“…the imagination is unleashed by constraints. You break out of the box by stepping into shackles.”
Jonah Lehrer
I remember the first couple of times going to the grocery store after I moved to the United States.
The sheer abundance of items created mental paralysis that sometimes caused me to walk out of the store without buying anything. Picking each single item was a huge chore. I was overwhelmed by the variety of toothpastes, paper towels, and ice cream.
I’d never had to contend with so many choices at the grocery store in my native country (that has since changed). It often left me frozen with indecision.
At first, I found it odd that such abundance would trigger this response. I believed, like many others, that abundance was the be-all and end-all. It’s what we all want.
More friends.
More clothes.
More money.
More options.
More information.
More entertainment.
More pleasure.
More opportunities.
More dates.
More food and drink.
More, more, more.
Now that the richest societies in the world have achieved levels of abundance ancient peoples could never have dreamed of, we all should be more happy, right?
An abundance of anxiety and overwhelm
What we have instead is an overabundance of anxiety and overwhelm. And sadly we’re largely unaware that these ailments often stem from our unending desire for more.
The problem is that in the face of such abundance, our decision-making machine has to work exponentially harder.
Making a decision, even a relatively low stakes one, takes lots of mental energy and bandwidth. The more options we have, the more possibilities and combinations of possibilities we have to consider. And our hyper-awareness of limitless options cause us to suffer from the dreaded FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out).
Even when we finally make a choice, we can find ourselves ruminating over the millions of other possibilities we had to sacrifice. This FOMO is raised to dangerous levels when we see friends and strangers living out all the other options we gave up on social media.
The result is the dreaded state of never being at peace with our decisions. We’re always looking over our shoulder asking, “What if?”
The value of scarcity
We hear a lot these days about the value of having an abundance mindset over a scarcity mindset. We’re told that we need to expand our belief in what’s possible and not to see the world as limited.
What often gets lost in the conversation is that abundance is not always good and scarcity is not always bad.
In fact, scarcity is necessary for anything to have value and meaning. Abundance does the opposite. If we all had access to an infinite supply of dollars, money loses all value and meaning. If you sampled all the flavors of ice cream that exists, you’ll soon experience it as cold, creamy mush with no particular flavor. If I played all the keys of a piano at once, I would never be able to create music most people would find pleasing.
Scarcity is vital for a meaningful human experience.
Strangely, our abundance has given us the vague sense that nothing really matters. Nothing really has any intrinsic or lasting value.
For past generations, problems stemmed from scarcity. Our problems stem from too much abundance. Believe it or not, infinite abundance has its limits too. And we’re beginning to hit it.
Redefining abundance
In ancient times, when people wanted to find enlightenment, they renounced all their material possessions and headed out to the surrounding deserts and caves. Even back then, people felt driven to reduce their sensory overload as a way to getting closer to the divine and experiencing enlightenment.
Most of us today may not be driven to asceticism, but we do feel the need, if even only on a subconscious level, to be free of the constant demands on our psyche. This is where it can be helpful to re-examine what we mean when we say we want abundance.
Instead of seeing abundance as the total absence of constraints, we can define it within the bounds of scarcity and constraints. In other words, we can define abundance as the ability to find endless fulfillment and delight within constraints.
This is abundance 2.0. It is the place where creativity flows. The place where deep, committed, and lasting relationships are forged. The place where distraction is replaced by focus and presence.
The place where anxiety and overwhelm are vanquished by contentment and peace.
George! This is brilliant! I was thinking about almost the exact same thing this morning. I was thinking about white privilege and the Euro-settler way of (a) romanticizing indigenous cultures and/or relegating people of color under a class-based system as ‘innocent’ and ‘simple-minded’ as they take and take and take from them and (b) how interestingly enough, still, the “American Dream” – this illusive and falsely contrived thing drives many people from all over the world to want to emulate. There is an underlying drive or desire to have more, achieve more – it is likely in every culture. So then I was thinking about how you contrasted abundance with scarcity – you did it so well. But I wanted to offer this up for consideration… what if abundance and scarcity are not an either or scenario, but rather live on a continuum and discernment is the middle way? Discernment is the act of making a choice that is based on your personal preference. Sure there is a lot “stuff” in the modern world – enough to drive one crazy with both envy and a drive to have it all. But it is the wise one who can rest in between the two and discern what really matters most. Would you mind if I link to your post in my blog post?
Hi Jill, thank you for this wonderful comment. I agree that we live on a continuum. I believe this for all the categories of duality we create. My argument is that as a culture, we tend to tilt too much to one side than the other. But this is admittedly my point of view. You are most welcome to link this post in yours. Thank you!