Spirituality does not pay my bills

[data]

Spirituality does not pay my bills

I am entangled in a spiritual and physical dilemma which can be summed up as: I have no idea what to do with my life and honestly question just how long before the current reality we are living in as a global society is pulled from under our feet. I know, I have a role to play in the drama that is unfolding, but I just don't know what role that is. I sometimes fear that perhaps this life will be a missed opportunity. I try my best to be optimistic, but I just don't see any opportunity and to make matter worse, I lack the zeal to want to do anything. There is just no drive. It seems I am just waiting for it to be all over. But what a waste that would be. All those talents and skills I have. All that intelligence - wasted!

In my immediate life, I have yet even more issues. Issues that we can all relate to: bills. Unfortunately, as much as I disapprove of this system(this is an understatement) I also have to bite the bullet and survive in this system. As Maslow articulated in his pyramidal theory of human needs: food, health and shelter are the basic and primary needs of any human being, long before creative exploration and self-actualization.

Spirituality is perhaps the closest to what Maslow envisioned for self-actualization. As I am a very spiritual person, this is what I am doing, unfortunately in the real world, without satisfying my physical needs, I cannot do this.

This is not my only problems. I also have no friends. As I suffered from social anxiety or panic attacks for a very long time, going well into my 20's, all my previous friends moved on with their life and careers, and as I was unable to work and was content in remaining in my comfort zone, I never had an opportunity to make friends. Interpersonal relationships is another one of Marlow's stages before self-actualization, another stage in my development I am lacking. Further more, while I am very pleasant, I also am very independent and intellectual, and it is difficult to find like-minded people.

I had considered my life as good as over about 2 years ago. I was ready to leave. However, I found a renewed sense of beauty in life.  Yet, as much as my outlook on life has changed and I have made marked improvements personally and become more accepting and open-minded, it hasn't changed my life circumstances or the subconscious fears, and  and missing stages in my life. I am still as directionless in life today, as I was before.

This has to change. I just don't know how to go about changing it. I don't know what to do. As a child and a young adult I always had a strong interest in the sciences. I wanted to do theoretical physics. After my, ahem, 'spiritual awakening' I no longer have an interest in physics. It is my view that physics over complicates reality and is limited in it's scope. As interesting as those theories on holographic universes are, I would not want to make it's a life's research to explain something that is obvious. So, I decided to choose another career, a career in helping others with psychological problems. However, after purchasing a psychology text book and reading it, I wasn't impressed. It was a mishmash of contradictory theories and ideas on the nature of behavior and mind. As, I was under psycho-dynamic therapy for my social anxiety, I realized just how limited it was. My therapist actually gave up on me, because he could not treat me.

I then tried counseling. I attended a short course on counseling to learn more about it. I found it even more pretentious and limiting, especially the system of it. My aim for doing these jobs, was for helping others, and I do not believe they are effective in helping people.

Now, the others areas I have strong skills in, is writing and film. I also have some training in these fields. However, these media fields involve long periods of struggling, and are cut-throat commercial worlds. I cannot survive in these worlds, because, let's just say, I am not attuned with their vibrations.

I am coming to this realization that I am not at all for the physical and material world we live in. I have strongly considered just retiring into a monastery or Ashram to completely work on myself spiritually. However, here is the dilemma, I think it is unhealthy to completely neglect your physical aspect. We are physical beings too and have physical needs. So, what to do?
What could I specialize in? How do I satisfy my intellectual thirsts.

I guess what does interest me quite strongly is philosophy, metaphysics and parapsychology. All of the intellectual academics - but again, they don't pay your bills.

I have opened up quite a lot here. I would not have done this once, but that would simply be hiding the truth of who I am from others, and I strongly feel honestly is the best policy. I hope there is someone here who understands me and can advise me. I am in need of guidance and inspiration at this moment. I can't do this by myself.

If this was a more spiritual world, where people cared more for each other, then a soul like me, would not have the problems I am having today. The closest I can get to a spiritual world on the world wide web, is this forum

[BoscosFriend]

hello data. i know what you mean. i had the same problem. not really social anxiety. but the feeling that all wordly ambitions have no true meaning. though I'm over all that now since i got into Buddhism. i am going to visit a Buddhist monastery to see if a life as a monk is right for me. all i know is that my only goal in life is to end my suffering and help others.  how is a monastic life neglecting the physical aspect of life?
are you married? have kids? if not, whats stopping you from doing anything?do you really want a career and stuff? or do you feel like that's what you have to do, like that's what is expected of you? that's how i felt, like i was a bum or a failure if i didn't go to college and make money and have material things. i know better than that now, do whatever you want, you dint have to do anything. you dont have to pay bills if you dont want to.  

