Lifestyle of a Sage

[RiverSnake]

I've often wondered what is the best type of lifestyle that supports ones spiritual growth. How does one pay the bills and still be able to support a minimum 4 hr daily practice of the esoteric arts.

 

Are there jobs that are more well conditioned to the needs of a spiritual aspirant.

 

Is there a way to live and commune with nature while at the same time foster a healthy lifestyle in which one has the basic necessities: Food, Shelter, Water, Transportation...and a good book?

 

Is there a way to free oneself from the rushed and chaotic lifestyle of modern society a still make ends meet?

 

Can you simply have a small car, a mini trailer and park it in the country and still be able to survive?

 

I would like to be able to wake up in the morning to the smell of nature do a bit of taichi in the fresh country morning air, have a small breakfast with some Green tea and then meditate for a couple hours.

 

Then perhaps have couple of clients come by around 12 p.m. whom have an hour massage. I would ask for people to donate what they feel is appropriate and from this i could make my living.

 

 

Is this a realistic vision? Can it be done? I have found Phores journal to be quite the inspiration since he seems to be living like a real sage.

 

 

I'm sure other people have thought about this kind of lifestyle and i would like to hear there own vision as well as how they would handle the economics of the situation and there opinion as to whether it is feasible.

 

-I look forward to hearing from others

 

-Peace

[Adishakti]

Hi OldGreen

 

I believe: Sometimes life chooses the jobs, relationships, situations etc. for us. (This is until we have sufficiently clean Karma to realise we have exactly chosen what we are in). Anyway, I think the best meditation and learning happens while we are with people. Your boss is rude, thank her she's helping crush your ego. Or a friend is childlike, thank him he is helping you be patient. Someone has a lot of anger, you are then expected to just stand firm on the ground and let the person vent. You don't have a big car?! Then deal with the greed within. You know what I mean.. so much learning in the world! A lot of spiritual growth IMO happens when we are with people.

 

And when we are sufficiently evolved, a cave somewhere is waiting for us so we can learn higher truths and live super consciously. Off course after all the learning in the cave - it demands we go back to the world (people) and then give.

 

 

I've often wondered what is the best type of lifestyle that supports ones spiritual growth.

[tragblack]

Be like water?

[Path]

I've often wondered what is the best type of lifestyle that supports ones spiritual growth. How does one pay the bills and still be able to support a minimum 4 hr daily practice of the esoteric arts.

 

Are there jobs that are more well conditioned to the needs of a spiritual aspirant.

 

Is there a way to live and commune with nature while at the same time foster a healthy lifestyle in which one has the basic necessities: Food, Shelter, Water, Transportation...and a good book?

 

Is there a way to free oneself from the rushed and chaotic lifestyle of modern society a still make ends meet?

 

Can you simply have a small car, a mini trailer and park it in the country and still be able to survive?

 

I would like to be able to wake up in the morning to the smell of nature do a bit of taichi in the fresh country morning air, have a small breakfast with some Green tea and then meditate for a couple hours.

 

Then perhaps have couple of clients come by around 12 p.m. whom have an hour massage. I would ask for people to donate what they feel is appropriate and from this i could make my living.

 

 

Is this a realistic vision? Can it be done? I have found Phores journal to be quite the inspiration since he seems to be living like a real sage.

 

 

I'm sure other people have thought about this kind of lifestyle and i would like to hear there own vision as well as how they would handle the economics of the situation and there opinion as to whether it is feasible.

 

-I look forward to hearing from others

 

-Peace

 

 

In my youth I sought the mountains to be my home, I long for a cave in the forest to live with the beasts and the wild. I had the impression then that by having those I will have peace; and if I have to walk among men, I will be invisible unless I allow myself to be seen by the particular person. But, alas, my path in this incarnation, I was born in a city, with no mountains, haunted natural and manmade surroundings and was always assualt by the cacophony of corrupted vibrations. I was a very angry youth, but I am glad I was watched by those able to cuff my abilities. Life was difficult, and I was miserable, what I wanted were those seemingly unsatisfiable desires.

