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CHAPTER   2

 WORKING TO LIVE RATHER THAN
LIVING TO WORK

Before the dawn of recorded history, a major period of transition occurred. Nomadic hunter-gatherer clans transformed themselves into larger communities who farmed the land.  This they did by planting their own crops from native seeds, starting an agricultural age that would allow greater resources of community energy.  Greater resources of energy encouraged philosophy and technology to develop. The planting of crops relieved some dependency upon the generosity of the environment, thereby freeing our ancestors to pursue areas of activity other than sheer survival.  Communities no longer had to spend most of their time searching for food, and a more contemplative, thinking period for humanity began to gain momentum.  In other words, when people began to grow their own food on a dependable basis, they went beyond the focus of the next meal towards one of inner growth.  It is evident that when there is enough time and free energy devoted to the understanding of cosmos and self, it is then that the improvement of the inner human condition has a chance to flourish.

Despite all the advances of technology, the real modern irony is that time and energy are exactly what we lack most.  This would seem to run contrary to the indications of common sense, since automation, mechanization and industrialization have taken over the world.  Potentially at least, our capacity to accomplish nearly any physical and social task desired, has increased beyond real limit. It would seem logical that since we have all of these devices and resources at our command, with enormous hydroelectric, fossil fuel, solar, wind, nuclear and plant fiber energies driving them, that humanity should be released from a focus upon day to day survival more than ever before.  Our free time and energy should be absolutely abundant, allowing the full cultivation of mental and spiritual potentials.  Yet this is not so, and it is important to understand why.

Compared to all previous generations, modern humanity has control of greater physical, mechanical and technical ability than was ever dreamed of even 75 years ago.  We have so much, in fact, that the scope of our riches would dazzle the 18^th century imagination like a fantastic dream.  Every conceivable need of ours is potentially met a thousand fold. “Needs” we didn’t know existed are also catered to in painstaking detail.  Despite all of this we cannot honestly claim to live better lives than those of our great grandparents.  We cannot with any honesty state that the average person today is more intelligent, wiser, healthier or happier than those of three generations ago.  We certainly cannot claim to have more spare time or uncommitted energy to devote to the finer things in life.  The one thing we can say is that we have access to a larger stockpile of knowledge.  The sad fact is that possessing knowledge does not imply its wise or intelligent use. 

Although humanity has more knowledge and technical capability, we are also more wasteful than ever before.  We live inside the mindset of the disposable world, where everything from packaging, food, devices of all descriptions, housing, animals, plants and even people are “disposable”, or in other words expendable.  Although there is a far greater potential for physical prosperity, we spend much more than ever before on advertising campaigns, devices, wars, institutions, research for the sake of using up grant funds, government beaurocrasy and false fashion images, which do us absolutely no good whatsoever.  No, it cannot be realistically said that our lives are better lived than those of even three generations ago.  It may be argued that science has cured many diseases and extended the average life span.  But at the same time this modern age has spawned a large number of new and incurable diseases which are worse in many ways than those traditionally known.  Life spans are increased, but more often than not, extra years are lived like those of a vegetable, like a shell that has lost the spark of mind and brain because of the decades-long embalming process supervised by modern pharmaceuticals.  Have we actually increased the quality of living, and would our great grandparents have really wished for an extended life if it meant living out ones’ remaining years in misery, pollution and paranoia?  In most cases the honest answer would have to be; “NO!”  Just as a caged animal would rather be free even though it is given the best food and fresh water whenever it desires, so too would those of us who still remember what freedom and naturalness are.  We are not born to be merged with plastic tubes, wires, destructive chemicals and surgical implants.  For the most part what we witness today is not the true prolongation of life, but the avoidance of death at any cost, including clarity of mind, personal volition and human dignity.

Just imagine all the devices that are freely available to us, which were largely or totally unknown even 50 years ago.  We have multi-cycle washer/dryer sets, self-defrosting refrigerators, 300+ channel cable and satellite entertainment systems, 40 feature microwave ovens, and fast, efficient automobiles of every color, description and accessory.  We have jet airplanes and cruise liners, sailboats, amusement parks, websites and every possible electronic device from the electric toothbrush to the multiple-head compact disc playing, quadraphonic stereo system.  We have the world news delivered to our doorstep and piped into lavishly carpeted living rooms, adorned with the arts and crafts of the entire world.  Our homes contain efficient ovens, hot and cold running water and advanced personal computers.  For the yard there are riding lawn mowers, pools, electric shrub trimmers and ceramic decorations of every description.  Yet despite all this we still have the nagging feeling that this is not enough, and will never be enough.  Regardless of all these devices we still have less personal time and free energy than even a decade ago.

