Being Poor and Happy is Sexy, My Epiphany

[Esteam'd Punk]

I noticed folks internationally are more FRIENDLIER AND HAPPIER. Honestly, they are the most down to earth, open and kind people in this world, unlike America where eveyrone is about consumerism and materialistic pursuits, wealth, popularity, prestige, status.

I agree.

[zerostao]

doesnt matter if its jeff buckley, johnny cash, joan baez singing this song, the message remains the same.

"these guys know how to do that stuff"

 

yeah its sexy and all it is a path to equanimity,

but its even more than that. hanging out with like minded folks who dont need material wealth for self - esteem,

purpose, self worth, consderation, thoughtfulness,influence, and love,,,,

and these types of folks still find a way not only to survive but to surthrive in this life -- on a higher plane --

but these folks in cooperation with each other bond in ways that builds trust,

this type of trust is the higher ideal.

it never ever never never ever quits or lets you down, it never fails, no matter what.

it finds you in your darkest moments and lifts you back to the light.

 

edit> where can you buy that?

[BaguaKicksAss]

I have a friend who bought a half million dollar car about 5 years ago... mostly to try to get more women, and eventually one good one hopefully. He also owns 4-5 properties.

 

The funny thing is that the woman that finally started dating him (we were all shocked, his personality sucks) is someone who chooses a bicycle over a car, and has no interest in wealth whatsoever ROFL. They lasted a year or so.

 

Aside from that no increase in dates.

[i am]

Yep. I'm lucky enough to live in an area of the country where a good chunk of the population respects simple living.

 

On top of that, I surround myself with GOOD people. Life's alright.

Edited July 22, 2013 by i am

[i am]

Oh, and no offense to the OP, but coming from a wealthy family makes these kinds of thoughts and decisions much easier. It's a lot harder to tell someone who grew up poor and struggling that its preferable to be poor.

 

That doesn't take away from the truth of your statements; just be easy on people if they don't agree with you...they may not have had the privilege of growing up able to contemplate this sort of thing.

Edited July 22, 2013 by i am

[becomethepath]

Oh, and no offense to the OP, but coming from a wealthy family makes these kinds of thoughts and decisions much easier. It's a lot harder to tell someone who grew up poor and struggling that its preferable to be poor.

 

That doesn't take away from the truth of your statements; just be easy on people if they don't agree with you...they may not have had the privilege of growing up able to contemplate this sort of thing.

My family was poor but we became wealthy later in life. I remember I thought my family was poor, I use to skip lunch everyday at school so we could save money, I skipped lunch for 5 years during my middle school highschool days and let's just say I wasn't in great shape after that...and I also wore the same clothes everyday...Then when we finally became wealthy, I got a taste what luxury is like and I didn't want any of it, I didn't feel comfortable driving a luxury car or eating out in nice places all the time, or buying nice clothes. It didn't feel natural to me for some reason. Maybe I wasn't use to it? But anyways, I gave up the "luxury" really quickly after.

[Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan]

I have found that folks in north america overall smile a lot less than folks in mexico, haiti, egypt....

 

It is because our families, clans, and communities are broken up and disseminated by the legal and economic control over our ways of life and means of acquisition.

 

 

We're killed from the womb, out; here in America.

 

Edited July 22, 2013 by Northern Avid Judo Ant

[Rara]

I would like to agree with the original post but that would only be because I myself am not too fussed about money...well, having lots of it that is.

 

Yes, I see the Instagramers/Tweeters/iPhoners etc. as being more superficial or not really happy blah-dy-blah. But isn't that just my perspective?

 

I leave these guys to it.

 

People with things in common will find stuff sexy about each other...rich CAN find sexiess in rich. Poor often finds sexiness in poor.

 

But to defend the rich, I know of a few cases were Taoism has made people millionaires. They were happy before anyway, but were just built to be successful business-heads.

[Rara]

PS, I Tweet and use Instagram. I can't be arsed spending my life getting tens of thousands of followers is all...I mean, how on earth do these guys find the time and need to get tens of thousands of followers...for something that doesn't even earn them money? IT'S JUST A TOOOOOOOY!!!!

 

I'm getting old, clearly.

[kaaazuo]

My family was poor but we became wealthy later in life. I remember I thought my family was poor, I use to skip lunch everyday at school so we could save money, I skipped lunch for 5 years during my middle school highschool days and let's just say I wasn't in great shape after that...and I also wore the same clothes everyday...Then when we finally became wealthy, I got a taste what luxury is like and I didn't want any of it, I didn't feel comfortable driving a luxury car or eating out in nice places all the time, or buying nice clothes. It didn't feel natural to me for some reason. Maybe I wasn't use to it? But anyways, I gave up the "luxury" really quickly after.

 

That explains it. You are not meant to be rich. And that is your karma. You should have no trouble finding your dream in life.

