The video (below) by Erin Janus has been making the rounds. It’s good. It lays it on thick. Even just watching half of it gets the point across. Yes, no one would argue that the world is out of balance. We are addicted to excess. We may have lost our way.
But I’d like to make a suggestion if, or when you watch it: Take the message to heart and notice what your mind does.
Racking yourself with guilt over how much stuff you have; judging the unconscious behaviors of your human brothers and sisters; and/or feeling shame for the abundance of riches you enjoy… is. not. the. answer.
Reactions like these will not create the change you wish to see in the world. (When has guilt, judgment, shame, or fear ever delivered the goods?)
Instead, I might suggest another way to embrace the inconvenient truth of stuckness and stuff: Be the change you wish to see. Focus on what’s out of balance in your life. Slow down. Simplify. Feel the feelings with compassionate awareness. Practice letting go. Cultivate self-care. Live by this – more spacious – truth:
There is no separation. When we tend our homes (with compassionate awareness), we nourish ourselves. When we care for ourselves, we come back into balance. When we restore balance, we bring peace to the world.
What is one gentle step you can take to lighten the load. Today? Now?
My 1st reaction was “Good job!” I agree, but I also understand that we have been trained to be consumers of more and more stuff. It’s what makes unbridled capitalism work and leads to the income gap. We need a garenteed monthly stipend so that people can pursue their own lives and ideas rather than be forced to work for others unless they want to for the purpose of getting more money. There will always be work that needs to be done, but we don’t NEED to keep creating jobs just so people can get paid. And as much as I admire beauty and fine archatecture, the life styles of the super rich are absurd.
Good points, but where would the guaranteed monthly stipend come from? If it comes from the “Government” it comes from us because the government only has the money we give it through taxation. If we have no income and pay no tax we would be living off someone else’s purse strings. A Someone who was “forced” to work in order to pay for that guaranteed monthly stipend.
All money comes from the government BEFORE it ever goes into circulation and the little bit that is withdrawn thru taxes does NOT fund the government. This is one of those odd assumptions we have been alowed to believe because it serves to divide us. I have been studying this money thing for a long time and there are layers to it, the first of course is your belief that it all comes from us via taxes collected. Unless you can print your own cash or materialize it out of the air, the money supply comes from the treasury dept. There is much more to study but this is not the place. If you really want to learn more you will need to do your own research and you’ll land in what ever layer you’re ready to grasp. If you were born into wealth I can sort of see why you might think you are the source of your money, but even then, you really are not.