Humans have a craving for running after the superficial and totally neglecting the deeper things in life. Money, fashion, consumerism all seem so much more important than life, happiness and well-being.
Yesterday, a family member just got into a rant about how money is 'flowing' out of his hands, with total shock and desperation in his voice. I thought about it and responded with a question: Are you happier today when you have money to spend than earlier, when you didn't? He fell silent. I am guessing he had his moment of introspection to help him put things in place.
A few years ago, my wife and I lived in Delhi and we 'ran after' everything that the corporate world wanted us to buy: a car, a flat... We spent more than we earned and soon we fell deeply into debt. We used the credit card to withdraw money (the last resort for money, for anybody who has some sense in addition to a credit card) and scraped off all sympathetic sources of money to buy stuff, which in retrospect we realized, we didn't really need.
We had to find a way to wriggle out of debt and fortunately we soon did, in foreign shores, where we compromised more than we ever will in the future. In a gradual turnaround, we soon became debt-free and also managed to acquire a bigger flat.
Today my wife and I crave no more for the things we did a decade ago. I wonder why some family members still do not see the writing on the wall. Why don't they see that they are being pulled deep into a quagmire of consumerism where one is tempted to buy what one doesn't need in a vicious cycle of desire and purchase?
The reason is that we get caught up in the worm's-eye view of the world where, to use the metaphor of maps, we can only see the end of the street we are on. When we get there, we only decide to turn left or right. Then another end of street to run to...
I hope we can all get a bird's-eye view of our lives, where we can see on our maps the direction to take to reach the ultimate destination, which I hope is happiness, well-being and life; not money or belongings.
Stepping back from the rat-race to do a PhD has given me more than I had bargained for: a fresh perspective on life's priorities... Waiting to get back to the real world outside this university...
Yesterday, a family member just got into a rant about how money is 'flowing' out of his hands, with total shock and desperation in his voice. I thought about it and responded with a question: Are you happier today when you have money to spend than earlier, when you didn't? He fell silent. I am guessing he had his moment of introspection to help him put things in place.
A few years ago, my wife and I lived in Delhi and we 'ran after' everything that the corporate world wanted us to buy: a car, a flat... We spent more than we earned and soon we fell deeply into debt. We used the credit card to withdraw money (the last resort for money, for anybody who has some sense in addition to a credit card) and scraped off all sympathetic sources of money to buy stuff, which in retrospect we realized, we didn't really need.
We had to find a way to wriggle out of debt and fortunately we soon did, in foreign shores, where we compromised more than we ever will in the future. In a gradual turnaround, we soon became debt-free and also managed to acquire a bigger flat.
Today my wife and I crave no more for the things we did a decade ago. I wonder why some family members still do not see the writing on the wall. Why don't they see that they are being pulled deep into a quagmire of consumerism where one is tempted to buy what one doesn't need in a vicious cycle of desire and purchase?
The reason is that we get caught up in the worm's-eye view of the world where, to use the metaphor of maps, we can only see the end of the street we are on. When we get there, we only decide to turn left or right. Then another end of street to run to...
I hope we can all get a bird's-eye view of our lives, where we can see on our maps the direction to take to reach the ultimate destination, which I hope is happiness, well-being and life; not money or belongings.
Stepping back from the rat-race to do a PhD has given me more than I had bargained for: a fresh perspective on life's priorities... Waiting to get back to the real world outside this university...
