THE BEST WAYS AND METHODS YOU CAN YOU CAN USE TO SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE
Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind with respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest have ever lived a more simple and meagre life than the poor.
Can we be happier by consuming less, while many philosophers argued that a simple life is much more fulfilling than being immersed in luxury like consuming less, we see that save money, we save energy and we also save the most valuable assets we have as human beings which is time.
This not only allows us to experience the joys of simplicity, it also an active rebellion against our commensurate society, now let’s talk about this.
We buy stuff that we actually don’t need depriving ourselves of hard earned resources, even going into debts, only to further enrich the already wealthy minority and it seems that many people aren’t aware of the societal brainwashing that’s going on, reaching a perpetual sense of lack in our minds, in other words, the nagging feeling that we have complete nonetheless x, y and z.
Even though the consummate society reigns supreme in all corners of the world, human tendency to purchase more than needed has been subjected to criticism for many in the ages.
Henry David Thoreau was an American who at one point began to pursue a simple and sufficient life by retreating into the woods near Walden palms, he lived there in a self built cannon for a period of two years and two months, this life decision was an active decision against society and a part if what he called civil disobedience, though described civil disobedience as a form of non-violent rebellion against the government.
In his opinion, the government brings people more harm than good, in his seclusion he wrote his master piece Walden, in which he among other things described the job and the simple life in the mist of nature and how he manages to survive with very little, as he states “a man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone, needless to say in his solitude and through his simple lifestyle through felt wholesome which only further supports his criticism of his over consumption, admittedly we need to consume to some extent, some things are necessary like food and shelter.
And these are relevantly easy to obtain like easy to satisfy according to what Epictetus said “the wealth that’s regard by nature is limited and its east to procure but the wealth procured by vain ideals extends to initially, so what then drives people to work overtime in jobs that they don’t like so that they can buy more than they actually need, well most people are easily influenced by their environment, trends, fashions, a guy’s name on their underwear even though we don’t need those things, companies completely succeed to convince us otherwise, we can feel utterly contentment in one moment and experience a sense of lack in the next because of the many voices that tells us we need this and that, just to confirm to the rest if the head or even worst, so that people won’t look down on us and ignore us.
It’s accordingly to the stoic philosopher Seneca what fools these mortals be, they also cheapest and mist useless things, which can easily be replaced to be charged in the reckoning, after they have acquired them. But they never regard themselves as in debt when they have recruited some of that precious commodity time and yet time us the one loan which even a grateful recipient cannot repay.
Time is our most valuable assets and it’s running out as I write, we can exchange time for money but we can’t exchange money for time. Yet we waste our lives in the pursuit of keeping up with the Jones this five clubs main character Taylor Jordon says “we work at jobs we hate so we can buy things we don’t need”
Now the consequences and I paraphrase Dotson here is that the shift your own, ends up owing you, it becomes a burden, a dead weight and something that costs us more than it brings us, so what does it does to us, status, respect, praise, short term pleasures these things are completely beyond our control and unnecessary for experiencing contentment.
Now the voices that tells us to consume aren’t really the problem, these are external forces that are not up to us, the problems Lies in our allowing ourselves to be manipulated the root if this weakness, lies in fear.
Alan describes the phenomenon of modern society called status anxiety as society the constant tension of fear of being perceived as unsuccessful by the society in materialistic terms.
So what’s the solution first of all, I would say careless about what other people think, friends that only accepts you because of your status and materials success aren’t really friends and there’s nothing to be gained by impressing people that we don’t even know, just for the sane if impressing them and we have people advocating us, because we don’t meagre up to their definition of success.
Well that’s their business not ours, once we accept that our wholeness does not depend on materials success, we can truly enjoy the richness of a simple life, as lao Tzu author of the two Te ching once wrote those who know they have enough are truly wealthy add a simple life doesn’t mean that we should aesthetically rejoice everything materials, besides the basic necessities there’s value in things that serve us in the practical sense ours Is the ability to discern between necessities and practically in luxury so we prevent ourselves to become prisoners of our own possessions being content with little is the ultimate civil disobedience in modern times, it loses the grip that Society has over us by not needing what they have to offer in exchange for out time and labor, by owning and needing less our existence becomes less complicated and less stressful, a life of simplicity grants us the space to thoroughly enjoy the time that’s given to us. To spend our time on what we deem is important and to be in the moment which doesn’t require anyt
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