When a comparison is made with the values considered important to our own great grandparents to those of the modern day, a startling contrast reveals itself.  They devoted much of their time to entirely different life focuses, and not the least of these was the concern for other human beings.  In contrast, what we are willing to have time for today, indicates a uniform dedication to only one thing; MONEY.  For instance, we don’t have time to raise our own children.  The first thing we do with them when they are old enough to walk or even crawl, is to hand them over to the baby sitter and then the day care center.  After this comes the surrogate parenting of the local kindergarten and grade school.  We don’t have the time to teach them anything, to really give them the love they need or the attention they crave, nor even the good example they seek.  We don’t have the time or energy to explain the life lessons we have learned through trial and experience.  We don’t have the time to understand our children, to work with them as minds capable of independent thought, or even to develop a lasting bond of trust.  And why is this you may ask?  Because we’re too busy constantly working, buying all manner of things we don’t really need and worshipping the dollar as Almighty God.

The modern complaint is that there is just not enough time to stay healthy.  We don’t exercise enough, (if at all) because there “aren’t enough hours in the day” after work. We don’t bother reading ingredient labels on foods, or cooking healthy meals for ourselves, because this requires too much time and effort.  Instead, it is common to grab a 6-pack of liquid “X”, and a bag of fried, curly miscellaneous, (sometimes the yellow variety and sometimes the orange).  To these stomach contents is added a pill for heartburn and indigestion, as well as a dozen or so prescription medications.  Because we don’t have the time to take care of our health, we let the doctor do that for us through the surgical removal of organs and through chemical therapies whose side effects are worse than what they supposedly cure.  And why is this you may ask?  Because we’re too busy constantly working, buying all manner of things we don’t really need and worshipping the dollar as Almighty God.

We also don’t have the time to care for our own elderly; that is left up to retirement centers and “homes” whose quality of care is based upon the amount of money paid, (at least in theory).  We don’t have the time to get to know our own neighbors except by sheer coincidence, or to develop a sense of community and local self-government, because the day “just seems too short.”  There is no opportunity to actually enjoy that new house or acreage, since no one is ever home during the day, and at night everyone is too tired from work to do anything but sit and watch television.  We don’t have the time or energy to really understand the motives behind world events or our own governments but after all, why bother, since the “news” covers all this in 45 seconds or less.  We don’t have the time to live a spiritual life, to meditate or to realize the nature of Truth or God.  All of this we let someone else interpret, in simple everyday terms and short sentences, which correspond to an equally short attention span. We don’t even have the time to understand our own selves, to deal with internal thoughts and emotions.  This is supposedly the task of our counselor or psychotherapist.  It is said that there is not enough time to relax, to take care of personal business or to actually hold an in-depth, intelligent conversation with others.

We live in an age where everything, including the running of one’s own mind, body and life, is left to the so-called “experts”.  There is an expert available for every conceivable contingency, from cleaning your house to the interpretation of your own thoughts.  We have reached a point of cultural crisis where no one actually forms their own opinions based upon their own experience. Instead they quote this expert or that company’s representative with believable conviction, as though they themselves had spent much time and thought researching that very subject.  And why is this you may ask?  Because we’re too busy constantly working, buying all manner of things we don’t really need and worshipping the dollar as Almighty God.

When we TAKE THE TIME to really stand back and sneak a quiet moment, examining what we are doing with our lives, the results can come as quite a shock.  As individuals we are perhaps more widely known as a 9 digit number than as a person with a face.  We are assigned this number at the moment of birth as a matter of standard procedure, and with it the watching eyes of circuits and keyboards the world over keep track of our every move.  Our number survives our physical death, marking the passing of yet another worn-out digit among the billions of others who compose the work force, whose primary purpose it is to make the wealthy even wealthier.  We are taught from a very early age that all the desirable things in life can only be found from what is known as “your friendly local retailer”, and that every precious treasure known to man, can only be had from a shelf or a can via a handful of cash.  When something is free we immediately suspect that there is something gravely wrong with its condition, or that it must have always been worthless.  It is for money we are told, that we must work for 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, 340 days a year, for a minimum of 20 to 40 years.  When we do not involve ourselves in the worship of the state religion, (money) or are, in other words not working, it is assumed by others that we must be either sick, irresponsible or deranged.  Just as the modern child is often found shaking a broken toy declaring, “Its not working!” only to throw it away in disgust, society shakes the unemployed saying, “It’s not working!” only to treat such persons as undesirable.  The person who does not spend all their time in wage slavery is seen as a loser, a reject, a non-entity who has lost control of their lives regardless of any private accomplishments which do not immediately yield the sacred cash. It would seem that this culture believes that not only is there no higher purpose in life other than to toil and sweat year after year, but that there is no other legitimate purpose for good citizens, period.  In taking a moment to reflect on this attitude, the whole mess begins to look like a C-grade science fiction movie with no real plot.  It is bizarre to say the least.

