(August 5, 2017 at 9:03 pm)Rev. Rye Wrote: As I mentioned before, maybe if you had a publisher and an audience willing to buy enough of your books that you could afford to do so, or, if you had the desire and the ability to live off the fat of the land (note: the ability to actually do so is key if you don't want to end up like Christopher McCandless), your desire for a monastic lifestyle might actually be sustainable.Back in the mid-90's I actually had started building a following as a non-fiction author, it was just in tech rather than self-help or philosophy. My guess is that it would be difficult to actually support yourself as a nonfiction author. In tech, selling 20,000 copies is a runaway best seller. The real money isn't in the book royalties themselves in those kinds of markets, but in leveraging your status as a published author (and therefore presumably at least a relative "expert") to work the speaking or teaching circuit. I turned away from that opportunity when I discovered that even though I was good at it, I liked traveling and speaking about as much as I like root canals.
Or maybe get on welfare, slim down your lifestyle, and hope the Republicans don't slash welfare benefits, which I don't think would be a terribly attractive idea for you.
My point being that authors / gurus work hard too. It isn't just some free byproduct of mindfulness or contemplation.
Your other suggestion is probably more apropos, learn to live very simply and maybe haunt public libraries (while they still exist anyway) to do reading and research. Try to live like an actual monk.