If this was a more spiritual world, where people cared more for each other, then a soul like me, would not have the problems I am having today. The closest I can get to a spiritual world on the world wide web, is this forum

if you want to lead a spiritual life than do it. no one is stopping you but you.

[andonitxo]

Well, actually spiritualy does pay bills. I mean, if we are living a 3D illusion in this world supported by the upper energy planes, it has sense that a good spiritual basis will affect possitively the physical plane.

And this is not just a theory of mine. I've seen several examples of people which, after a short period of spirituality (energy work, yoga, sacred texts, self understanding,...), renewed their lives in incredible ways. And I'm not speaking of renouncing to physical life and jailing yourself to pray all the day long, but about receiving physical sustenance from life itself.

Make your subconscious energy conscious, make your energy currents move, make yourself more comprehensive with your inner needs and your projected energy, which is something automatic, will impact your outer world in such a manner that your physical world will start to change and nurture you in the same way you treat yourself.

You can find a better job, get rid of bad friendships, go on a veg diet, find your ideal partner, win the lottery... all will happen in strict natural ways, no magical materialization. And life itself will help you so you can have a sufficient material base to develop yourself spiritually also.

And if you can't find an equilibrium between spirituality and science, don't worry, there's no equilibrium because they're both the same thing, seen from different lens. You can listen to an occultist, a priest, a chemist and a physicist speaking about molecules and energy and for sure they all are explaining the true nature of molecules from their viewpoint and they all are right.

[alexd]

Hi Data

Thanks for your post.
I find that I can empathize with it easily because I often find myself in the same place. I can describe it as beating at a different vibration to the rest of the world and not being able to find a place to fit in.
The best thing I can suggest is not viewing a career as something that makes you you.
You can choose from many careers but you will still be the same person.

Before I decided on what I wanted to do I knew that I desired to do something that is close to my heart (not something I "have to" do) and the only academic field I could find that suited well was Philosophy. After long contemplation I decided to go into IT, because I too realized that Philosophy would not "pay my bills" unless I became a professor after many years of study.

However you do not have to do something relating to spirituality to live a spiritual life. At times I find it difficult doing IT because I cannot dedicate all my time to something that I see not too much real value in. But whatever you chose to do it won't define your life. It is like saying you have to, or it is expected of you to look after your family. But you don't really have to; you do because you love them. If you let go of categorizing things in your life you can enjoy life whatever you do.

I hear you that you may not want to be stuck doing one thing for the majority of your life, I hate being encouraged to see it that way. As in "I am a doctor" or "I am a lawyer". I am neither, I am me. The latter is just my occupation.
Throughout any occupation your mindset will attract circumstances to your life. Your career is at the core of it, yes. But what is it you really do? As a doctor you heal people, you get to understand illnesses and how people react, you can develop interpersonal relationships in the workplace. As a lawyer you also deal with people, every case is different, it is not static. As a teacher you teach people ect. You are not interacting with a system of work 100%, you are interacting with people, and everyone you interact with is different and will provide you with an opportunity to advance spiritually. Anyone can spiritually progress and develop Astral Projection skills and the like no matter what their occupation is.

It would just be easier if society didn't exist as it does and people could interact on a higher spiritual level, it would be a lot easier. The way things are now though makes life for people who want it another way quite difficult. I think for me it can provide enough contentment to spend around 50% of my time relating to my field and 50% to myself and my spiritual goals. This way equilibrium can be met. I believe this is a good way to handle surviving in the physical world while growing spiritually too.

I am pretty sure that living in a Monastery is not the answer, it would be a wiser decision to face the world as it is and rise up to the challenge of integrating within its structure without changing yourself. From that true spiritual growth can arise. In the future I don't see myself being dedicated to any particular career. I will stay in the field of IT for a short period and then hopefully follow my talents while making a living from them at the same time. Personally I like writing and filmmaking too. It is possible to write a book or make a short film and make a living off it (like Robert Bruce ).