When our ancient ancestors worked, we can well imagine that they did so only when it was necessary to plant or harvest a crop, to build a new community home, to care for the sick, for the elderly and the children, etc.  In other words they concerned themselves only with tasks that really needed to get done, so that the process of life would carry on unhindered.  Their definition of the purpose of life was and is vastly different than our own.  To them, life was not about destroying yourself in the name of money, but in the enjoyment of life regardless of possessions.  But in a sane community never did they push themselves to the edge of insanity or exhaustion to perform unneeded goals.  They did not build an extra three-story home a year, dig 10 miles of spare canals, or burn 100 times the necessary firewood to cook dinner, just to put in their 8 hours for the day or 40 hours for the week.  Impractical or excessive action was viewed as eccentric, or perhaps even as the mark of lunacy.  Today we still find indigenous cultures who, for exactly the same reasons, regard modern society as a lunatic fringe whose only focus is to devour all that is still good and right in the world. To them our world just doesn’t make sense. To their eyes it is unnecessarily complex, lacks natural instincts, knowledge and common sense, and can only be regarded as hopelessly insane.  We have much to learn from this lucid viewpoint, and the “primitive” cultures which embrace it.

Perhaps the most bizarre aspect of materialism, and the 40 hour/30 year work mode, is the fact that very few people ever question its logic.  For how logical is it to spend the majority of your adult life working as hard as you can, just to fulfill a goal which is not even yours to begin with?  “The goal of success” we are told, “is one of wealth, fame and position.”  Realistically speaking, of what practical use are these other than as a futile attempt to prove to an uncaring world, just how “successful” you can be?  For what purpose do we seek to impress others, other than through the egotistical desire to demonstrate that we have worth in the eyes of a corrupt society?  Why must we spend over ½ of our waking lives accumulating bigger, shinier “things” which we don’t really need, to impress people we don’t really know, and to live lives that we don’t really enjoy?  The intelligent person must conclude that as a culture we have forgotten that the purpose of work is to improve the quality of life, not to inflate the EGO.  At present we live to work, rather than working to live.  This is the exact opposite of what logic would advise.

The impartial observer of materialism will note, that the typical person spends all their time in the acquisition of things they neither need nor can afford.  The average adult  lives in debt as a matter of course, forever making payments to faceless institutions at high rates of interest.  They work not so much to fulfill their own livelihood, but to carry out the monstrous aspirations of corporate greed.  For them there is never enough money to buy all those things which are imagined to be necessary, and yet which were unheard of even 10-30 years ago.  One is prompted to ask,  “Why do we feel such a need for things our ancestors never heard of and lived perfectly well without?” We are so dedicated to the cult of materialism that one of the few “joys” left to us is the power to buy, to consume and then to die, buried under the thin veil of kind words left by those still consuming. The irony of this, is that people actually imagine that they are living better lives because of all the “things” they own.  It would be more accurate though, to say that their “things” own them.  After all, who works harder for whom, our things for us, or us for our things?  Finally, after 20-40 years of self-abuse and constant stress in the acquiring of shiny objects, it is then that we “retire.”  What this really means is that in a harsh, confused world, one has finally earned the right in the eyes of society to simply enjoy life.  The only problem is that at this point, youthful vigor, peace of mind and vitality have long since departed, leaving us to “enjoy” senility, disease and perhaps the view from the top story window of the nearest rest home.  In the end we realize, often in bitterness, that the whole ideal of “success” is a lie.  It is a con game created by the greedy and the foolish in an attempt to satisfy a deranged mental attitude toward life, and hugely bloated, over-exaggerated, unnatural desires.  It is far better that we realize this at an early age so as to preserve health, sanity and personal integrity.  But at any age, realizing the foolish absurdity of materialism is very much worth while.

