> From: Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>> The reward for the great majority of
>> humanity is however truly in the long run, very long run, pie in the sky
>> when you die by and by. Surely not economic. This is the great myth of
>> the American Dream.
>
> Yes, as part of my midlife crisis, I did an analysis of what brought
> us to the present condition. Little did we realize the
> work-house-car-stuff cycle is just the modern-day equivalent of owing
> your soul to the company store. The question is how to get off the
> spinning merry-go-round?
A plan would be good. It doesn't happen overnight. You just can't jump off --
at least, most people can't.
First step: downsize as much as you can stand it. Then reduce your expenses to
the bone. Then put away every cent you can, and find out some way to grow food.
They haven't figured out how to tax food you grow for yourself (yet) although
the recently-passed SB-510 gives them the tools to do so.
> If a person was to become monkly and limit themself to Maslow's
> Hierarchy of Needs levels one and two, they can do quite well with
> very little cost. But three and four can bankrupt you.
Why? What does money have to do with friendship, family, and sex? (Well,
granted that the latter can cost you a mint, depending on how you go about
it...)
What does money have to do with self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect
of and by others? (Well, I guess you can buy the respect of others, and thus
derive a delusional sense of achievement from it, but that "respect *of*
others" part is more difficult in such a case...)
http://www.ecoreality.org/wiki/Image:Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs.png
Carol and I produced enough food for two people last year. That has far more
self-esteem, confidence, and achievement value to me than a mid-six-figure
income.
> Five? Well,
> that's where the OMs come in.
Hmmm... your "self actualization" depends on possession of high quality lenses?
Sounds like "actualization via external stimulus" to me!
Still, I must admit... Zuikos do enable certain forms of self actualization,
but strictly speaking, sums of money are not really necessary for self
actualization.
----------------
Why has time disappeared in our culture? How is it that after decades of
inventions and new technologies devoted to saving time and labor, the result is
that there is no time left? We are a time-poor society; we are temporally
impoverished. And there is no issue, no aspect of human life that exceeds this
in importance. The destruction of time is literally the destruction of life. --
Jacob Needleman
:::: Jan Steinman, EcoReality Co-op ::::
--
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