Comments on: How LITTLE do you need? (Mini-series)

By: How Little do you NEED? (Your Home) | AimforAwesome

How Little do you NEED? (Your Home) | AimforAwesome — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 02:00:43 +0000

[...] How Little Do You NEED? (a series) (your home, your vehicle, your possessions) [...]

By: America’s Sick Reality

America’s Sick Reality — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:23:45 +0000

[...] written articles about how to live on as little as possible here at this blog. They are some of my most popular articles. One covers how to live in a home you [...]

By: How Little do you NEED? (Your Possessions)

How Little do you NEED? (Your Possessions) — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 07:40:18 +0000

[...] you missed the first in the series you will find it here, “How LITTLE do you Need?” Second was, “How little do you NEED? (Your Home)” Third was, “How little [...]

By: How Little do you NEED? (Your Vehicle)

How Little do you NEED? (Your Vehicle) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 04:31:14 +0000

[...] you missed the first in the series you will find it here, “How LITTLE do you Need?” Second was, “How little do you NEED? (Your Home)” Third is this one! Fourth is, [...]

By: Gary

Gary — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 03:29:09 +0000

Ha, ha, ha! Oh, Vern,that the world would be the way I wanted it to be would probably mean it’d be in a worse mess than it is now! I don’t have any answers for humanity’s problems, other than for people to be happy and be kind! Simplistic I know, but any more complicated than that and it starts getting messy!

Materialism is a natural result of tanha (desire). Rampant consumerism exists in those countries that are freer, and allow their citizens the choice of what it is that they want and what it is that they don’t. I wouldn’t advocate any kind of suppression of people’s desires, just watch my own attachments and share any insights that might arise (with those that want to listen).

Look at Burma, a country where people’s desires are heavily suppressed by the brutal (and seriously deluded) junta there. Apparently, the generals believe that they are good Buddhists looking after the interests of their country by beating and killing untold numbers of the very people that the military exists to protect! That’s real ‘messy’.

Look at the ‘born-agains’ in the US, where some of them will verbally and physically attack people that don’t apply fundamentalist interpretations of the Christian Gospel to their lives (i.e. abortionists, gays, and ‘heathens’ like myself that practice non-Christian religions).

I’m with you in that a world consumed by consumerism is not the best model for humanity to follow. So, I guess in theory Vern, that we are partners! What’s next? ;)

By: Vern

Vern — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 09:34:28 +0000

Hi Gary, thanks for commenting… I agree with what you said… and you know, I think I’m seeing it more just over the 3 years I’ve spent here in Thailand… Thai people are becoming more materialistic… wanting more, more, more… the advertising industry is catching on… the super-rich in Thailand are funding them – buying advertising companies in a way not dissimilar from America as the advertising industry really started to take off – right around when I was born – 1966 and after the Vietnam war… It’s sad for me to see it and yet, silly to want anything different -it’s the pattern of mankind… You’re right, if they had more money, they’d buy more stuff. I think that’s becoming more true everyday. I hope I can reverse the course of the entire world’s people with this AimforAwesome blog… you with me Gary? Partners? ;)

By: How Little do you NEED? (Your Home)

How Little do you NEED? (Your Home) — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 09:24:33 +0000

[...] RSS ← How LITTLE do you need? (Mini-series) [...]

By: GaryDaubney

GaryDaubney — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 03:12:16 +0000

Hi Vern!
Loved the video tour of your present home. Spartan is the first word that comes to mind! (Some Buddhist monks here in Thailand would do well to take a look at how you live and learn to live more simply themselves.)

In the past I’ve lived in a similar manner (although with some furniture!), and I found it a liberating experience to live so simply without many possessions to worry about. These days, it seems that what’s important isn’t how much stuff my wife and I have, but how much stuff I carry around with me in the mind. One can have very little but be attached to it, or one can have a lot and not be attached to it.

Many people in Thailand do live with very little, but that’s probably because they can’t afford much more than they have – if they had the money, they’d buy more stuff. This is human nature, of course, to be subject to one’s desires (tanha in Buddhist parlance). That we can live with very little is amply shown in your video, Vern. One question comes to mind – what does your lovely girlfriend think of living in such a spartan manner?

Great post and nice video, V.
Thanks,
G.