined but never suppressed. Otherwise, we become slaves to desires that at best offer us momentary pleasure but never satisfy.

In a recent trip to Cabo Real, Mexico, I wanted to buy something badly. I don't remember what it was now, however, I remember loving the trip and therefore felt compelled to buy something - anything. I subconsciously wanted to try to perpetualize this joy I was experiencing through something material. Its incredible that sometimes something as simple as a rock or a picture can help bring to "life" moments we rightfully want to relive.

I found my match, however: nature. Nature is the remedy for this gotta have it mentality. When you look over the Grand Canyon or the Cliffs of Moher, you can't own it; all you can do is enjoy it. Sure, if you have enough money perhaps you could buy some of the land but never enough to own all the beauty in the world - the sea, the sky and land. At some point you just have to sit down and be absorbed by the beauty and enjoy it without trying to buy it.

Nature frustrates our desire to own everything that gives us pleasure. It taunts us saying "I know you wan'it but you can't have it" All we can do is sit defeated and forfeit our seek-and-destroy mentality and just enjoy it without taking possession of it. It seems to me that these are precisely the moments that bring us satisfaction and peace.