When we’re buying something at an auction, garage sale, or store, we try to find and identify rarity and value. “This might be a rare, hand-made version that’s worth a lot.”, we may enjoy concluding.
Our awareness of the joy we find in such a conclusion may prompt us to make a further analysis: “Am I buying this because I will enjoy showing it to someone while telling them it may be ‘a rare, hand-made version’? Does my desire to talk about what I have bought keep me from sufficiently analyzing whether I should buy it?”
It’s likely that we’ll reach this vanity-reinforcing conclusion: “The fact that I find this interesting enough to want to talk about probably means that it’s a good investment.”
We recall the great mathematician. Pascal: “People travel so they can tell others about the trip.”
When we realize how much time we spend doing, learning, saying, and buying things with which we can impress others, we begin to notice something that others have noticed all along: how much vanity there is in our lives.
After recognizing vanity within, we should start to control it. Donating to The Church is a beginning.
