What is wealth? Really, what IS wealth? Abundance, or value? Wealth is value. Abundance takes away value, takes away wealth. Scarcity builds wealth, not abundance.
“He who dies with the most toys wins!” That’s a cliche that most people would agree with, having been programmed to be productive cogs of consumption. But I suggest that he with the most toys is the most bored. Hoarders too, are mistaken in their belief that abundance is wealth.
I define boredom as wealth without gratitude. What’s missing is us, not stuff.
Ego hoarding is encouraged by social programming. Look at the steady messaging to have more and more. Ego hoarding is more ruinous than filth hoarding, just not as apparent—which is why it is more ruinous than filth hoarding. In the quest for something other than ourselves, we suborn ourselves to endless excesses, driving us further from what we really need, ourselves and God.
An embrace of God is an embrace of ourselves. Ego driven life is a life of self-rejection, not self-fulfillment. Always something else’s fault, we’re never able to take care of ourselves. Perfection is impossible. But in spiritual life, perfection describes normal. Truth is, all the externals preoccupations in life are procrastinations of coming to terms with being alive, being who we are, loving God and thanking God for life.
We are programmed to question and reject ourselves, and we believe it.
“Run away! Run away!”
Leading to hoarding, and a worthless life.
When you’ve spent a life time blaming everything you can think of, except yourself, for your miseries, what does it take to force you to come to terms with reality? Everyone is lost at some point, most stay lost by choice, obedient to their ego and its ego driven ideology, that squarely blames everyone, everything, except ourselves. Those who make it to reality, become Americans.
When you own yourself, and all that you do, and all that you have, and all that you want, then and only then, is it possible to find value in life. Then, and only then is sanity possible. Don’t blame others, as our responses to life is a choice. I define sanity as knowing that you’re crazy, because we all are. (We are biological compute beings, with nothing but instinct to get use started in life.)
The benefit of competence is being able to live with competent people.
As a teacher, my first responsibility is to acquaint my students with why a thing is worth learning. When they see value in learning what I teach, they take to it, and add it to their accumulation of wealth. (Competence is wealth.) One of the key benefits of competence is being able to integrate into a society of competence, of which, competence is requisite.
If you want to hang with the right people, you’ve got to be like them. If you want to be an American, you’ve got to be an American.
This is a point that most of my students got. At which point, most of my work as a teacher was then accomplished. Answering questions is easy. Demonstrating value, that’s art.
Less is more. More is less.
In economics, scarcity is what adds value to goods and services. Its like that, because it is like that. Ratios. Going further, each of us are our own most valuable possession. We are our only inseparable possession. And there will only ever be one of us. Rejecting that value, rejecting ourselves, how can life ever be good?
For me, acceptance of myself came with an embrace of God. I rejected myself because of my mortality and fragility. I didn’t want myself, if I was to die, because I didn’t want to die, ever. Thus my prayers to eternity. To God, about us.
It is my place and purpose to die. Death gives my life scarcity, making my life priceless. And it is all mine to enjoy. Death takes care of itself, so I don’t worry about it. My life though, is mine, so long as I am here—and I am here, meant to be. I am my own part of God’s creation, we all are. Each of us, the only one of us. Blessed.
God is bewildering to me, but I experience life none the less. One day at a time. Each one, wonderful when seen as it is. Death haunts my ego, but frees me from care, as there is nothing about my life, except to enjoy it. Not egotistically, but as the person I am, my part of creation.
Contentment.
There are thing I still want. There are things I do for what I want. They add to my ability to do things competently. But regardless of outcomes, I am already fine the way I am, whether I get to explore my curiosities or not. And when I am short of things, I appreciate what I have that much more. No boredom, I am grateful. Less is more, because so few things are precious. Ourselves are first of those things, which is really an embrace of God—even a God of our bewilderment.
Does wealth without gratitude sound like a good definition of boredom?
Do you see how scarcity adds value, and abundance dilutes it?
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Clarity, unity, organization, action. Let’s not fail where it counts.
Be American. Stay American!
David Weeks, Information Developer, Tampa, Florida.