03191 The Diderot Effect

There was a period when I believed stuff meant something. I thought that if you had matching side chairs and a sofa that harmonized and some beautiful lamps to light them you would have a home, that elegance signaled happiness. — Anna Quindlen

In 1769, the French philosopher Dennis Diderot penned an essay that remains famous today — “Regrets on My Old Dressing Gown, or, a Warning to Those Who Have More Taste Than Fortune.”

The essay recounts the events that follow upon his receipt of a gift of a new dressing gown, to replace the old, frumpy, tattered-but-comfortable dressing gown that he had worn for many years.

He comes to rue his decision to accept the new gown, because next to his new gown, his old possessions seemed shabby, tawdry. So item by item, he begins to buy new “stuff.” He goes in debt to “trade up” as we would say in the modern era. He writes, "I was absolute master of my old dressing gown, but I have become a slave to my new one.” He leaves us this advice:

My friends, keep your old friends. My friends, fear the touch of wealth. Let my example teach you a lesson. Poverty has its freedoms; opulence has its obstacles.

Merchants are well aware of this psychological effect. They exploit it all the time. It’s not new to the modern era. Diderot’s essay comes to us from the 18th century. Even earlier than that, in the fourth century BC the Greek philosopher Epicurus said —

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

Advertising and media create powerful social norms that drive personal desires, feed the urge to gluttony, and seed us all with feelings of perpetual dissatisfaction. No matter how much stuff we have, we are never satisfied. We must always have more. It doesn’t matter if we spend millions of dollars on stuff, we still feel as though we don’t have enough stuff. We therefore need more money so we can buy more stuff.

That is the pattern.

We need different and better patterns if we want better outcomes.

The path out of the pattern in which we are enmeshed begins with observation.

What is in your life that creates these urges to consume?

How much commercial television do you watch?

How many ads do you see on the internet?

Sometimes just knowing what happens to you is a major step out of the trap. You may need to avoid the brainwashing mental stimulation from the media that drives you to consume, at least in the beginning as you build your strength and resistance to ad campaigns. .

We’re talking about this in the energy section because all stuff embodies energy in its materials, manufacture, and distribution. Conservation of stuff is an essential aspect of conservation of energy.

Moderation and temperance in our use of material things are important virtues. Actually, they are critical, because if we don’t get over our gluttony for material things, all is lost for the planet, its peoples and all its critters.

You can raise some capital for your permaculture design implementation by selling excess stuff that you don’t actually need to own.

You can contribute to the proper distribution of surplus by donating items you don’t actually need to own to charities.

This orientation toward frugality and temperance does not mean that your life should lack beauty or style. You can have all the beauty and style you want in your life, and it will be all the more precious because it won’t be in control. In other words, as someone once said, “Don’t have a lifestyle, instead, embrace style.”

Oh yes, and get over that juvenile “ewwwwww temperance” emotion. Temperance is beautiful because it is kind and loving to all people, to the earth and all the critters of the earth, as well as its plants and trees and all the life of the oceans and skies.

In other words. . . Reduce, reuse, rot, repurpose, return, repair, recycle, renew, refuse, make over, make do.