Quote of the Day: Alan Lightman on the Diminishing Returns of Wealth

“Human beings consider themselves satisfied only compared to some other condition. A man who has owned nothing but a bicycle all of his life feels suddenly wealthy the moment he buys an automobile...But this happy sensation wears off. After a while the car becomes just another thing that he owns. Moreover, when his neighbor next door buys two cars, in an instant our man feels wretchedly poor and deprived.”
― Alan Lightman, Reunion: A Novel

Fattened Your Hearts in a Day of Slaughter...

Here is one of those Bible passages you don't hear often at "prosperity gospel" churches:

James 5. Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

Bibles, Crossway (2011-02-09). The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (p. 1013). Crossway.

Imagine No Posessions

...the Poverelio (Francis’s nickname, which means “little poor man”) believed material possessions to be "evil”; he loved the whole of creation too much to reject any part of it. Francis asked his followers to live in poverty because he believed that such a life—style would release them from self—centered demands for control. "Living without property,” Francis once explained, "means never getting upset by anything that anybody does."

In Saint Francis’s understanding, material poverty creates an emptiness that may then be filled by spiritual reality. In renouncing our claim to possessions, we open ourselves to spirituality because we are also (and this is the more significant act) renouncing our self—will. Francis honored "Lady Poverty" because he believed that being without possessions makes it much less likely that we will insist on our own will the willfulness that becomes the claim to be "God."

Completely unprotected, we discover a new way of seeing: Rather than looking for
what we don’t have, we truly see what we do have. We learn to discern God’s gift in everything that happens to us.

from The Spirituality of Imperfection by Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham

Shopping for Peace of Mind

Socrates believed that the wise person would instinctively lead a frugal life, and he even went so far as to refuse to wear shoes. Yet he constantly fell under the spell of the marketplace and would go there often to look at tl1e great variety and magnificence of the wares on display. A friend once asked him why he was so intrigued with the allures of the market. "I love to go there," Socrates replied, "to discover how many things I am perfectly happy without."

-From The Spirituality of Imperfection by Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham

Free At Last

"I sold 90% of my possessions leaving only some family heirlooms, art, and clothing in a small storage space. I sold my stuff off to my family, friends, neighbors, and strangers. Even though I knew it was what I wanted to do, it wasn’t an easy or comfortable situation. As I handed over the items I worked so hard to acquire I tried to think of it as if my couch was really shackled to me and now when someone bought it, it was now shackled to them, keeping them weighted down and unable to move. I on the other hand became lighter and practically lifted off the ground as my bed and last pieces of furniture and kitchen gadgets left my apartment."

Read the full article at Miss Minimalist.

The Joy and Pain of Glossy Magazines

Today's quote comes from the book Living Oprah by Robyn Okrant:

"The glossy pages of O reflected a lifestyle quite different from my own. As I paged through the lovely clothing, the jewelry, the adorable bric-a-brac, I felt like I was visiting a natural history museum viewing a diorama of how the other half lives... As fun as it was to visit fantasyland in the moment, afterward the excursion made me feel lacking... The magazine made these items look so much fun to own. But what fun is it to be reminded that I am not one of the people who gets to wear the $178 pair of miracle jeans that O's fashion team celebrates for making every woman appear silm and sleek?"

Selling Indulgences: God and Gold

One of the perhaps incongruous blogs that I follow is Tithe Stewardship and Church Tithing. It is maintained by a Christian website designer and self-studied expert on the subject of tithing. He believes that instead of tithing, Christians should be stewards of the earth and engage in "spirit led giving."

"We believe that God, our Creator, claims ultimate ownership of everything on the earth. God has entrusted his people with a stewardship and expects them to invest and manage the resources and talents He’s left them, in accordance to the eteral principles of God’s word."

It has become a regular stop on my Broke is Beautiful reading list. (Check out his article on Five Reasons We Need a Recession) A few days ago Jared posted a feature on materialistic church signs. The one above (originally from The Dissident Blog) he says, "will make you think that tithing and coming to church is like joining a pyramid scheme that promises their secrets will get you rich."

If that doesn't work, apparently they are not above an old-fashioned stick up:


In case they need a weapon. I know where they might be able to get one. Here's a gun shop sign we photographed in North Carolina: