Why we should never go on vacation....

[Songtsan]

Its selfish entertainment. You could take the same amount of energy/bling/money and go help some poor, suffering child in Africa and create a world of beauty for them. Or you could just focus the same amount of energy on your own frivolous needs and learn very little about life. As I write this, the demons are attacking my mind, so I know they would hate it if this meme got out there.

[MooNiNite]

do what you love and the false idea of vacation doesnt exist. 

[Songtsan]

Say that to someone that loves to steal, or to harm others. Its never that simple.

[Perceiver]

If everyone spent all of their time helping others then none would suffer. But none would realize their dreams either, or have a truly fulfilling life. We would all live an existence of grey dullness; surviving with our stomachs full but our hearts empty.

 

Some selfishness is needed in order for the world to thrive and grow.

[GreytoWhite]

I help people regularly but still need vacations.

[Songtsan]

I think I should explain more: this is only a rant against mindless hedonism. Picture going to Nepal right now, and imagine taking the extra money you might spend in some exotic hotel or locale, riding around on elephants and getting massages, and instead maybe pick one desperate family in need and saying, 'Hey, we want to help you build a new house,' then you finance them with dem American dollars, get to learn Nepalese, live near them, make friends for life, play with their kids, and still go check out the local temples, sights every once and a while- with them as your tour guides! Have an amazing adventure, put it on YouTube, teach some kids some neat skills...I am sure it would be very fantastic....

[Songtsan]

@Perceiver: agree...I was mind communications that the intent was to simply shift into a more creative use of energy/time, while still having fun....work/play combined....

[noonespecial]

Or go to vacation somewhere poor, help their economy and talk about it on FB so more people go there on vacation and help the economy.

[Songtsan]

I was thinking of big time celebratory money blow outs like cruises, honeymoons, etc...me personally, I'd be proud to earn some virtue by living simpler so others could simply live... But be creative, not try to emulate a saint, just think out of the box....

[noonespecial]

I was thinking of big time celebratory money blow outs like cruises, honeymoons, etc...

 

Oh yeah that's corny man, agreed. Same with Cabo, Cancun, etc., all owned by mult-national corporations and beer companies. On the other hand I'm going to a wedding this week, the couple are going to Bhutan for their honey moon, that's pretty cool imo.

[Taomeow]

Songtsan, my daughter did what you're proposing last year.  She joined a group of good samaritans and went to Mexico to spend a few days building a house for a poor family.  It was a traditional rural family, grandparents and parents and kids all living in one tiny one-room house, so this group built another, bigger one next to it, giving the family an opportunity to still stay together but also have some room and privacy -- the parents with kids moved into the new one, the grandparents stayed in theirs.  My daughter was very excited and very happy after this trip.

 

The problem I see is that these gestures, while certainly noble and useful and able to make a difference in someone's life, create the illusion of addressing social problems in one's spare time, and are every bit as hedonistic for the mind as taking a physically self-indulgent vacation is for the body.  So, I'm not sure one is better than the other, or worse.  Vacations are good.  Doing something real for the people, community, the world while you're not vacationing is better.   If you work for a corporation -- as most do in the final analysis -- your labor gets to become a brick in the wall of social injustice, and not taking a vacation just supplies an extra brick, don't you think?

Edited May 12, 2015 by Taomeow

[Daeluin]

People tend to live more in flow with desire than in flow with nature.

Desire based flow tends to result in more attachment to ego.

Often what we think we desire lacks a certain balance to it, and begins to stagnate.

We feel this and find balance by making changes large enough to balance this imbalance.

Sometimes we make small, more permanent changes which might help avoid future imbalance.

Sometimes we make large, more temporary changes to free ourselves of this stagnation all at once.

Vacations are like this.

Some replenish their stagnation and return to their old patterns, going on vacation again when the stagnation returns.

Some allow the vacation to transform them and when they return they are naturally led to change their old patterns.

All just about balance.

 

The past century has developed technologies that allow rabid communication of information and mass, and this extreme change has yet to refine itself. So we still see the chaos - but if we are patient and intent upon balance and stability, this constant flow of people and information will find a beautiful harmony.

[Songtsan]

I guess what has been kicking around my head has to do with things such as Bodhisattva vows, Karma Yoga, virtuous acts, etc. But trying to make 'work' and 'play' united...really, every second is work, and every second is play (of form illusion). It all depends where you are coming from and what your story demands...if I have spent my life taking and taking, and then suddenly swing 180 and start giving, then that is balance...and vice versa. Did Mother Theresa ever take a vacation? Maybe she ought to have! Balance is probably key....root intent also matters most. To nurture oneself or others may be the same, as long as balance is maintained. Over express self/other focus = burnout one way or another...

[thelerner]

I'll give to charity and I'll also be pretty hedonistic when I can.  I try not to over think social justice dimension.  Too much inquiry can be demoralizing, depressing and paralyzing.   

 

There are lines of conduct I won't cross and within that moralizing framework I perform without much guilt. 

