Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Can't spend a penny....?
federica
Seeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
I was idly reading something on line, posted to my FB page, when
an article caught my eye, in the panel of different topics to the right of the main story.
Can one live completely like a 'monk'?
This man has.
but he admits, it wouldn't work if everyone did it....
4
Comments
It's an attractive prospect and I admire his complete ability to 'leave everything behind'.... but it's a wrench when you already have little enough as it is, and you risk losing even that....
He was able to make 'alternative arrangements'. Not everyone can do that.
.
But it's an admirable example, and maybe I'm just making samsaric, dukkha-ist excuses....!
There is no need for extreme asceticism. However degrees of voluntary simplicity can be helpful.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_living
Too much asceticism or being dependent on poverty or wealth are not the Middle Way. The middle way is independent of circumstance. In the words of the Buddha, 'Get Behind me Cushion' . . . oh wait wrong cover, I think that should be Satin . . .
.
(Oh no.... cushions AND awful puns....!) :facepalm: .
I absolutely love and respect this! I recently watched into the wild again. Same affect on me!
We can tell that for all our technology and advancement we are no less suffering! The only thing is the environment suffers more.
I've started a veggie patch and loving it! Hard work! I'd love to slowly move towards a life like this. It would be gradual for me at least haha
I read the heading and thought for a moment you had a kidney problem @federica.
Do women have a prostrate?
I am sure that they can prostrate if so minded..but they do not have a prostate.
I liked the article. It's great he was in a position that he could do that, no mention of dependents.
"I’ve found that friendship, not money, is real security. That most western poverty is spiritual. And that independence is really interdependence." resonates well with me.
The fact that we see ourselves as independent beings separate from the nature which we have emerged from, (and are still part of, and will merge with again), is the root cause of our suffering. Humans have a symbiotic relationship with each other and everything else. See it that way, treat nature with respect, and things may change. Acting out of 'self-interest', without considering the ramifications of ones actions, just perpetuates the problem. I agree with @lobster asceticism is not the way forward, but in this day and age the majority of people act in an entirely hedonistic way. A little asceticism, to reign in the consumer in you, might make a small difference in your and the worlds favour.
Do you really need to buy a pre-packed meal? You can take delight and personal satisfaction in preparing and cooking fresh produce (some of which you may have grown yourself) and sharing it with friends; many meals you can prepare in bulk and which you can freeze for another day (and it is cheeper and has less impact on the environment). Do you need such large portion sizes? Sometimes I cringe at the sizes pot the portions I am served up at times, and when I feel full these days I stop eating, I can't stand feeling bloated and heavy. However, the waste from some meals I have sat in on could easily have fed a third or fourth person to fullness. Do you need to take a car when you can walk or cycle? I see people taking a car a couple of blocks to get a newspaper???? Do you need to subscribe to a million tv channels when a good book, magazine, or the radio can be more engaging and interesting?
When you start being more involved in the 'natural world' and not see it as something else, i.e. an unconscious and mechanical machination that is trying to destroy you at every twist and turn, but rather as an integral part of your whole being, which needs you as much as you need it, many of the modern illnesses and eco-concerns (depression and other mental illnesses, obesity, heart disease, global warming, poverty) can be lessened or even reversed.
But that means changing the modern view of you as an independent being in the world.
That's my eco-rant.
Keep up the good work. It is not about the lifestyle of a monk, which for many includes voluntary poverty of material and stimulation. It is the attitude to environment, materiality and mindless consumerism.
The differing attitudes are illustrated in this story . . .
An American businessman was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied only a little while. The American then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs.
The American then asked, but what do you do with the rest of your time?
The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, señor."
The American scoffed, "I am a Wharton MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise."
The Mexican fisherman asked, "But señor, how long will this all take?"
To which the American replied, "15-20 years."
"But what then, señor?"
The American laughed and said, That's the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."
"Millions, señor? Then what?"
The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."
Er.... actually, we do.....
I lived in my car for a while....it s*cked.
Exactly.
When it's a conscious choice, it's one thing.
When you have no alternative, it's a very sobering exercise....
Well sort of...you have Skenes Organ also known as the female prostate.
Well...yeah.... it's not going to be EXACTLY the same..... I mean, I dare say my chest measurements may be the same as some other random guy's but I would hope, for two completely different reasons.... :nyah: .
I think most of us could simplify. What do we really need, and can we distinguish needs from wants?
Easy..as Oscar said " Give me the luxuries and I can dispense with the necessities. "
As long as he's within the system, I suspect somebody is indirectly undertaking the cost of this guy's self-imposed simplicity.
How does he actually manage to eat every single day? Is he not squatting somebody else's place? How does he dress?
I agree we can simplify our life, but there's nothing wrong with earning a living and actually choosing to offer oneself a good, if simple life with no surplus luxuries, if that's what you want.
He has dispensed with the need of luxury, but not with the need of being in the media's limelight.
I am reminded of Churchills acute observation
' Its takes a fortune to keep Mr Gandhi in poverty ..'
...yes and not many people realise the knock-on effect his stance against empirical domination actually had..
Talk about "For every Action....."
His dogged insistence in promoting the domestic (meaning India) manufacturing of linen and cotton cloth, put the UK's cotton industry on its knees, and decimated entire communities. it put several mills out of action and caused abject and profound poverty among the inhabitants of these villages, filled with cotton-mill workers....
Something from which the industry never ever recovered.
So it's all very well selecting a life of total Poverty, Chastity and self-reliance - but having it forced on you, or being victim to circumstance is no dance of delight....
Thank you for sharing!:)
How so?
It wasn't Churchill who said that, apparently:
>
and
Churchill quoted that in Parliament..I should have been clearer about its provenance.
Churchill quoted a lot of things. He was a dazzling orator, but not all his speeches were authored by him. He did however, have an extraordinarily quick wit.
Some of his one-liners are blinding.....