Okay, your last reply there threw me a bit.
First of all- yes, we are fundamentally connected to the world. There is no way around it- man and his environment are one. Don't believe me? Get into a vacuum chamber and flip the switch to remove your environment from around you. Just don't ask me to clean it up.

Now, as to how one is defined by his possessions... that is something of a deep subject. Does a person define themselves by what they own?

I like to think not. Like so many others, I could easily part with pretty much everything I have quite cheerfully, as long as I knew it was going to good use- that is, I couldn't toss my grandmother's desk into a landfill, but could easily give it to one of my sisters.

On the other hand, the world tends to define you by what you have. If I drive around in a shiny Mercedes convertible, I'm viewed much differently than if I drive a battered VW Jetta TDI. If I wear a tee shirt and jeans I'm viewed much differently than if I wear a dress shirt and tie. Not only am I viewed differently, but I'm treated differently as well- people who apparently are a bit posh get a more deferential treatment than working class types.

Me, I like to kinda keep myself as something of an enigma in that regard- I drive the aforementioned TDI and wear jeans whenever I can, don't wear a lot of flashy jewelry (just two silver rings), and in general keep a rather blue-collar appearance- or rather, a neutral appearance, so I could fit in just as well with a bunch of people at a middle-class establishment as I could with the guys at the local dive after the factory lets out. I prefer not to let myself be defined in that way.

It's only if you enter my home that you start to see a slightly different view of me, and suspect that maybe there's a little more to me than first appears after all. The antiques and stained glass and whatnot tend to take people by surprise.

But really, as long as I knew that my stuff wasn't being trashed- if I knew that my friends and family would take care of it- I would be perfectly content to leave behind all but some clothes and walk away to start again elsewhere.

In fact, I once very nearly did that... but that's another long story.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Fri 9 May 2008, 22:11, Reply)