poverty is the door to freedom ...
I read a short chapter of Thomas Merton's book 'thoughts in solitude' this morning and was struck by the opening words of a paragraph which stated that 'poverty is the door to freedom'. Few of us, in the modern world, would consider this to be true at first glance, but it is worth taking a closer look at what this might mean today.
There is no doubt at all that consumerism seems to be getting stronger, rather than weaker, although there are dissenters of course. Even once solid things that we bought now seem to have an 'end date' built into them, causing us to buy new ones more frequently.
Then there are the adverts, constantly telling us that life will be terrible if we don't buy x y or z. It is never ending and is designed to be that way.
But what if we stop and, as Jesus said "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor". In context, at this time, people would have had very little to give away and would probably not be as attached to goods as we are today, other than those essential for life.
How do we put this into practice today? Only a very tiny number of people would be willing to give away everything and go to live in a cave, and even then, doing so can even be a source of 'pride' .. a 'look at me, i'm more devout that anyone else' kind of thing
Can we put this into action in a way that is appropriate for today?
I think the simple answer to this is 'yes'. Next time you go to a supermarket, think whether you need what you put in your shopping basket. We could probably cut our shopping down by 50% with a little effort. The same applies with clothes or washing machines. Do we need something or are we buying them because it would be 'nice' to? These are all questions that we can ask ourselves throughout the day.
Stripping things down to the basics (or near basics) will save us money and often also provide more time. You could use money saved to give to the poor or a charity, or you could decide that you no longer need to work full time and go part time, leaving more time for reading and silent prayer.
Simplifying our diet too, can contribute to ecological balance and, by using more vegetables and pulses in our diet, help us stay healthier for longer too. It really is a 'win win' situation.
Reducing our consumerism also plays a small part in preserving this one and only planet. It won't solve the world's problems, but it might just be a very small start that also encourages others .. and so the world slowly changes.