Taking your main ideas into account I think to satisfy both the physical and spiritual aspects of yourself an equilibrium must be established, even if the physical side is painful, mundane and not stimulating. Keep in mind that it's the journey that is more important than both the start and the end.


Alex

[Ben K]

Did you happen to read about the theory of "learned helplessness" in your psych book? now what im about to say really, i dont mean any offense at all. I can actully relate, as I myself am a very independant person and enjoy my own company over that of others. We call these people "Introverts" and I don't believe that it is a social disorder or anything, I would just rather do stuff on my own.

Anyway, learned helplessness. I dont feel like writing alot right now, so I will quote noogenesis.com.

Learned Helplessness

Doggies
University of Pennsylvania: Learned Helplessness Homepage  Course
Bibliography
Optimism



In early 1965, Martin E. P. Seligman and his collegues, while studying the relationship between fear and learning, accidentally discovered an unexpected phenomenon while doing experiments on dogs using Pavlovian (classical conditioning). As you may observe in yourselves or a dog, when you are presented with food, you have a tendency to salivate. Pavlov discovered that if a ringing bell or tone is repeatedly paired with this presentation of food, the dog salivates. Later, all you have to do is ring the bell and the dog salivates. However, in Seligman's experiment, instead of pairing the tone with food, he paired it with a harmless shock, restraining the dog in a hammock during the learning phase. The idea, then, was that after the dog learned this, the dog would feel fear on the presentation of a tone, and would then run away or do some other behavior.

Next, they put the conditioned dog into a shuttlebox, which consists of a low fence dividing the box into two compartments. The dog can easily see over the fence, and jump over if it wishes. So they rang the bell. Surprisingly, nothing happened! (They were expecting the dog to jump over the fence.) Then, they decided to shock the conditioned dog, and again nothing happened! The dog just pathetically laid there! Hey, what's going! When they put a normal dog into the shuttlebox, who never experienced inescapable shock, the dog, as expected, immediately jumped over the fence to the other side. Apparently, what the conditioned dog learned in the hammock, was that trying to escape from the shocks is futile. This dog learned to be helpless! This result was opposite to that predicted by B.F. Skinner's behaviorism, which argued that the dog must have been given a positive reward (like a yummy dog biscuit) to just lie there. (In order to salvage their position, they even went so far as to suggest that the cessation of pain acted as the reward for the dog to sit, but this was not a very good argument. One could alternately argue that when the shock went on while the dog was sitting, it was being punished for sitting. Reminds me of that old joke, "Q: Why did the man pound his thumb with a hammer? A: Because it felt so good to stop.) These observations started a scientific revolution resulting in the displacement of behaviorism by cognitive psychology. What you are thinking, determines your behavior (not only the visible rewards or punishments).

The theory of learned helplessness was then extended to human behavior, providing a model for explaining depression, a state characterized by a lack of affect and feeling. Depressed people became that way because they learned to be helpless. Depressed people learned that whatever they did, is futile. During the course of their lives, depressed people apparently learned that they have no control.

Learned helplessness explained a lot of things, but then researchers began to find exceptions, of people who did not get depressed, even after many bad life experiences. Seligman discovered that a depressed person thought about the bad event in more pessimistic ways than a nondepressed person. He called this thinking, "explanatory style," borrowing ideas from attribution theory.

For example, lets say you fail a math exam. How do you explain why? You could think: 1) I am stupid. 2) I'm not good in math. 3) I was unlucky, it was Friday the 13th. 4) The math teacher is prejudiced. 5) The math teacher grades hard. 6) I was feeling ill that day. 7) The math teacher gave an expecially hard test this time. I didn't have time to study. 9) The teacher grades on a curve. Seligman found that these explanations could be rated along three dimensions: personalization: internal vs. external, pervasiveness: specific vs. universal, and permanence: temporary vs. permanent. He found that the most pessimistic explanatory style is correlated with the most depression: The statement "I am stupid" is classified as internal (use of I), universal, and permanent. This response conveys a sense of discouragement, hopelessness, and despair. On the other hand, a more optimistic person would blame someone or something else, such as "The math teacher gave an especially hard test this time." The most optimistic explanatory style is external, specific and temporary. Conversely, for a good event, the explanatory style reverses. For example, for a perfect score on the math exam, the depressive would say: "I was lucky that day," discounting his intelligence. The optimist would say something much more encouraging, such as "I am smart." We often learn explanatory styles from our parents.