[MooNiNite]

work is intended for spiritual growth. We all have a function. there is no such thing as vacation if we find our soul-purpose

[Nungali]

Well ... dang!

 

I been on vacation since 1983 !   never came back.

 

But I know what you mean.  Sometimes I have this nightmare where I am stuck on a cruise ship and have to live in that environmet for months 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or I could go 'water boarding' in Nicaragua  ( jeeeze ! they gotta come up with a better word for that ) 

 

 

 

I watched a doco once about a 'game warden' in Africa, looking after the last surviving group of some endangered animals. Most of his day was spent walking though and didnt do much work, or any equipment and lived in a half built shack. Eventually, after a fund raising some group got enough money to buy him a bicycle - he was overjoyed, now he might have a chance to spend less time travelling around every day and be able save those animals.

 

At the time I saw that, I had just got another job on a movie ... as someone had decided to fund $90 million for a movie about a cartoon dog.

 

So I am standing there thinking, in this hand, it takes 3 months to come up with $50 to buy a bike for a poverty stricken ranger to save a dying breed of animals ... and in the other hand is  $90 mill  to spend on a cartoon dog.

 

And people wonder why I am a bit 'crazy' ? ? ?  

[Taomeow]

.  Sometimes I have this nightmare where I am stuck on a cruise ship and have to live in that environmet for months 

 

Have you ever seen "The Legend of 1900?"  One of my favorite movies.  About the tao of music born and raised on a cruise ship... 

 

 

 

[silent thunder]

Or one could build a life they don't feel the need to escape from...

Still, can't see anything wrong with travel myself.

[idiot_stimpy]

Going on vacation is good to see new things, but to relax, I would rather stay at home.

[Taomeow]

In all countries of the European Union, the minimum paid vacation is 4 weeks by law.  In some it's 6 weeks, and in some, 8.  

 

In this country, vacations are stressful and often meaningless because they are too short.  When you have a month (at least), you find that you manage to live two lives every year -- the 11/12th of it is your ordinary life, and then 1/12th is your extraordinary life.  Compare this to what people get with one or two weeks: jetlag -- rush rush enjoyment -- hasty "cultural exposure" -- frenetic shopping -- blow through museums and spas like a hurricane -- like you're on schedule -- well you are -- hurry up, relax! -- relax dammit, time to go home! -- jetlag -- the cold contracted on the plane -- you need a month to recover from your vacation now, because it was so stressful, but you ain't gonna get it.  Back on the chain gang.

 

I distinctly remember that everybody was a better person for at least two or three months prior to a month-long vacation -- people do need hope in their lives -- and then a subtly or not-so-subtly changed person for a while after.  Usually for the better.   

[maldor]

Do what you want, spend money how you think best and basically try to be good ... but not too hard.

 

Being selfless is the same as being selfish. Being considerate is probably better.

[Nungali]

Or one could build a life they don't feel the need to escape from...

 

Yeah, like I said  ... been on holidays since ...

 

Still, can't see anything wrong with travel myself.

 

certainly not ... just dont travel across the backs of others .

 

I think there is a balance between supplying OS cash into an economy and flaunting your lifestyle in front of the natives.

 

 A friend of mine complained because Indonesians scoffed at her attempt to convince them she was actually poor too.

 

I laughed right in her face !    "  I cant afford to fly to Indonesia and stay in a motel ... and take tours and trips around the country while not working ! "

 

Then she got cranky at me ... apparently I was being unreasonable .... just like those 'pesky Indonesians'  that laughed at her. 

[silent thunder]

I work about 7-9 months a year depending on Hollywood.

We live under our means and thus it's easy to save money and don't worry when I'm in between gigs...

But it's certainly not the lifestyle for everyone.  Not knowing if/when/what you'll be doing in a few weeks all throughout the year makes some folks utterly nuts.  To me, I figure, the birds don't have jobs and they seem to do just fine... and squirrels survive Minnesota winters with a brain the size of an almond, so I should probably be alright.

 

I use my time off to travel, hang out and cultivate full time.

[Taomeow]

I work about 7-9 months a year depending on Hollywood.

We live under our means and thus it's easy to save money and don't worry when I'm in between gigs...

But it's certainly not the lifestyle for everyone.  Not knowing if/when/what you'll be doing in a few weeks all throughout the year makes some folks utterly nuts.  To me, I figure, the birds don't have jobs and they seem to do just fine... and squirrels survive Minnesota winters with a brain the size of an almond, so I should probably be alright.

 

I use my time off to travel, hang out and cultivate full time.

 

The jellyfish have no brain at all -- and they've been around for 600 million years.   Makes you wonder if we chose the right evolutionary adaptation...  if that's what we did.  Might be karmic punishment for the smart-ass jellyfish, to be reincarnated as a human, with a brain -- and a job. 

[Songtsan]

Yeah, I think my desire 'to know' is what tortures me the most. I mean, honestly, I have it made if I could only settle down and become more of a sensualist. I have a nice body, which I could exercise more, in which to luxuriate in. I'm intelligent...if I went full on 'me-driven,' I could be king of my own paradise....