 

I feel I am meant to be rich and to have everything my heart desires. The rich live in a reality very much different than that the poor faces even though all live on the same planet. Take travel for example.

 

The poor wait for the bus at street corners where thugs loiter. The poor rides in the bus or train with other poor people and run the risk of being in the midst of a punch-up or food fight. I took a ride into the city on a train once. I didn’t sit even though there were unoccupied seats, and I didn’t look at anyone for fear of looking at anyone the wrong way. Back home, I felt compelled to take a shower. I stripped off my clothes and dumped them in the washing machine, and sent my shoes and jacket to the cleaners.

 

The rich don’t wait. Life is precious and the sole of expensive shoes rarely touch public pavements. You step off the driveway, sink into soft leather upholstery and get driven to your destination – alone, as you work on the onboard computer writing posts to tao bums; or with other rich people you like, but never with the poor.

[Marblehead]

I feel I am meant to be rich and to have everything my heart desires.

Hehehe. Go for it!

[BaguaKicksAss]

That explains it. You are not meant to be rich. And that is your karma. You should have no trouble finding your dream in life.

 

I feel I am meant to be rich and to have everything my heart desires. The rich live in a reality very much different than that the poor faces even though all live on the same planet. Take travel for example.

 

The poor wait for the bus at street corners where thugs loiter. The poor rides in the bus or train with other poor people and run the risk of being in the midst of a punch-up or food fight. I took a ride into the city on a train once. I didn’t sit even though there were unoccupied seats, and I didn’t look at anyone for fear of looking at anyone the wrong way. Back home, I felt compelled to take a shower. I stripped off my clothes and dumped them in the washing machine, and sent my shoes and jacket to the cleaners.

 

The rich don’t wait. Life is precious and the sole of expensive shoes rarely touch public pavements. You step off the driveway, sink into soft leather upholstery and get driven to your destination – alone, as you work on the onboard computer writing posts to tao bums; or with other rich people you like, but never with the poor.

 

Where on earth do you live?! (ever thought of relocating? Joking). Here people in 3 piece suits take transit to work every morning (along with some homeless folks on there too of course though), but fear of being mugged on street corners, really? Well OK if you live in Chicago or LA I beleive you, otherwise not so much .

[zerostao]

it is part of a constant revision, we, as Taoists, should undergo(constantly) imo

knowing Tao is being able to control life as opposed to life controlling us.

so finding happiness in whatever our situation happens to be

is not difficult.

some rich are able to not be bogged down by burdensome materialism.

some rich do avoid severe bouts with depression and do find happiness.

being able to control life is the main ideal here,

being happy while poor, is an illustration about that ideal

[zerostao]

@kaazuo

 

"– alone"

so sad this is what being rich has gained you,,,,,,

 

"That explains it. You are not meant to be rich. And that is your karma. You should have no trouble finding your dream in life."

if one is a Taoist, see my above post, about the revision ideal

and

if anyone happens to be in america, then it is a common theme that one can go from rags to riches

or

from riches to rags with a quickness

 

"I feel I am meant to be rich and to have everything my heart desires'

i dont mean to go lacan or the rolling stones on ya, but , ya aint never gone get your desire

you, if you try, can get what you need

desire is either a bob dylan album or a u2 song

 

i do always find great entertainment in your postings kaaazuo

when if you do tumble one day and find yourself amongst the poor,

if you need a guide

just hollar

 

 

here is a preview to how the poor travel

 

[kaaazuo]

Where on earth do you live?! (ever thought of relocating? Joking). Here people in 3 piece suits take transit to work every morning (along with some homeless folks on there too of course though), but fear of being mugged on street corners, really? Well OK if you live in Chicago or LA I beleive you, otherwise not so much .

 

Good guess! It was Chicago.

 

A guy in a three piece suit did come up to me once and asked for change. No kidding. It happened in New York City, on a ferry ride from Staten Island to Manhattan. He could be homeless.

 

New York City would be the only place on Earth where truly rich guys have to ride trains around town with the poor.

Edited July 24, 2013 by kaaazuo

[Marblehead]

New York City would be the only place on Earth where truly rich guys have to ride trains around town with the poor.

Strange. Just last night I heard a statement similar to that while watching something on TV.

[BaguaKicksAss]

Here as well, to avoid rush hour traffic. Transit is far faster in the mornings. Well that and some folks here even choose transit for environmental reasons. We even get bicycle lanes through the center of downtown, pretty neat.

 

The whole discussion of being poor as compared to being rich though made me wonder, how poor are we talking here, and at what point is someone considered rich in a monetary sense? I'd consider poor minimum wage or lower as it really sucks to try to live on that! Rich I'm not so sure how to define that... I know some folks who own a few properties but are far from rich... our landlord eats rice for all meals, someone I know who brags about being rich and all the money he has waited 10 years to go on his dream vacation (wth? lol). I was having lunch at one of those most fancy restaurant in town places once. We were all out on the deck, and the folks at the table beside us were saying what they couldn't stand was "middle class people". I guess their yacht was parked out front .