There are advantages to both optimistic and pessimistic explanatory styles. Certain jobs call for an optimistic outlook, such as inventing or sales. Other jobs, such as accounting or quality control, call for a more pessimistic outlook.

Seligman suggests in his book "Learned Optimism" that one can overcome depression by learning new explanatory styles. This is the basis of cognitive therapy. In such therapies, the counselor challenges the client's beliefs and explanations of life's events. If you feel depressed because you failed that last exam, then dispute the explanation, and learn or search for a more optimistic one according to the above criteria. Or read a few jokes. The whole self-help movement is based on the optimistic belief that we can change ourselves for the better.

Think about if it applies to you in any way. I used to have this problem myself. I found myself on Prozac for a short while, sort of like a kick-start. And i found that it eventually worked, about 4 months later i was off the medicine and feeling great.

Just trying to help,

Ben

[data]

Thank you everyone for your advise and wisdom. If I may, I would like to address each of you separately, as you all bring up crucial points for discussion.

Boscosfriend,

I think what is called social anxiety, at least in my case, is really world anxiety. It is interesting whenever I share this with others in life, their perception of me is that I am confident and have an overwhelming intellectual personality. I can have quite a strong influence on others in social interactions. However, my perception of myself vis-a-vis others, is not as favorable as others of me. I have accepted myself for who I am, but perhaps I have not completely accepted myself. Social anxiety is a subconscious fear that has become a part of my personality through the years. I have gradually through meditation, relaxation and understanding of my self, been able to make progress in treating it.

How is a monastic life neglecting the physical aspect?

What would happen if we all lead a monastic life? Who will be left to contribute towards society and advance it. What about our basic human needs for companionship and relationships? It is my belief that as much as we are spiritual beings, we are also social and intellectual beings. We also have to develop physically, emotionally and intellectually. Hence, why I endorse Maslow's model of needs.

If, there was no need for the physical, then why would we even incarnate here? Why would higher beings incarnate here. It is my understanding, that even the higher beings, desire to incarnate here. As we truly grow in the physical. I am not about to neglect that aspect of me. Hence, although I have considered renunciation, I do not think it is a prudent course of action. In fact, I find those who have lead a physical life of materialism, develop more successfully spiritually later.

I incarnated in this physical life. I obviously came here to learn something. I read in the Conversations with God, that the mysteries of this universe, are mysteries for a reason. We are not here to unravel mysteries. We are here to experience and learn from our experiences. Think about all those scientists vying to develop a theory of consciousness, super strings, multiple dimensions. It takes them life times to explain what yogis, Taoists and Buddhists have always known. I have always found the irony of this amusing.

Einstein theory of relativity completely revolutionized the scientific understanding of the universe. His biggest achievement was explaining that matter and energy are interchangeable. This has been known for thousands of years. His, other postulate, was that time was relative. This has also been known for thousands of years. In fact, there is nothing new under the sun in science.

So while, science is important for advancing society technologically, it is important for the soul. For the soul wisdom is important. You see this is what unites us all. This what we all share together. This is the the ultimate equalizer. That is we all have the same higher needs. We need love, compassion, inner peace and wisdom.

This is why the physical is as important as the spiritual. It is not an illusion. It is very real. Yet, both should be balanced. So, I have physical needs and it is my belief that I will not seek enlightenment, which really is becoming free of all desire, by not fulfilling them.

Andonitxo,

I do not believe that spirituality on it's own will help you win lotteries, find true love and everything. I think claims like this are best left as ads on those radionics software's and merchandise being sold for hundreds or thousands of dollars on new-age commercial sites. You don't just a walk a spiritual path. You have to be ready for it. To use spirituality as an escape from the world is not going to take you very far, in fact you will go a full circle and be back where you started. What spiritual practice will do however, is better prepare you for dealing with your immediate problems. However, you ain't going anywhere, if you don't solve the problem. It's karmic law.

I do not endorse magic to solve life's problems. I don't even know if it works, but I do know that it is playing with natural karmic law, and everytime you circumvent the natural order of things, you will pay a karmic price. An example of this law at work is when using drugs to precipitate OBES. This is why in yogic tradition the siddhis(psychic powers/magic) are not seen as enlightenment. They are seen as a hindrance and a true yogi never makes a concerted effort to develop them. A true yogi develops them as a fruit of their penance.

I am a bit flexible in regards to psychic development than yogi masters. However, my definition of psychic development is to develop spiritually. I have tried to develop psychic abilities without spirituality, or under a false sense of spirituality, and it got me nowhere. When, I developed with true spirituality. When I could feel again, and care for others. When I could believe in my self. I developed much more than I ever had before. This is how it is for me. If I am going to activate my Kundalini, I am not going to do it by listening to Kundalini cosmic DNA activation CD's or paying a Kundalini guru to activate them for me. I am going to do it by living my life and dealing with my problems, to truly self-actualize. I am going to do it the natural, albeit painful, way. In the end I think this is the only way.

Alexd,

Thank you. I felt I resonated with what you said the most. You said it much better than I could, and that is beating at a different vibration from the rest of the world and not fitting in. I was actually born at this vibration. I was different - very different. And, different always meant bad. So I had a very hard time as a child.

Interestingly, as with yourself, philosophy is the only academic field I can find that interests me. I was reading on it yesterday and then did a job search to see what areas of employment it can bring me. As I normally think at an unusual left of profundity, perhaps this is for me. Yes, most of the jobs were as a philosophy lecturer and I can imagine how limited job opportunities would be. I may still do it for intellectual growth. For interest. However, I have been very impulsive in the past on choosing courses, and always regretted it. I will thoroughly research this before I consider it.

Yes, I agree, I can be a lawyer, teacher, doctor, engineer, psychologist, and will always remain me. However, I don't want to be any of those. They all pay quite handsomely, but they all also seem very empty and do not resonate with me. Incidentally, and it is surprising how much we relate to each other. I also did IT. I then went ahead to do an undergraduate course in software engineering. Everything within me told me I had made a wrong choice. I then dropped out within the first year.

I then did film and television and followed my dream. However, this was another blunder, as glorious and rewarding it may seem in telling stories for people on cinema, the process behind the scenes, is anything but glorious or rewarding.

In fact the 'process' has always been the problem for every field I tried. That process is the system.  I am completely out of phase with the worldly system. I'm as good as alien to the system. I have always been. I have never understood why. It's almost as if I am in the wrong world. Whatever it is, I am here now and I should make the best of what I have, to grow. I know what to do. I just don't know how to do it.

Writing books and making films are my dreams. Perhaps, that is just what I will do. All I need to do now is lift that finger. As, for the physical life. I am still not sure what to do with it. Having no friends, and no job and a lot of potential does not exactly make you want to look forward to each day. Boscosfriend is right, only I am stopping myself. I am my biggest obstacle. However, which part of I, is stopping me? I think it is my wounded child. How do I heal his wounds?

Thank you for this talk everyone, it is helping me gather my thoughts, and I now see a life plan, a vague outline of one, coming to me. It is important I stay in this frame of mind. As the comfort zone, is just a bit too comfortable, that I can easily fall back again.

Ben K,

Yeah I read about Pavlov's dog, and this forms the basis of CBT. What I don't agree with, is that happiness can be learnt. I don't actually want happiness, in the colloquial sense. I want happiness in contentment.

I don't want fast cars, fame, riches, though they would be nice. I want to transcend the need for these, by being at peace with myself. I have already found a contentment and peace in myself, compared to what I had before.

Once again, thank you everyone for your replies. God bless you.

[Ben K]

No, Pavlovs dog was a seperate expirement, that was the whole classic conditioning thing. This is a very different experiment

Anyways it sounds like your headed on the right path, good luck

[knucklebrain1970]

Dude, you hit it the nail on the head with the hammer. The reason you, as well as I are nauseated by this dimension is that you have transcended the matrix, but still have one foot stuck in its webbing.

I'm in the same boat as you. This dimension nauseates me. I often feel that I was not supposed to be here. However I have found what I really want to do.  

Not meaningless Oracle Database Administration, working around a bunch of people that are just machines with no soul. I am here to help other people transcend the matrix and the control system.

This whole template for a happy existence is what has people so wrapped up in it that they don't even realize they exist. That is why this dimension is nauseating to me.

I realize how it works now. So, my next goal is to try to help other people realize that they can find themselves and learn to transcend the matrix as well. I'm not talking about the movie either. I've never seen it. I'm talking about the fabric of so called reality and the illusion that draws people into it. I'm not kidding here. You know the people I'm talking about.

Kevin

[narfellus]

Spirituality does not pay my bills

I am entangled in a spiritual and physical dilemma which can be summed up as: I have no idea what to do with my life and honestly question just how long before the current reality we are living in as a global society is pulled from under our feet. I know, I have a role to play in the drama that is unfolding, but I just don't know what role that is. I sometimes fear that perhaps this life will be a missed opportunity. I try my best to be optimistic, but I just don't see any opportunity and to make matter worse, I lack the zeal to want to do anything. There is just no drive. It seems I am just waiting for it to be all over. But what a waste that would be. All those talents and skills I have. All that intelligence - wasted!

That's scary. My own life has mirrored yours in many ways! I'm 32 and have no idea what i am supposed to be doing or should have done. I have profound interest in metaphysics and spiritual magic, and i like writing, when blocks and depression don't stomp me into the ground. I've tried therapists with limited results, usually the "waste of money" result. I even went to film school for a year and decided early on that i disliked the field, although i still want to write screenplays.

I'm a smart person with great talents and potential, i just don't know how to best utilize them. I pray and pray for Divine PRovidence to show me what to do, what He wants me to do, how to serve Him and others, but to no avail. It is all very discouraging.

I'm not suicidal or anything (not anymore) and i'm not on any meds, I just can't get motivated in this life to accomplish anything. I'm also of the mindset of this is just a wasted life until i reincarnate again. And that really pisses me off because it can't be true.

[Tom]

What do you plan on having in the next life that you do not have in this one?

[narfellus]

What do you plan on having in the next life that you do not have in this one?

Well, if I had a conscious choice, (and i do) it would be a purpose and fulfillment from very early in life.  Rather than selfishly and worthlessly squandering it on myself. Yes, i can begin now and work toward that goal, but my goals are still very vague and unsatisfying. I'm working on changing that, but it's slow going.

[Greenrat]

hi data, it sounds to me like the amount of intellectualising  you do is to much for your brain to handle- thinking to much puts strain on the frontal lobes-  so my advice..
Try relaxing the muscles in you chest, in and around your heart and lungs.  Always try and keep at least 40%  of your body awareness in and on the chest, this way you can  quickly identify  those disruptive thoughts as they arise and let them go by relaxing the tension off wherever it appears.
if your chest and shoulders are both relaxed, youll get a pleasent feeling of "things arent that bad after all"  this is think is down to an unblocked and healthy heart center.
You sound like my brother, he overthinks  himself  until nothing is left to think about-- love cant be embraced by the intelect/mind so  the very act of thinking itself is by default wrong if you are looking to alieviate your anxiety- FEEL instead,the muscles in the chest and relax them, you will learn something your mind cannot teach you.

[AstralSailor]

Dude, you hit it the nail on the head with the hammer. The reason you, as well as I are nauseated by this dimension is that you have transcended the matrix, but still have one foot stuck in its webbing.

I'm in the same boat as you. This dimension nauseates me. I often feel that I was not supposed to be here. However I have found what I really want to do.  

Not meaningless Oracle Database Administration, working around a bunch of people that are just machines with no soul. I am here to help other people transcend the matrix and the control system.

This whole template for a happy existence is what has people so wrapped up in it that they don't even realize they exist. That is why this dimension is nauseating to me.

I realize how it works now. So, my next goal is to try to help other people realize that they can find themselves and learn to transcend the matrix as well. I'm not talking about the movie either. I've never seen it. I'm talking about the fabric of so called reality and the illusion that draws people into it. I'm not kidding here. You know the people I'm talking about.

Kevin

Great Post!  

I been feeling like this alot and still do sometimes but i think if you really don't wanna be in the middle don't just cross.. Its hard sense it is all up to yourself and sometimes you just get to tired and sad to do anything at least i do. I usually Meditate when i feel like that.. It is not easy living in this place but don't lose hope

[alpine9]

In order to live an abundant life do we have to completely surrender our lives and will to God, and to serve God?

[Ben K]

If you feel the need to.

[no_leaf_clover]

As Maslow articulated in his pyramidal theory of human needs: food, health and shelter are the basic and primary needs of any human being, long before creative exploration and self-actualization.

There are ways of keeping yourself from totally submitting to the daily grind of the capitalist system while maintaining those basic needs.

I can think of two alternatives besides being a hobo: becoming self-supporting, especially by growing and storing your own food and maintaining your own shelter, or by living off loopholes in the system and getting free food, etc. Becoming self-sufficient would be more stable, but at the same time, for it to be successful you'd probably need to save up a little cash. :-/

You probably have absolutely no interest in either of those things, but just in case somebody does.. XD



If you were to become self-sufficient, you could take up residence in an unused house in a rural area if you know where to look, or just squat with the right materials in the wilderness. Taking this route would require a lot of research into wild edibles and trapping game (you'll find hunting inefficient in the long-term unless you go by self-made hunting weapons and are good with them) and just living off the land in general. Survival guides would be crucial, like the SAS Survival Handbook. Without going into too much detail here, the general idea is that you know exactly where you will get your food from at any given point in the year. Making a yearly calendar with plenty of overlapping sources and storage/rationing times might help. If you don't store for you winter you might end up living off old vegetation and sumac, if you're even that lucky, lol.

The saving up cash part would come in with buying a quality sleeping bag, tools and the basic necessities, and any guides you may need for reference, enough food to ration out while you get used to finding natural sources, and other essentials for which you'd want to consult a good survival book. A good sleeping bag will keep you warm up to like 40 degrees below (Farenheit), plus a good supply of blankets and you're set. Instead of going for an expensive tent for bad weather, consider an industrial-sized transparent plastic sheet. Try to be creative and all-encompassing in your plans for potentially bad situations.

The beauty of this is of course the absolute freedom and self-sufficience that comes with providing your own bare essentials, and being dependent upon nothing but the Earth itself. You would have plenty of time to invest in spirituality, and any other hobby you could bring along (even writing, etc.). Hell, you could even find your own hallucinogenic drugs if you just know what to look for and how to prepare it (mushrooms may be very risky though, even with reliable guidebooks!). For any electrical appliances, hand-cranked generators are available, though they aren't that cheap. For more energy for less work in the long-term you could set up wind or solar energy for not much more $$ than a hand-cranked generator would cost. Just don't get caught on any land set aside as a national park. The government doesn't usually take too kindly to squatters when it's even vaguely illegal.



Living through loopholes isn't something I'm as familiar with. It deals more with things like negotiating with food distributors like bakeries (normally throw out bread thats just a day or two old), emptying unused gas from pumps into your vehicle's tank for free (going from pump to pump, even to multiple stations, you can easily keep your vehicle fueled this way), and sparing paying for heat or cable when you can resort to a stock of blankets and other sources of information and entertainment (and lets face it anyway: TV today sucks for the most part anyway, and you can get free programming off winamp if you have internet access).

Unless you resort to illegal activities, you'll have to resort to maintaining some kind of standard source of income (albeit a significantly smaller one if you take really advantage of good opportunities) to pay for whatever housing and other basic expenses you may have, and there are a lot of minor things that come down to technicalities with laws, and some laws also vary greatly state to state, for example. I have a heavily hippy-inspired text from a late 60s/early 70s anti-capitalist movement that details a lot of methods for getting food and other materials for free. It may be worth it to mention, however, that a lot of things in the text are outdated, and even more are probably totally illegal.

However, these media fields involve long periods of struggling, and are cut-throat commercial worlds. I cannot survive in these worlds, because, let's just say, I am not attuned with their vibrations.

I can sympathize with that completely.

If this was a more spiritual world, where people cared more for each other, then a soul like me, would not have the problems I am having today.

And that's absolutely right. The world just isn't ready for anarchy. :-/

[dwhite]

How about getting a job. Get out in the world and enjoy it. While I understand your problem and what you are saying, I think you are hiding behind this so called spiritual awakening. Do not use your heightened senses as a cop out. This world has great things to offer. Have you ever considered taking the focus off of yourself and helping others? Get a job, get out in the world, experience life and interact with other beings here and now.
I do not know about GOD and all of that but I do know there is a higher power than me. I use GOD in the simplest terms. Good Orderly Direction. I try to be the best person I can be today, I try to help others and I try to share my life and love with the people around me. Perhaps you can try some of the same things as they helped me have an incredible life.

Enjoy-