 

Long story short, eventually I managed to work with what I have, and I used those obstacles I faced every single moment of my life then and made it a challenge. If I cannot find the peace in me, regardless of where I go, there will never be peace and life will always be the same. If I let external desires dictate my satisfaction, there will never be an end. And unsatisfied desires eventually leads to depression and I will likely forgot what caused me to be depressed, and that will eventually lead to suicide.

 

Thus, when I am working, I appreciate what work can provide me. Initially, I meditate and do my neccesities before my daily events and after, in other words if I have to reach work at a certain time I wake up earlier than which is neccesary do my cultivation ritual. Eventually I am able to practice regardless of what I am doing.

 

If you are able to reach the desire you mentioned, good for you. Not everyone is that fortunate to live their perfect idea, this is just written for those who find it almost impossible to have their desired idea but is willing to cultivate.

[RiverSnake]

A lot of spiritual growth IMO happens when we are with people.

 

 

Indeed i have been experiencing a lot of that lately. People will challenge you.

 

-I feel that many changes will be occurring in my life in the next couple of years. Leaving college and all kinds of possibilities will be open to me. I guess i'll just have to see what happens...

[Jetsun]

Lui I-Ming says that you can cultivate in towns and cities in the midst of urban lifestyle, he even indicates that those situations are ideal for Taoists, how to do it though is the tricky part. Other teachers like G.I. Gurdjieff and Anthony De Mello say similar things that the pressures of other people create the forces which can refine your character if you know how to use them, which are absent if you live like a hermit in the countryside. This is something I have been trying to figure out for a long time myself as I doubt I will ever have the luxury to live in the countryside and go on long retreats. All the teachers which I mentioned which teach using daily life stress the expansion of awareness and methods of "self observation" in the midst of life so there are teachings and methods to use to cultivate without you needing to be absorbed in nature I think.

[mYTHmAKER]

I personally prefer the city.

A guru i knew said i don't do anything. i just put you together and you rub against each other and are polished like stones.

Best to hang out with like minded people so you are not pulled from your path.

Edited July 27, 2011 by mYTHmAKER

[mYTHmAKER]

EXCELLENT point, Myth!

 

Should be NOT pulled off your path.

[mYTHmAKER]

Mythmaker's full, corrected, line:

 

 

Thanks for the clarification. I recognized the intent of your post. (My bold.)

 

I did too even though i wrote it wrong the first time LOL

[RiverSnake]

Hm...i think there are benefits to living both in and outside of modern urban life. I think in the future i will need to find a healthy balance between the two.

 

Perhaps after college when i begin to restructure my life i will make room for a month long retreat every year. This idea resonates quite strongly with me. We shall see...

[suninmyeyes]

I've often wondered what is the best type of lifestyle that supports ones spiritual growth. How does one pay the bills and still be able to support a minimum 4 hr daily practice of the esoteric arts.

 

Are there jobs that are more well conditioned to the needs of a spiritual aspirant.

 

Is there a way to live and commune with nature while at the same time foster a healthy lifestyle in which one has the basic necessities: Food, Shelter, Water, Transportation...and a good book?

 

Is there a way to free oneself from the rushed and chaotic lifestyle of modern society a still make ends meet?

 

Can you simply have a small car, a mini trailer and park it in the country and still be able to survive?

 

I would like to be able to wake up in the morning to the smell of nature do a bit of taichi in the fresh country morning air, have a small breakfast with some Green tea and then meditate for a couple hours.

 

Then perhaps have couple of clients come by around 12 p.m. whom have an hour massage. I would ask for people to donate what they feel is appropriate and from this i could make my living.

 

 

Is this a realistic vision? Can it be done? I have found Phores journal to be quite the inspiration since he seems to be living like a real sage.

 

 

I'm sure other people have thought about this kind of lifestyle and i would like to hear there own vision as well as how they would handle the economics of the situation and there opinion as to whether it is feasible.

 

-I look forward to hearing from others

 

-Peace

 

Yes of course it can be done ,sounds realistic enough and if that is what you are attracted to(making sure to understand the difference between attraction and escapisam is also important)- go for it. Everyone is uniqe with uniqe ability to learn and uniqe talents,threading their uniqe way. That is the beuty of existance .

Living life according to ones own dreams and learning to dream counciously is a good skill which leaves no space for regrets.

