Everything popular is wrong. ~ Oscar Wilde
The average man’s life unfolds thusly:
1. The birth of a body/mind (you)
2. Conditioning from family and friends
3. Programming from school and education
4. Creation and solidification of a ’self identity’ based on 1, 2 and 3
5. Employment, relationship, and family (creating more #1’s)
6. Consumption of as much as possible in a search for happiness.
7. Life is played out
8. Death
These 8 factors are found to varying degrees in almost every man’s life.
We have almost no say in factors 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Factors 5 and 6 are a result of factors 1, 2, 3 and 4.
As a result, by the time you get to #7 your life has taken a trajectory based on programming and conditioning that is almost entirely based on the luck of your draw, and you will simply play out the hand you are dealt.
But…
If life sees fit and with a little luck, you may be introduced to an entirely different kind of game. I have been fortunate in my life to have been introduced to some perspectives that suggest a completely different kind of game. It’s the game I’m playing.
For instance, I have come to know the self, as we usually imagine it to be, as unreal. This has led to the understanding that I am in fact, life itself. So are you. That changes everything. Everything.
With this understanding comes the understanding that everything I’ve been taught, and everything I’ve come to believe, is almost worthless. In fact, when it comes right down to it, it IS worthless. (It’s not that some beliefs are better than others, it’s that in reality, all beliefs are equally worthless)
Like writing in water, it doesn’t matter what you write, nothing lasts and it’s the water itself that is real.
It doesn’t matter what you do with ‘your’ life if you don’t understand and know that it is Life itself that is real. ‘Your’ life belongs to Life.
So it was with these understandings that I was fortunate enough to be exposed or introduced to a couple teachers and books that have radically altered the trajectory of my life.
Before I share the names of the teachers and books, let me share my life goals that are based on the understandings I have received from them.
1. Radically low overhead and minimalistic lifestyle allowing me to live on little and work little. (All of my belongings could now fit in a small shed)
2. Absolutely debt free in 2009, to never owe again.
3. Become completely mobile and time rich, allowing me to travel the world with friends and family while continuing to create and experience the worlds cultures and landscapes.
4. Offer Nature, Soul and Spirit based explorations that allow others to pursue this kind of life.
5. Die by exiting without leaving a mess for others to clean up.
I have no plans for retirement, because retirement is for people who want to put off living life while continuing to do what they dislike, so that one day they won’t have to.
This will NEVER be me, because I am already living a life that could not be made better by being unemployed. I LOVE what I get paid to do and will never stop.
Now, the two books partially responsible for my life revisioning and escape from insanity, leading me to become a Lifestyle Artist (more on that later)
