{"id":4382,"date":"2015-08-21T06:25:30","date_gmt":"2015-08-21T12:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/?p=4382"},"modified":"2015-08-21T06:25:30","modified_gmt":"2015-08-21T12:25:30","slug":"how-limits-lead-to-freedom-a-practical-exercise-the-purge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2015\/08\/how-limits-lead-to-freedom-a-practical-exercise-the-purge.html","title":{"rendered":"How Limits Lead to Freedom, a Practical Exercise: The Purge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"tidybook.001\"<\/a>Yesterday I wrote a post about what makes for human freedom<\/a>. Most of us uncritically believe that freedom\u00a0is about a lack of constraint.\u00a0Limits are something to be thrown off and left behind.\u00a0<\/span>Freedom, we\u2019ve been taught, is about\u00a0self-determination; no limits<\/em>. We should be\u00a0free to do whatever we want, so long as we don\u2019t impede other people\u2019s ability to do whatever they want. The fewer the limits, the greater the freedom, right?<\/p>\n

I tried to argue for\u00a0a different perspective.\u00a0Healthy limits are absolutely essential to the health of the person<\/em>.\u00a0Limits are not always<\/em> something to be thrown off and left behind. For the most part, limits are the only things that keep us healthy.<\/span><\/p>\n

I wanted to describe a practical exercise that was really helpful.<\/p>\n

So my friend Tim told me about this book called, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up<\/em><\/a>. I would have never run into a book like this because I don\u2019t read chick-books (ba-dum-dum), but I love this idea. The author says: We have so many possessions cluttering up our lives & homes,that we don\u2019t really value any of them properly. We end up viewing most of our possessions\u00a0as clutter.<\/p>\n

By the way, you know the problem with the materialist isn\u2019t that they value material possessions too much, right? The problem is that they don\u2019t value material possession much at all. They really only value the more<\/em>, the next<\/em> thing. The stuff they already have is really viewed as\u00a0clutter, and it is tremendously devalued as the materialist loses their enjoyment of the thing itself.<\/p>\n

The author suggests a method\u00a0for how to impose limits on our lives. She says we should pick a category & do a purge. Don\u2019t go room by room (kitchen, garage, closet), but instead\u00a0go by categories: clothes, books, electronic gadgets, Japanese origami foldings\u00a0(just making sure you are still reading). You take one category & put all of it in a pile in front of you\u2013all your clothes, all your books, all of one category\u2013then you look at every item & ask yourself one question: does this bring me joy? If it does, keep it. If it doesn\u2019t, give it away.<\/p>\n

The power behind the idea is that once you are done\u2013especially if you will do this throughout your entire house\u2013you will only be surrounded by things that bring you joy. Interesting. So I decided to try this with my clothes last week. I took every piece of clothing I had & put it in a pile. Here\u2019s what it looked like.<\/p>\n

\"purge.002\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(Note the confused look from the dog. This is her\u00a0first appearance on the blog, so welcome to Paperback Theology<\/em> Hazel Grace\u2026 I did not name the dog. I have my own names for the dog, but they are not suitable for this medium).<\/p>\n

My first response was predictable: I had no idea I had this much. It was absurd\u2026 years & years of clothing clutter. So, I went through every piece and asked the question. This is a picture of what I was left with at the end:<\/p>\n

\"purge2.001\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Yes, I wear bow ties. Yes, they are the kind you tie all by yourself\u2026 youtube.com my friends.<\/p>\n

So, I have to admit that I did have a sense of freedom when it was all said and done.\u00a0The effects are lingering even a week later, as every time I go into my closet there\u2019s more space, more structure, I can see everything, and everything I see, I like.<\/p>\n

One of the most interesting things about this book is how hungry our culture is for this message. The\u00a0book has sold over 2 million copies! A friend of mine is a librarian in Johnson County. He looked the book up in their system and the waiting list to check out Marie Kondo\u2019s book is 350 people long.<\/p>\n

This tells me that our society is desperate for someone to help them set limits in their lives. The church should be way out in front on this issue. Instead we have gone along with a materialistic and consumeristic culture. We do not embody an alternate way of life with regard to money, possessions, and stuff.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thinking about purging my whole house, one category at a time\u2026. except for books (obviously. I\u2019m keeping all my books. Keep your hands off my books\u2026<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I wrote a post about what makes for human freedom. Most of us uncritically believe that freedom\u00a0is about a lack of constraint.\u00a0Limits are something to be thrown off and left behind.\u00a0Freedom, we\u2019ve been taught, is about\u00a0self-determination; no limits. We should be\u00a0free to do whatever we want, so long as we don\u2019t impede other people\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1118,"featured_media":4387,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1327,1317,1324,1325,280,1328,1322,1326,1323,6],"class_list":["post-4382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-consumerism","tag-freedom","tag-hazel","tag-johnson-county","tag-limits","tag-marie-kondo","tag-materialism","tag-purging","tag-the-life-changing-magic-of-tidying-up","tag-tim-suttle"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Limits Lead to Freedom, a Practical Exercise: The Purge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yesterday I wrote a post about what makes for human freedom. 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