So let’s face reality.  The whole concept of acquiring things we don’t really need to live well, and spending a life in debt and drudgery to get them is ridiculous.  The idea of “being a success”, of having the “security of a career” represents nothing more than a mistaken view of what life is all about.  The grand beauty and depth of life goes far beyond anything so shallow as “fulfilling your financial goals.”  Life is about the depths of love, spiritual unfoldment, the beauty of perception and clarity.  It is about the cultivation of inner strength, joy, the realization of truth, and the gaining of greater wisdom and functional intelligence.  If you do not take the time to see this, to be silent and sensitive rather than forever distracted by a restless schedule, then how can you expect to increase your personal power?  How can you know God or commune with the subtleties of nature when all you ever think about is making the next payment?  How can you know love, offer a kindness, or taste the freedom of health, when your life is spent on something as absurd as “reestablishing your good credit?”

To live well we must redirect ourselves back to natural and spiritual ways.  We must learn to shatter with confidence the delusions of the marketplace, returning to the sacred grove of real wisdom and the natural trust seen in the very young.  We must learn to listen to our own temple of nature, the body, and our own conduit to the Divine, the soul, in order to remember the true value of life.  One of the fundamental laws of nature that aids this process is simplicity.  Another is practicality, which can be commonly defined as “doing what works.”  Working 30+ years for something as abstract as “financial security” clearly doesn’t work.  The practical minded will realize that they need only seek after those simple aspects of life which actually improve day to day existence.  In the practical view for instance, the best health policy is right eating and regular exercise.  The best psychotherapy is the accurate perception of one’s own mind in self-reflection, (daily meditation and three weeks or more per year spent in the woods, will do very well for this purpose).  The best education is had through right living, a dynamic mind and the conclusions drawn from personal experience.  The best attitude toward money management is to realize that the elimination of wasteful spending is more important than how much is earned.  A natural life is not an expensive one, but it is a good, simple and practical one.

In order to make the dream of good and natural living a reality, we must first recognize that the one major obstacle in achieving it is the modern lifestyle.  A lifestyle after all, is little more than a set of beliefs or values carried forward into daily action. The change from the modern set of values to those which are eternal and found in nature, need not be a difficult process.  Once we realize that the goals of modern living are primarily bogus and its beliefs hysterical, it is then that the opportunity arises to change our life focus with a minimum of remorse or fear.  When we quit actually worshipping the dollar as God then this shift may not even be felt.  The natural view of work is that it is merely a means to an end, and not an end with us as the means.  The individual will remain sane so long as it is remembered that human dignity is not about being a “consumer”, a worker ant or a replaceable machine part.  Freedom is possible only so long as we are not the busy arms and legs of corporate profit margins.

One of the first major steps in building a sane and natural life, is to regard work as an occasional inconvenience rather than as the definition of existence.  For this reason you are advised to start planning to QUIT YOUR JOB NOW and start living for your own welfare and spiritual unfoldment.  The very idea of such a thing will start panic in many persons, but this is only because they don’t realize how much they really need.  We clutch to the concept of eternal drudgery because of the notion that without it, all the comforting little amenities of life would disappear.  It is very true that constant work “supports our habit” of over-consumption, and there is also no doubt that a leaner, cleaner life would be the very best thing for the average person. In accord with the principles of nature known as simplicity and practicality, begin ridding yourself of all unnecessary material possessions.  Breaking the habit of emotional attachment to material objects today, will make the conversion from wage slavery to freedom much easier to tolerate tomorrow.  Material attachment is a symptom of fear.  It reflects a deep-seated insecurity which is a result of being out of touch with nature, and with our own bodies and minds. Your great grandparents didn’t need a new Lexus, a quadraphonic stereo system, more furniture than one can sit on in a week, 20 complete outfits including shoes, ties, belts and hats, or 15 fashion magazine subscriptions and neither do you.  When we really look at everything we don’t really need, including that new house or fancy apartment which would put to shame ancient palaces, we also realize how much extra expense and effort it takes to maintain all of these ‘things”.  In truth they are but a distraction from the miseries of an artificial lifestyle.  They keep us from feeling the discomfort of stressful and unnatural lives…or do they?  Being constantly distracted, stimulated, drugged and ultimately bored, does not represent even a particle of full human potential.  The underlying theory is that the more expensive things we own the more easily we can convince ourselves that our lives have meaning.  The truth is that meaning already exits as an inherent part of reality.  It exists in nature and in our own naturally healthy minds, bodies and spirits.  We either realize this reality for ourselves and adopt it through a natural lifestyle, or we waste and destroy life through an unnecessary accumulation of material possessions.  Find a way to get rid of all these unnecessary things, so that you can quit your job and eliminate the cancer-causing agents of the daily Western routine.  After you do this there will be a feeling of relief involved with, “no longer playing the game”, which will resemble the breaking of a fever. This fever has put you through all kinds of delusions and illusions, nightmares and pains.  Leave that all behind now, so that the lessons of what life really has to offer can be learned in full.