 

Fortunately far from all folks don't have this attitude. I know people who make more money in a week than I do in a year, who donate to various wildlife and educational causes, and who have a very rich spiritual life, and are extremely nice people. I have also been riding the bus and heard folks that definitely looked like they could use a wage increase putting down others on the bus because they were "rich" ROFL. Go figure. So my conclusion is that we as humans will try to find anything we can that we feel is superior about ourselves, then use it to put down others who we don't feel have this quality, so we can feel better about ourselves. With some it's money, with others it is intellect, fashion sense... whatever.

 

Edit: adding the whole "I'm more enlightened than you" bit to the list, which is also far more prevalent than we would expect!

[Marblehead]

Really good post. Those last two sentences speak to raw reality. But I do suggest that all humans are not this way.

 

I feel that a person is rich if they have their basic needs (food, clothing, shelter & security) satisfied with a few assets left over to get a few of their wants. A poor person (materially) would be one who does not have these.

 

But then, there are some who have little or next to nothing and they feel themselves to be happy. And there are those who have way more than enough but are unhappy because they don't have more.

 

I read a survey recently that concluded that the peoples of many undeveloped countries of the world feel themselves happier than Americans do. So many factors to cause such results.

 

Poor/wealthy are externals, happy/unhappy are internals. The two really cannot be compared.

[BaguaKicksAss]

Very true that not all are like this, more just many. There are definitely folks who don't feel a need to compare .

[zerostao]

good points these last two posts.

i do post often that i identify myself with the poor. but, i am an american, on this planet is there such a thing as a poor american?

even, if i do live in rural central appalachia, which does contain the very highest levels of poverty stricken counties in the country. so , yes, even the poorest of the poor in america can squander 100$/day on an unhealthy habit/vice if they desire.

(and they do) i dont know anyone who is scrounging thru garbage to find food, i dont know anyone who doesnt have good clean water. no one lives under the bridges out in my neck of the woods. the poor folks i know at least own their own house or else live basically rent free in another's house. cash is a fine currency and all but out here it isnt the strongest one. there are many currencies here in the woods. actually being poor in appalachia, aint so bad. come to think about it. up in the cities it may be different, idk

my heart does go out to those who are truly poverty stricken.

 

[Esteam'd Punk]

it is part of a constant revision, we, as Taoists, should undergo(constantly) imo

knowing Tao is being able to control life as opposed to life controlling us.

so finding happiness in whatever our situation happens to be

is not difficult.

some rich are able to not be bogged down by burdensome materialism.

some rich do avoid severe bouts with depression and do find happiness.

being able to control life is the main ideal here,

being happy while poor, is an illustration about that ideal

That was perfect!

[Marblehead]

Good song.

[kaaazuo]

Well, I was once poor and I so much like better having more than enough.

 

But I remind everyone, I worked for what I have. Lazy people don't get rich (unless they sell drugs or do some other very non-Taoist stuff).

 

But how poor was poor? You may have had a rough spot but that's not poor. Tell me how poor were you and then we can talk about being poor in a meaningful way that the poor would't laugh.

[Marblehead]

But how poor was poor? You may have had a rough spot but that's not poor. Tell me how poor were you and then we can talk about being poor in a meaningful way that the poor would't laugh.

Well, you are getting rather personal but I will share a little about my early life.

 

I was born into a poor, lower, working class family. I remember when all five of us kids were still living at home, there was no bathroom. There was an outhouse. We washed our body in the kitchen sink. My father would give my mother $20 a week to feed all seven of us.

 

I started working on a farm during the summer when I was nine years old. I got a steady, after-school, and summer job working in a bowling alley when I was eleven years old. From that time on I bought all my own clothes. I was paying into Social Security when I was eleven years old.

 

I dropped out of school in the tenth grade, I had failed two years already, and joined the Army. I took my GED when I arrived at my first duty station after schooling and passed without any preparation or study.

 

I took whatever military schooling I could get in the Army for the next seventeen years. I started taking civilian education (college) in 1972 after duty hours and had an AA equivalent when I retired in 1978 after twenty years of service.

 

That's enough for now.

[voidisyinyang]

3 billion people live on $2 or less a day.

 

 

More than one-half of the world's people live below the internationally defined poverty line of less than U.S. $2 a day—including 97 percent in Uganda, 80 percent in Nicaragua, 66 percent in Pakistan, and 47 percent in China, according to data from the World Bank.

 

http://www.prb.org/Journalists/PressReleases/2005/MoreThanHalftheWorldLivesonLessThan2aDayAugust2005.aspx

Edited July 25, 2013 by pythagoreanfulllotus