You aren’t poor…you are just made to think you are.
May 4, 2015
D Dub Mac
The Modern Homesteader. Just do a Google search on homesteading, off grid, or self sustainability…and you will have many blogs come up to visit, including mine, and you can spend hour upon hour reading on how to survive without the need for stores providing everything for you and your need to spend everything you earn to simply survive. It’s great reading. It’s also overwhelming at times, and can be discouraging. I am hoping to belay that feeling with my blog, and I am hoping to encourage you to develop the skills necessary to get free from the bondage that you may or may not know you are under.
You aren’t poor. No one likes to think they are poor. Society puts a great deal of peer pressure and stigma on people that do not possess material wealth. It really is that simple. They subtly suggest: You aren’t poor if you own a refrigerator. But you are poor if you own an ice house. You aren’t poor if you drive a new model vehicle. But you are poor if you do not own a car or truck, and need a horse to ride to town occasionally. You aren’t poor if you live in a house that you really do not own, {but the bank does}, and you pay exorbitant fees to own it, taxes to sustain it, and costs to maintain it, and a huge amount of money to keep it alive and your family alive by hooking it up to utility companies…but you ARE poor, if you heat your home, that you built by hand, with no payments, with a wood fire, that you provide fuel for with your own axe…for free. You are NOT poor if you can eat out once a week, or order in food, that is full of chemicals and GMO’s…but you ARE poor, if you have year’s supply of food in a root cellar, and never want for nutritious meals everyday. You are rich or well off if you can go to the liqueur store and buy booze for Friday night and the week-end, but you are poor if you have your wine/mead cellar filled with home brew, and distill on your homemade still, your own spirits.
But I have news for you. You aren’t poor if you do the latter….
You are rich! But not according to the definition of success that the world holds on to. Let’s look at that a little closer, shall we?
I do not want to simplify such a profound concept, as success or wealth. But Neither do I want to belabor a point that should be so self evident to every human on the planet. Many greater men than I have spoken on this subject. I am astounded sometimes to see such intelligent individuals consumed with their accumulation of personal possessions, that they miss the incredible wealth around them, and ignore it, in the pursuit of what OTHERS tell them is important. Like what kind of Wealth, you may ask?
Before I tell you about that, let me paint you Two scenarios. One of a middle class man working his way up to success in the corporate world, then later as a business owner. And another man, who after figuring out the hard way, that he wasn’t cut out for the rat race, he decided to re-evaluate his life and simplify.
The one man, owned many possessions and traveled the world, and ate out much of the time. The other man put his efforts into developing skills to help him survive without the need for physical things and a paycheck. After the stories, we can make a fair judgement as to who was truly rich, and who was not.
Let us define success or wealth: it’s really perception. Everyone has his/her own idea of what success is. To define it would be pointless, because each sees wealth/success/riches as something else. The fairest definition would be this one: plentiful supply of a particular desirable thing. Can we ALL of us. agree to that one?
OOOOHHH! You might be saying to yourself: With an abundance of MONEY, I can buy anything I need or want. Yes…you can. And you can join the ranks of the millions before you who after buying everything they wanted, still felt empty and alone. And wanting more and more. Or like the ones that made great money and pursued a wonderful career, and at the end of their lives, realized that they would give it all away for a better relationship with their children of whom they ignored whilst making the great lifestyle that they do not enjoy anymore. Or the very successful business man who after giving the best years of his life, loses everything when the company they sacrificed everything for, let’s them go. Downsizing they would call it.
And let me throw another concept for you to mull over…what good is money…even loads of it….when the banks fail? Or if any X-Eventoccurs?
But let’s tell the story of the two men, shall we? Indulge an old man, if you will…
Once upon a time, there was a young man, filled with energy, intelligence, good will, and ideas. He had a great family, a lot of support, but came from a limited background, and had no father. He was, however, blessed with a wonderful role model or two, and loved God. He was told in school, in which he held honors every year, that if he performed well in school, he would secure a good job, and then make a good living, and have all the that world held out for those that contributed to society in a positive and beneficial way. He made a very naive fatal mistake in believing his headmaster and teachers and adult role models. He watched a great deal of television as a youth, and believed that wealth and success and prestige were things that all men, if they viewed themselves with any regard at all, and had any self image worthy of other’s esteem, would pursue. So he did. He graduated and then started his own company and worked really hard, despite many difficult trials. he was betrayed, let go for frivolous reasons, never given the benefit of the doubt, and among many other hardships, he realized that when he worked for someone else, or even for himself, he was susceptible to the whims of those who had more money or power than him, and they would only need him as long as he was making them money. After many many attempts at a successful career, and failed marriages, because of a corrupt court system, he gave up. He lost his faith in God and the Church during these upsetting and difficult tests, and he lost everything he gained, until he began to reevaluate his game plan. He wasn’t so naive any longer, and started a new journey towards getting everything he could, any way he could. He stole things to get ahead, and he lied to get out of difficult situations. He disregarded people’s opinions, and he did not listen to anyone, and he started over with new enterprises…and guess what? He began to succeed. He finally figured it out! Survival of the fittest. But life has an interesting way of humbling a man…and humble him, it did. He lost his family in a divorce and then everything he ever owned. He even lost his friends when they had to pick a side. With all his dreams dashed, and nothing to look forward to, he tried to end his life…but something weird happened. He fell asleep in a rainstorm and all his anger and regret stopped…disappeared. He began anew, going back to his childhood ideals. He had learned the greatest lesson life had to offer. It wasn’t WHAT you earned in life…it was HOW you earned it. He met a new woman, developed new friends and built a community of people that believed what he believed and started to accumulate what he had always worked for before….wealth, riches, and material substance…but not in the way he had before.
He took all he learned and redirected it into building relationships. He started learned NEW skills that would enable him to build, develop and grow and become independent from society and the J.I.T. system. (Just in Time delivery) He learned how to grow food, and experience the intense satisfaction from harvesting from your labor. He gave God the glory with each vegetable and fruit he picked, and with every piece of furniture or building he built with his own hands. His relationships grew intensely stronger, and he pinched himself every night when he realized he wasn’t dreaming…but his life was real. He had accomplished his life’s goals…but not in the way he had first thought.
Now the second man. Oh wait! He is the second man.
Every man has a journey to make. Most realize before it is too late: that it wasn’t the journey they expected. I tell you this story so you can understand that it is possible to change the way you think, but only if you want to.
I have looked at people and I see them very content and happy, and I wish them well. I know that if anything should happen, they would not survive. i also see them very suseptable to anything that happens in the economy. but they are happy. This article is for people who are NOT happy. This blog is for people who have discovered that they are being lied to. Cheated. And part of a MASS Murder campaign. GMO Bio-tech’s and Chemical Companies (read:Cosmetic) are using the public as lab rats. An experiment. The government is corrupt and is using the public as it’s personally money machine. The legal system, including enforcement, is using the public to fund it’s corrupt court/prison system. It needs to MAKE criminals, instead of dealing with the real violent offenders. Hence the increase of fines and legislation and bylaws. I tell you this, so you might recognize some symptoms.
There is HOPE! There is a chance for you to discover what true wealth is in this life, and to stop being ruled by others, told by others what you need to do. They want you to Sacrifice your morals, your integrity and your common sense for the pursuit of a paycheck or a revenue stream! Less than 1 percent ever attain true independence from slavery…that is, a JOB! But less than 20 percent actually attain the greatest gift that life has to offer…not freedom from poverty only…not success in the world’s eyes…but peace of mind. The puzzle piece that EVERYONE, rich or poor…at least in the world’s eye’s… are looking for. You can create the life you want…but you have to want it.
What is peace of mind? You have to look at life in a different point of view. it is hard…you need a new set of glasses. A de-programming, if you will. Instead of looking at life like you need more money; look at life instead, like you need less. It is very hard. But i know you can do it. Imagine a life where you did not have to HAVE any money. Impossible, you say! Rubbish, you shout! Really?
History can teach us a great deal. Let’s go back…waaaaaay back and see life in North America just a hundred years ago. I could site many examples of this, but I will give you a scenario of an immigrant culture washed up on the shores of Canada after fleeing religious persecution in Scotland. How’s that? Stay Tuned to my next Blog for that Story! Enjoy a wonderful Song from a great Canadian Artist...Gordon Lightfoot! He speaks about the same thing in his song...Crossroads!!
