Om Shanti, dear all
The picture above is from an acquaintance of mine who made a book for me when I was about 50 years old (25 years ago now) and had decided to decorate my house as a kind of ashram.
When I was 38 years old I had already a similar moment and then I got also rid of everything I had in excess of stuff and then decided to see what would come my way if I would live without unnecessary stuff and on a minimum income. This is my learning goal for myself. I can tell you that the result was that "stuff" just kept coming in without asking.
I spent everything that came as extra in money on giving yoga and meditation classes and for shiatsu furniture. What was left over I gave it away to charities and/or planting trees.
A survey with questions about certainty in your life........
Later, around 2017, I was asked if I wanted to go through a survey with a person and answer the questions that would be asked. What was the survey about..... about security and what that meant to me, among other things.
I really shut down then, I don't have much with cecurity, which is evident from the fact that when I was 38 years old and I would continue in life alone.... I got rid of everything that was too much in material things. All that was left was to preserve what was really necessary to live in society. Of course, these could also be beautiful and/or durable items.
- I had and still need a car.
- Phone I had and still need.
- Computer I need.
- And so there are several things that are useful for living.
- The question wich are asked to me where
- Do you have a house
- Do you have a caravan
- Do you have a boat
- Do you have this
- Do you have that
I could say no to everything, because it was not necessary to have it.
Again, I can say that this is wonderful for those who have it, but for me it would have been an obstacle in a spiritual sense. All that time it would take me to maintain something would be at the expense of "my task". A task that was supposed to take 30 years and which now turns out to be much longer in 2024.
My task: The promised 30 years have already passed for 15 years and in that sense I could now fill in my spiritual space both internally and externally, for example with a little more luxury. But not much has changed in me.
Not how I look at society. There is a lesson in frugality....... And that is to continue to have faith in the universe. The place where you are put is your place and the universe also provides all the tools that are needed.
Be Spiritually Free
Are you not allowed to own anything anymore? Do you have to give up everything that has been built up??? No, of course not, but my advice would be........ Don't become a slave to things and people. Open your heart and home to everyone who crosses your path. Dare to make choices. Keep in mind that a house often does not belong to you but to the bank. And that the stones of your house come from the earth, so they have been given to us from the universe.
Have you given anything back to the universe???????
10% to love,
10% of goods.
10% of everything......
I saw a nice text which contains the content of a lecture that a Mystic/Yogi had given in India.
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Wealth and Wellbeing
What we need in the world is not just “wealth creation.” We need to create wellbeing. Wealth is just one of the tools towards human wellbeing, not the whole of it. Wealth means making the outside pleasant for ourselves. But right now, people are going at it like it is a religion. In pursuit of wealth creation, we are destroying the very planet on which we live. Whether you make a safety pin or build a computer or a car or some great machine, whatever you do, you are digging it out of the planet. Somewhere, we must decide how much to dig and how much the planet can take.
If we are not sensible about this, in our ideas of wealth creation we may completely destroy the planet – which we are already doing in many way.
We must understand what our idea of wealth is. Is it just about more buildings, more machines, more cars, more of everything? More and more is death. In the most affluent societies in the world, for example in the United States of America, a significant percentage of the population is on anti-depressants on a regular basis. If you just withdraw one particular medication from the market, almost half the nation will go crazy. That is not wellbeing. Generally, an American citizen has everything that anyone would dream of. There is wealth but no wellbeing. What are you going to do with this wealth?
If I go to the West and ask them, “Why don’t you meditate?” the common statement everywhere is “But we have to pay bills.” I said, “If your whole life is about paying bills, why generate those damn bills? You can curtail yourself and live more comfortably. To pay all those bills you are just working endlessly. What is the point?”
“No the whole society is doing it.” It doesn’t matter. They are driven by somebody else. If you have any sense, you must drive yourself to the extent that you are comfortable. There maybe someone who can do a thousand things in a day without suffering or being stressed. Maybe you can do only three things in a day. It is okay. You needn’t try to do what someone else does. This is the biggest problem. We are trying to do things like someone else.
When it comes to outside situations, no two human beings have come with the same level of capability. Your neighbour may have a 100-bedroom house. Maybe he likes to live in a hotel! For yourself, you must decide how much. Trying to do things like someone else is the wrong way to approach life. We need to decide how much of what we should do in our lives – how much outside activity, inner wellbeing and social wellbeing would keep our life in a balanced way without ruining us and the atmosphere around us.
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Associated with
Sufi Movement - Katwijk and Breda
Brahm Rishi Mission - Krimpen ad Ijsssel
Swami Devapriya as Dan Haag
Isckon (Radadesh, Belgium)
Stichting Yogastudiolaksmi
Emmaus - Langeweg
Soham Baba Mission - Waalwijk
