Be Here Now
You’ve chosen to pick up this illustration – thanks! The portrait is of a guy called ‘Ram Dass’, who is basically a really, really nice man, who happens to have some particularly good ideas that might be interesting to a lot of us. If this isn’t of interest to you that’s OK, but if it is then please feel free to take this print with you, either for yourself or to give to somebody who you think might like it.
You’ve picked this up in a town centre somewhere (or at least that’s where this has started out) – maybe you were on your way to work, or going shopping with friends? Regardless of what the action is you are taking, you probably had some sense of pursuit in mind – a goal of some kind. It seems that we often find ourselves occupying our time doing things that are based on the acquisition of something. For example, we work so we have money – we want money so we can buy things – we buy things because they make us feel good.
What about if we look at this in another way; we spend time trying to get hold of things that make the time we spend seem better. Doesn’t this seem a little bit of a repetitive cycle?
It appears that our value system is rooted in ‘stuff’ (materialism) and not time. When we acquire a new thing we feel good for a little bit, but once the novelty fades we just want more new things. Is it really things we want? Or do we just want to find our own version of happiness, and we’re looking in the wrong places?
For most of us, we find happiness in the love we have for others, the beauty of nature, or the enjoyment of relaxation. Our culture attempts to manipulate us into believing that happiness is in owning new things, spending our days off work in shopping centres, and in performing monotonous jobs that undermine our creative potential so that we can afford to go out and spend money on things that fuel the system that we are enslaved by. Our value system tends to attribute matter over time, but time is much more limited and can never be renewed, so why spend it in the way that we do.
What if we decided to work 4 days a week – giving us extra time to take up new hobbies, see our friends more, read more books etc.? What if instead of buying new clothes so frequently, we bought them more when we actually needed them and really looked after them, and could then spend a little more on nicer garments while consuming less in the process and not damaging the planet? Maybe instead of going shopping with friends on our days off we can go to parks and all bring something along to a picnic?
Why not treat every day like a holiday when our time is so much more limited than our money? Let’s spend our time on things that we enjoy, and not just our money.
You’ve picked this up in a town centre somewhere (or at least that’s where this has started out) – maybe you were on your way to work, or going shopping with friends? Regardless of what the action is you are taking, you probably had some sense of pursuit in mind – a goal of some kind. It seems that we often find ourselves occupying our time doing things that are based on the acquisition of something. For example, we work so we have money – we want money so we can buy things – we buy things because they make us feel good.
What about if we look at this in another way; we spend time trying to get hold of things that make the time we spend seem better. Doesn’t this seem a little bit of a repetitive cycle?
It appears that our value system is rooted in ‘stuff’ (materialism) and not time. When we acquire a new thing we feel good for a little bit, but once the novelty fades we just want more new things. Is it really things we want? Or do we just want to find our own version of happiness, and we’re looking in the wrong places?
For most of us, we find happiness in the love we have for others, the beauty of nature, or the enjoyment of relaxation. Our culture attempts to manipulate us into believing that happiness is in owning new things, spending our days off work in shopping centres, and in performing monotonous jobs that undermine our creative potential so that we can afford to go out and spend money on things that fuel the system that we are enslaved by. Our value system tends to attribute matter over time, but time is much more limited and can never be renewed, so why spend it in the way that we do.
What if we decided to work 4 days a week – giving us extra time to take up new hobbies, see our friends more, read more books etc.? What if instead of buying new clothes so frequently, we bought them more when we actually needed them and really looked after them, and could then spend a little more on nicer garments while consuming less in the process and not damaging the planet? Maybe instead of going shopping with friends on our days off we can go to parks and all bring something along to a picnic?
Why not treat every day like a holiday when our time is so much more limited than our money? Let’s spend our time on things that we enjoy, and not just our money.