The third principle of natural law which requires review is that of efficiency.  Nature is everywhere efficient in that waste and excess are balanced out, resulting in more overall benefit for all of its inhabitants.  Of all the creatures of nature, we are the only ones which accumulate what is literally heaps and heaps of bizarre items whose usefulness is not even questioned.  We have more clothes than we can wear, more music than can be listened to, and our children have more plastic toys than they can play with.  All of these things supposedly make life, “more convenient and enjoyable” and yet there are so many of them that the closets are full, and there is no place to put the feet when walking from room to room.  Meanwhile the television blares away, like a mental case on patient management drugs that aren’t working, giving us more useless thoughts with which to clutter the mind.  There are so many dishes in the cupboards that no one can even guess what they contain, and so much food in the refrigerator that it’s been rotting there for at least a week. We accumulate material goods so far in excess of actual need that if it were not so ridiculous it would be laughable.  At the same time we are also accumulating an equally huge amount of stress, deadly toxins in the body, useless mental trivia and fat.

In the process of external and internal over-accumulation, it seems that no matter how much we already have we go on seeking more and more.  Clearly this is not an efficient state of living and it is not the example set by nature.  Honesty and logic would suggest that this habit is a reflection of a cultural mental imbalance, one that is destroying the world and everyone within it.  It might further be reasoned that only a society or individual in extreme fear/stress, would feel such a pressing desire for continual accumulation.  As a society we are still very unsure about our material place in the world, which is exactly what our security blanket of distracting trinkets would suggest.  Why else would we feel such an unquenchable thirst for “things” beyond real need, unless an equally great sense of loss and lackingness were felt within?  This inner sense of loss and lack is the result of having departed from the bounty and deep-seated well being found in nature.  When we declared war on the natural by behaving as though it should serve us, rather than us serving the grand design it represents, we also declared war upon our own bodies, abundance and well being.  Humanity imagined that it could create a way of living, in a fashion superior to that already established by natural law and Divine presence. 

It is clear that a return to nature is the surest remedy for modern ills.  To simplicity, practicality and efficiency we must return not only to live well, but to survive as a species.  What this means to the individual, to the reader at this moment, is that they must make simple, practical and efficient their mode of living.  This eliminates the unnecessary distractions and stresses of materialism.  Just as the physical body must eliminate what is unnecessary to remain healthy, our need is to get rid of every possession and trait that does not contribute to our well being.  Look around your house or apartment today.  Evaluate each and every item that you see for its genuine and practical value in natural living.  Base this evaluation upon the following criteria, while comparing the two columns below;

The modern person must ever strive to divest themselves of clutter and complexity at all levels of their being.  The easiest place to start this process is on the material level.  Divesting ourselves of material clutter is symbolic of an inner cleansing of mind, body and spirit.  Use this activity as a ritual of personal transformation if necessary, to motivate even more critical changes in other areas of life. 

A simplified approach to the body, the mind, to spiritual ideals and to living in general is essential for the sane person.  This is why each of us needs the courage or the realization to reject false ideals in this artificial age.  The individual is completely surrounded by physical and mental toxins that do grave damage to human potential.  The modern task with regard to physical health is as much concerned with what not to eat, as it is with what we do decide to eat.  The intelligent mind has more information available to it than ever before in history, yet there is so much misinformation and completely useless trivia on bookshelves, the internet, in magazines and on the television, that just as important as what we remember is what we must intentionally forget.  It is important to remember therefore, that the responsibility of the thinking person in this age of junk food and junk mail,  is to constantly edit the content of incoming propaganda, and to be very selective as to what we put into our bodies.  A lack of intelligent selectivity will increasingly be the misfortune of the unwary.