Try it you may like it or you may get bored very soon. Nature can be rough and unyielding and not very romantic.

Feel deep inside of yourself and dont be scared to go forever opens you heart .We all live and learn. Life is actually not so serious .

Edited July 27, 2011 by suninmyeyes

[suninmyeyes]

Don't forget to consider your sage's outfit of choice. Silk? Linen? Cotton? Spandex? Burlap?

 

 

Wear it in town and in the country.

hahaha

I was asked at my taiji class if I wanted one,I was like: Thanks,but no thanks.

I am OK in my track suit bottoms and a t shirt.

[mYTHmAKER]

I prefer black.

Wherever you go there you are

[Lotus7]

Hey guys, its been a while since I have posted, so seeing this topic has really sparked a flame within.

Old Green- I too have a very similar view on this topic. Since you are about to leave college I am guessing that you and I are close in age (I am 23). I started to become interested in buddhism/daoism when I was about 19; before that I considered myself to be "Christian", so one can only imagine the transformation of thought once I started learning of these taboo eastern philosophies. Anyways, around this time I started to get extremely impassioned for nature. I grew up spending a lot of time outdoors with my dad hiking, fishing, camping, etc., but just sort of drifted away from nature for a while in my teens. Once I moved out on my own, I started to camp and hike again pretty frequently, and just fell in love with the great outdoors once again. Somewhere during this period, I read the book "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer, and then later saw the movie with Emile Hirsche and Vince Vaughn. If you are not familiar with the story, it is about a guy named Christopher McCandless who is a free-spirited hippy type who invests much of his interests in the writings of the great Romantics, such as Thoreau, Emerson, Jack London, Lord Byron and the like. He graduates from a prestigious university and decides to sell all his things and abandon society. He travels around the U.s. with nothing but a few basic items in search for a greater purpose for being. His dream was to go to Alaska and live off of the land, and finally reaches his goal. He lives there in the wilderness for a time, but the great Wild turns out to be a far greater beast than he could tame, and he meets his demise by eating poisonous berries and starving to death....

Anyways, after this story had fully permeated my soul and mind, I wanted just what he wanted. This lust for freedom and my growing passion for nature and the Eastern arts completely possessed my thoughts for a time. I wanted to load up my pack and hike off into the woods to live and meditate. This dream lasted for a while and then just went kind of dormant as I was once again sucked into the perpetual motion of society.

Well about a year later I lost a job, and found myself with a lot of free time. I thought I was gaining more knowledge about mediation, and thought that I was starting to crack some real spiritual truths. A friend contacted me and asked if I wanted to go camping at one of my old stomping grounds deep in the mountains. It was a place about 15 miles from the nearest town, and was the site of many youth camping trips with my father. I eagerly accepted and started packing up all the gear I had.

When we arrived and set up camp, I had a strange feeling of just being "home", like this was the place I was supposed to be. We all camped for a couple of nights and then my friends decided they were ready to go. I thought about this for a while, and then with all the passion and intent that had been welling up inside of me, I told them to leave me.--- Now keep in mind that I had no money, a scarce amount of food and was in blackbear country.--- They argued with me for a time, but I persisted, and they turned and walked out of the vast summer forest. I had finally done what I had been intending to do for the past few years.

Ok Ill make this story a bit shorter... So I stayed in the woods for three weeks. I rationed what food I had, and fished in the nearby stream when I ran out. I meditated, prayed, hiked, encountered numerous bears and foxes, climbed waterfalls... I was completely free for a time. But closer to the end of my stay, I started to come to the realization that I could not run from society forever and that no matter where I was I would never find fulfillment until I had come face to face with the false being within. No external circumstance could satisfy my hunger for a greater purpose. I realized that everything worthwhile was already inside of me. All the knowledge in the world and all the great mountains could never bring the wisdom and guidance that I desperately needed in my life at the time.

So all that being said, I want to clarify that what I did was extremely irresponsible and very dangerous. I was young and immature and so were my decisions. I know that you are not speaking of this kind of excluded existence. I was just trying to put my silly experience into perspective.

Chapter 47 of the Tao Te Ching kind of sums this up for me..."Without opening your door, you can know the whole world. Without looking out your window, you can understand the way of the Tao. The more knowledge you seek, the less you will understand. The master understands without leaving, sees clearly without looking, accomplishes much without doing anything."

