Abundance Without Attachment

[Whateverist]

My wife, who is the exact opposite of woo in any form, handed me the New York Times Sunday Review section this morning telling me she thought the message in this article was really good.

In it an economics reporter asks a swami in India if economic prosperity is a good thing.

As it turns out the swami was born the son of Indian petroleum engineers working in Texas, graduated with an MBA from the University of Texas and made a lot of money. Long story short, he went to India, entered a Hindu seminary and six years later became a monk .. a renunciate possessing only a wooden bowl, two robes and some beads. (Some might object here that two robes is excessive.)

The swami answers that it isn't prosperity but the attachment to it which leads to unhappiness. He goes on to give three practices for avoiding attachment:

Move beyond attachment by collecting experiences, avoid excessive usefulness, and get to the center of your wheel.

I have to agree with the wifey on this one. Pretty good advice.

http://nyti.ms/1uxAKge

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I have to agree. Between us, my wife and I own a fair bit of stuff, but I can't imagine a single possession that I couldn't give up without a qualm in order to increase my happiness. Things are just, well...things.

Boru

[robvalue]

Yep, it's all good. Eventually your stuff owns you if you're not careful. Remember what is really important.

[Jenny A]

I don't know. It's just how much is enough. Food on the table, a roof over your head, healthcare if necessary, those things really are necessary to happiness. After that, I agree that to want too much too badly, or getting too attached to what you do have, doesn't lead to happiness.

[Chad32]

Tings are things, but things make me happy. I actually had a discussion with a neighbor recently about my reclusive nature. I've become unused to face to face interaction, except with my family and people I've already known for years, that I feel a bit awkward just sitting around talking to people.

I am the materialist that people like this warn against.

[Jackalope]

When my ex threw me out six years ago, I had employment, my car, the clothes on my back, and no place to live.

I've accumulated a few things since then, but really nothing I can't live without, and I'm reluctant to acquire too many material possessions, because it really does rule your life when you have too much shit.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I've lost most everything I've owned twice -- once as a boy when we fled Iran, once as an adult when my storage burnt up in 2002.

Letting go of things has been a benefit to me, certainly.

[professor]

Interesting comments.
I have always considered you are a slave to whatever you own.
I don't think my wife realizes it yet.

[Strider]

Your possessions can certainly come to own you. I've seen it happen. People let material possessions (expensive cars, huge house, boats, designer clothes, etc.) consume every facet of their lives. I don't subscribe to any religion, but I've always agreed with the Buddhist tenet regarding attachment to worldly things and concerns.

[vorlon13]

Give up everything and go back to 1989 and have Brian alive and well ??

Sure. Even if it fucks up the timeline.

Remember what Kyle Reese said to Sarah Connor, "I came across time for you . . . "

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{teared up typing that, looks like I really mean it}