What little I have is ... mine?
I get irritated when I hear that there is "enough" for "everyone" of anything that there clearly isn't. Like money. Sure, there can be enough for everyone, but that only works when the distribution system is working and no one's hoarding, and we all know how well that goes.
Denying reality is not a virtue. It is a good thing to have an idea how the world should be and to work towards that ideal. It is not a good thing to take that idealism and expect the world to already line up to it. When we try to force the world to match our preconceptions, we hurt ourselves and those around us.
The world is not a bounty waiting to be picked. The Divine loves us, yes, but that doesn't mean that our path is smooth and everything is built for our advantage. The world is rough and dangerous, and there's no loving spirit watching over just us trying to fix our life and ignoring everyone else. We have to live with each other with everything that means, the good and the bad.
I try very hard to live without being grasping, without clinging to things that I shouldn't. There is scarcity, and there are things I want and don't have. But I try to be reasonable in the things that I want that are limited, and I try to share what I can as well.
Questions:
What role does scarcity play in my life? The biggest places I notice it is money, because of course there's never enough, and in trying to get published. Because while there's no real limit to the number of books that can be published, they only publish the best, and that's a small number of the whole. And there isn't *enough to go around*. There's only the best/lucky and everyone else. No amount of "enough for everybody" thinking is going to change that.
What do I have that I don't need, and is it worth it? Well, I don't need the size house that I have, although I expect I will need it when I have another child. (or maybe when they grow up a little bigger). I certainly don't need all the chocolate I eat, or the fancyish tea that I drink. On the other time, I don't have much in the way of luxuries in the house. I don't drink alcohol, which gets expensive quickly. We don't eat out often. We buy toys for our son and computer games for ourselves, but we don't spend rediculous amounts. We could be better about it, of course, but I don't think we're crazy about it either.
Do I find it hard to share what I have? Yes, because I doubt the worth of it. What I have, my gifts, lie in writing. But writing is an inherently solitary and self-doubting occupation, so I wonder if my writing is any good and I want to hide it away. But when I do share, I know how I'm doing and whether or not it's any good. When I refuse to share, I refuse to live.
Denying reality is not a virtue. It is a good thing to have an idea how the world should be and to work towards that ideal. It is not a good thing to take that idealism and expect the world to already line up to it. When we try to force the world to match our preconceptions, we hurt ourselves and those around us.
The world is not a bounty waiting to be picked. The Divine loves us, yes, but that doesn't mean that our path is smooth and everything is built for our advantage. The world is rough and dangerous, and there's no loving spirit watching over just us trying to fix our life and ignoring everyone else. We have to live with each other with everything that means, the good and the bad.
I try very hard to live without being grasping, without clinging to things that I shouldn't. There is scarcity, and there are things I want and don't have. But I try to be reasonable in the things that I want that are limited, and I try to share what I can as well.
Questions:
What role does scarcity play in my life? The biggest places I notice it is money, because of course there's never enough, and in trying to get published. Because while there's no real limit to the number of books that can be published, they only publish the best, and that's a small number of the whole. And there isn't *enough to go around*. There's only the best/lucky and everyone else. No amount of "enough for everybody" thinking is going to change that.
What do I have that I don't need, and is it worth it? Well, I don't need the size house that I have, although I expect I will need it when I have another child. (or maybe when they grow up a little bigger). I certainly don't need all the chocolate I eat, or the fancyish tea that I drink. On the other time, I don't have much in the way of luxuries in the house. I don't drink alcohol, which gets expensive quickly. We don't eat out often. We buy toys for our son and computer games for ourselves, but we don't spend rediculous amounts. We could be better about it, of course, but I don't think we're crazy about it either.
Do I find it hard to share what I have? Yes, because I doubt the worth of it. What I have, my gifts, lie in writing. But writing is an inherently solitary and self-doubting occupation, so I wonder if my writing is any good and I want to hide it away. But when I do share, I know how I'm doing and whether or not it's any good. When I refuse to share, I refuse to live.
posted by Vieva | 7:51 AM
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