So loooooooong story short, I don't think it really matters where you are. I believe secluded locations can be very beneficial if your spirit is mature enough to embark on that kind of process. I still to this day travel to the mountains quite frequently to hike and meditate, but nature and the Universe taught me a valuable lesson, so I keep myself in check, no matter how inviting those hills look.

So I hoped this helps to give a small perspective with my personal experience.

 

Love and light, Matt

[RiverSnake]

Thanks for sharing your story Lotus. I enjoyed reading it.

[Adishakti]

Sometimes when you are expecting changes and if nothing happens, take that time to meditate. Maybe it's pushing you towards the Lifestyle of a Sage.

 

I feel that many changes will be occurring in my life in the next couple of years.

[mYTHmAKER]

Sometimes when you are expecting changes and if nothing happens, take that time to meditate. Maybe it's pushing you towards the Lifestyle of a Sage.

 

 

Something is always happening

[tragblack]

Interesting. Immature, but kind of brave.

[deci belle]

On a similar vein, Don Juan Matus said a warrior only has two tools in life: will and patience. A warrior knows what is being awaited, avoided, fought.

 

"If a warrior is to succeed in anything, the success must come gently, with a great deal of effort but with no stress or obsession."

[Adishakti]

Something is always happening

 

Haha, yeah. With so much going on in ones mind.

 

What I really mean is the stuff that youngsters are thought to expect: Good career, marry, take a loan to buy a house, invest etc. And sometimes when things don't as expected - don't loose hope, be glad that it's providing a great potential to grow.

 

You agree?

[mYTHmAKER]

Haha, yeah. With so much going on in ones mind.

 

What I really mean is the stuff that youngsters are thought to expect: Good career, marry, take a loan to buy a house, invest etc. And sometimes when things don't as expected - don't loose hope, be glad that it's providing a great potential to grow.

 

You agree?

 

Externally i agree.

I did not mean a busy mind

I meant internally stuff is happening in the sense of subtle preparation -

growing and being cooked in ways we are not aware of - and then something happens

and we are different - looking back we can sometimes see what it was.

[DalTheJigsaw123]

Love this thread!

Thank you!

[ChiDragon]

I've often wondered what is the best type of lifestyle that supports ones spiritual growth. How does one pay the bills and still be able to support a minimum 4 hr daily practice of the esoteric arts.

 

I would like to be able to wake up in the morning to the smell of nature do a bit of taichi in the fresh country morning air, have a small breakfast with some Green tea and then meditate for a couple hours.

 

Then perhaps have couple of clients come by around 12 p.m. whom have an hour massage. I would ask for people to donate what they feel is appropriate and from this i could make my living.

 

Is this a realistic vision? Can it be done? I have found Phores journal to be quite the inspiration since he seems to be living like a real sage.

 

I'm sure other people have thought about this kind of lifestyle and i would like to hear there own vision as well as how they would handle the economics of the situation and there opinion as to whether it is feasible.

 

-I look forward to hearing from others

 

-Peace

 

OldGreen, it seems to me your are asking for a lifestyle of a Taoist not a sage. To be practical, it can be done when you are retired. Unless, you have a rich family that can help you with your financial needs. If you are still young, you have do work something out to help you to get there. Fortunately, it can be done. You know what, with all the lucks in the world, I'm there right now....

[ChiDragon]

Thanks for sharing your inspiration. Hope all is well on your path. _/\_

You welcome! I hope the same goes to you all.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

I was recently reading the letters of Zen master Ta Hui. One of them was to a political official who asked whether he has to "leave home." Ta Hui said that there is less chance of him 'getting there' from high position, but that his foundation will be stronger than that of people who "leave home" since he will have managed to do so in more difficult circumstances, whereas others might falter being thrown into his position after attaining The Way in easier circumstances.

 

This has mostly been my view as well. That if I'm going to 'make it' it has to be done in the midst of The Shit. That is where I live, so that's where I need to Soar.

 

Though it's nice to learn how to fly before jo mamma pushes you out the tree

 

just my spare change, all truth will be spent on crack