Riches

A man can gain the entire world and be a miserable wretch. A man can also have very little to nothing and be serenely content. Why is this?? The lust and desire to acquire more never ends. Is there gratefulness in gaining more material possessions?? If I was grateful for what I already have there wouldn’t be a need in possessing something else. I would be content with what I have and wouldn’t have to seek out something that’s “better.” Gratitude is one simple way of removing lust and desire. Don’t be jealous of what your neighbor has. Don’t be jealous of his wife, his kids, house, car, boat. Whatever it is. Don’t be jealous. Be grateful for what you have. Life can be greener on your side of the fence when you take care of your own lawn. Stop comparing. If your own lawn isn’t green, whose fault is it?? I’m not going to chase after a material thing that takes an entire lifetime to achieve and be discontent and disappointed in the end when obtaining it. Some people will chase after that one thing and never get it. All that sacrifice and hard work to be let down towards the end. Who’s going to suffer and be a victim in the process?? Is it going to be your wife, husband, kids, best friend?? Whoever it is, don’t let them become collateral damage. People are valuable. You can’t put a price on life. Enjoy the journey. Make the most out of what you can while you can. We can miss out years of our life trying to possess things. Yes, I need a job to make a living. Yes, I need a car to drive and a home to live in. I choose to not live beyond the means of living simply. I’m happy with the car I drive. I don’t have to be driving a Porsche or exotic foreign sport car. I’m blessed to have a roof over my head and having running water electricity. Sometimes we really need to just stop everything that we’re doing and think about how blessed we really are. There’s people in third world countries who are starving, homeless and have no hope of removing themselves from that terrible situation. I’m not sure what’s more sad, a third world citizen that’s more happy and content with what he has or a first world citizen who commits suicide because of feeling so hopeless regardless of all the things he possesses. You can’t buy contentment. You can’t buy peace. It’s something you cultivate yourself. You’re not going to find it in things and material possessions. Immanuel Kant said, “We are not rich by what we possess but by what we can without.” I can have “nothing” and be the richest man in the world.

 

Less Is More

Materialism wants more. When it gets what it wants then it wants something else and so on. There are those that have little to no possessions and yet do not want more. Why is this?? And there are those that have acquired much and will continue to want more. Its strange how inanimate objects have control over animate beings. Something that does not have a soul, lives or breathes has control over the being that has a soul, lives or breathes. Something that is dead and will never live has control over the living. Those that continue to want, there is something alive in their being that draws them to want and to accumulate. And those that do not want, there is something that is dead in their being which makes them to not want and acquire things. With all that said, not wanting is a discipline. Discipline is the art of denial. It is the art of exercising death in one’s mind and being. When you take something away, you learn to appreciate the value of it. Try holding your breathe for 60 seconds. Do you and your lungs and body not appreciate that breathe of air after 60 seconds?? Discipline will teach you the value of things. It will teach you what is important and what really matters and vice versa. That is why those that are disciplined can also be grateful. They can be grateful for just simple needs. Simplicity does not waver or change, it remains what it has always been. Ever notice that wanting becomes more and more complicated, it wants to order fancy beverages at the bar or cafe and order sophisticated entrees at the steakhouse and continue to increase the standard of living. It wants to buy more expensive designer clothes and own foreign sports cars. Wanting relishes in having the senses overstimulated. When you overstimulate your senses, they become dull and grow more dull. Those that overindulge, their awareness becomes dull. They do not enjoy the things they once enjoyed, it doesn’t bring them pleasure and they are now miserable. Those that have a keen awareness have gone without something to develop that awareness they now possess. Ever have the experience of losing one of your senses?? Have you last the ability to speak or see or  not being able to feel a certain part of your body. From losing one sense, the other senses are enhanced. And if you were fortunate enough to have that one sense returned to you, did it not make you more appreciative of that one sense and of your life experience. To be content and grateful, you must practice self discipline and self denial. To experience a life that is more meaningful, richer and fuller; you must die out to certain things. By practicing this each day, new life will be resurrected out of the death you have made out of your daily practice. In death, there is new life, new meaning, and new purpose. Look at nature, does it not tell you death is a normal part of life. The shell of a seed must die and be broken before it can grow into a plant and bear fruit. This is what nature intended. It was designed that way. Am I still a seed?? Am I just a plant?? Or have I become a tree or an orchard?? There are many people who are fighting against what they were designed to do; rather they embrace what they’re not designed to do. Are they not aware who they are as humans?? Are they not aware who they are as individuals. They wander and toil through out the day without meaning and purpose because they haven’t developed an awareness to even know they are toiling without meaning and purpose. That is the great deception. Believing in things that have no value and seeing those things as being valuable. Having eyes to see and yet being blinded while seeing. Having an awareness and yet being numb to experience while experiencing.