大象传媒

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his family have been meeting behind closed doors in a court room in Nevada to determine how the 93-year-old billionaire鈥檚 fortune will be split between his children when he dies.

The Shakespearian family saga is about succession and power, and the accumulation of 鈥榮tuff鈥�: media empires, houses, titles, unfathomable wealth.
This family feud contrasts with the story of St Francis of Assisi 鈥� one of the most venerated figures in Christian history - born on this day in 1181. The son of a wealthy silk merchant, he spent his early life as the Murdochs do - living in luxury. But he soon became disillusioned, and was instead inspired by visions from God to live a life of poverty, much to his father鈥檚 ire. A disagreement between the two led to Francis eventually renouncing his father鈥檚 fortune, and stripping himself naked in front of him to symbolise this renunciation.

Francis鈥檚 radical strive for poverty, to divest himself of all the 鈥榮tuff鈥� feels so contrary to today鈥檚 materialism. Like much of my generation, I confess I sometimes find myself staring zombie-like at online videos of social media influencers unboxing things they have bought, or trying on mountains of different outfits.
Last year, I took part in a conversation hosted by St James鈥檚 Piccadilly church and the National Gallery on the meaning of St Francis for us today. Also taking part was the artist Michael Landy, who in 2001 destroyed every single one of his 7,227 possessions in a powerful art installation on Oxford Street. And I mean everything 鈥� childhood mementos, clothes, his Saab 900 Turbo car. Landy didn鈥檛 quite go as far as St Francis in stripping down to nothing, but left only with the blue boiler suit he was wearing.

James Lingwood, who commissioned the installation, entitled BreakDown, said: 鈥淭here was something exhilarating about seeing somebody liberating themselves from the tyranny of ownership.鈥�

Though the idea of having nothing terrifies me, I see the attraction of being unencumbered by the things that weigh us down, that take our eyes off the stuff that I think really make us human: love, connection, feelings that transcend the material. Maybe this is why Jesus and early Christians warned of the excesses of riches and pointed towards the eternal value of treasures in heaven rather than on earth.

The idea that having nothing should teach us precious lessons about life may sound hollow to those who have very little 鈥� whether it鈥檚 because of the cost of living crisis, or because they have fled their homes in Israel or Gaza or Ukraine or Sudan.

But for those of us addicted to acquiring stuff whether it鈥檚 from our own bank accounts or through our fathers鈥� media empires, maybe less is more.

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