We must reclaim our personal freedoms, not by demanding them from a society lost in its own absurd imagery,  but by cultivating them for ourselves through appropriate lifestyle.  This means living and being in such a way, that is as independent of external support as possible.  How can we ever truly be free so long as we entertain the idea of total neediness as defined by the advertising world?  Even worse than physical slavery are self imposed mental limitations that deny all possibility of independence.  The wise know that money is only a tool to achieve higher ends.  It is a form of energy only, not a suitable subject for worship, and neither are all the imagined needs that money can supposedly fulfill.  The illogic of modern living resembles a great sieve through which sand pours ceaselessly.  This sand is our life energy, and the sieve is the unquenchable thirst for “more” that is a symptom of the disease of consumerism.  If we wish to truly increase our standard of living than we will use a cup instead of a sieve, thereby spending less instead of working more.  This is the cup of simplicity, practicality and efficiency, which does not needlessly waste the Earth and all life upon it.

When we begin to value freedom more than bondage to materialism, it is then that we can “afford” to live a different way.  It is at this point, “the job” loses its special status as the sacred ritual of worship to the Almighty Dollar.  Money is reduced to the status of servant rather than as master.  Thus life takes on new meaning when the mind goes beyond the hype of advertising and media.  We begin to feel a new and progressive vigor every moment.  Decision making becomes easier, and a new-found clarity replaces the slack-jawed dullness of couch potato spectatorship.  The body automatically feels like exercising more, sexual energy increases and our appearance improves without the need of cosmetic surgery.  As a person cleans themselves of the dark filth of televised nonsense, as well as the harsh chemicals placed in junk foods and unnecessary prescription medications, they begin to remember that the natural human potential is strength and genius.

It is more than a little peculiar to note that no matter how much money people make, they are always talking about not having enough.  They are trying to catch sand with a sieve, and ending up with less and less. Find a way to disentangle yourself from debt and the indulgent ways which are at their root, and find freedom from the cult of materialism. Replace the shiny new car with a used version that runs just as well if not better. Move out of the fancy house or apartment to a place that suits your needs rather than your ego. Take off the suit or dress whose cost would feed an entire village somewhere across the world for a year, and find something comfortable to wear.  Rather than going out to a restaurant whose $40-$100 tab is a reflection of decor rather than satisfying portions or ingredients, cook for yourself.  You can’t eat decor, and the home cook, at least, knows what is going into their food. “Waste not want not” may sound like an old fashioned saying, but its truth is eternal. 

There are some very negative consequences that the whole world feels when we indulge in wastefulness.  Rid yourself of the superfluous, and plan on quitting your job soon.  Remember that the less you spend, the less you need to earn. The sooner this foolishness ends, the sooner the drudgery and pain of an artificial, destructive life will be replaced by joy and purpose.  Learn to find enjoyable and constructive ways to use all of the free time that will soon be available.  Develop your mind, strengthen the body, and cultivate the spiritual living that is our true purpose as human beings.

Ending our dependence upon wage slavery and thing fetishism, is as much a spiritual process as it is a financial one.  The world flies on in its madness because no one takes the time, clarity or courage to challenge its way of life.  Now that you remember the “root of all evil”, (money/greed) you will find a way to build a better self and world.  The worship of money is not only an affront to logic, it is an affront to true morality.  It is the worship of the anti-spiritual, one which wastes the world and causes us to commit atrocities in the name of “profit.”  How many time have we heard, “it’s a living” as an excuse for supporting activities and industries which cause war, disease and suffering of all kinds?  The phrase, “it’s a living” is uttered as though to justify any dark deed for the purpose of getting a paycheck.  For the sake of money we see the corporate pollution of entire coastlines, the selling of weapons of mass destruction to foreign lands, the manufacture of lethal substances, the marketing of prescription drugs known to have harmful side effects, the clear cutting of forests, and the enslavement of foreign peoples to make luxury devices and goods.   When we say, “it’s a living” in such contexts, we are implying that it is justified to commit any crime against humanity in the name of financial gain.  With any honesty of reflection you know this to be true.  So when considering employment in today’s world, think about its necessity on a personal basis, and its desirability to our planet.  Mass destruction or suffering is not justified by profit, so just don’t cater to it!  By not contributing to the destructive machine of society we are no longer feeding its fire. In adopting natural purposes and designs our conscience can be put to greater ease, because our contribution to the world will be a beneficial one.  Start on this natural path today, and feel a rapid increase in well being.  Clarity and spiritual satisfaction will be yours when the natural becomes a way of life.

Matthew Webb visionquest@eoni.com 

The World Mind Society http://www.eoni.com/~visionquest 

CHAPTER 3