Author: Anthony

I was attending Church a couple Sundays ago and heard the following humorous and truthful joke:

 

 

 

There once was a rich man who was near death. He was very grieved because he had worked so hard for his money and he wanted to be able to take it with him to heaven. So he began to pray that he might be able to take some of his wealth with him.

An angel hears his plea and appears to him. “Sorry, but you can’t take your wealth with you.” The man implores the angel to speak to God to see if he might bend the rules.

The man continues to pray that his wealth could follow him. The angel reappears and informs the man that God has decided to allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the man gathers his largest suitcase and fills it with pure gold bars and places it beside his bed.

Soon afterward the man dies and shows up at the Gates of Heaven to greet St. Peter. St. Peter seeing the suitcase says, “Hold on, you can’t bring that in here!”

But, the man explains to St. Peter that he has permission and asks him to verify his story with the Lord. Sure enough, St. Peter checks and comes back saying, “You’re right. You are allowed one carry-on bag, but I’m supposed to check its contents before letting it through.”

St. Peter opens the suitcase to inspect the worldly items that the man found too precious to leave behind and exclaims, “You brought paving stones?!!!”

 

Life and Love matter. That’s all. One day we are all going to meet our maker, and when we do, God won’t be concerned about how much our net worth was in our last fiscal year. God will only be concerned about what kind of difference we have made in other peoples lives; how much we loved.

Thus endeth the lesson.

In today’s world we are overwhelmingly exposed to media entertainment in some form or another. Whether it’s from our TV, smartphone, computer, billboards, or radio, businesses are constantly trying to flash messages at us through any means that will monopolize most of our time. I say “entertainment” because whether the media is a video game, sitcom, movie, music, or even advertisement, it is presented in a way to keep the consumers attention. I believe the trouble with this is that it makes us desensitized to all the natural beauty around us. Perhaps “desensitized” is the wrong word. More appropriate to say: We have become so accustomed to the fast paced entertainment of this digital world we live in, that when natural beauty crosses our path, we don’t realize and acknowledge it.

This is one of the many reasons that myself, and many other minimalists’ are able to live happier lives. We don’t spend as much time “plugged in.” That is, we are not constantly exposing ourselves to the digital media outlets. And the times that we do expose ourselves, is done so with intent; not simply as “empty calorie” entertainment. By limiting our digital time, we don’t allow ourselves to be desensitized by this form of entertainment. We still recognize the beauty and wonderment of the real world, the natural world. And I don’t just mean things like sunrises, sunsets, rivers, waterfalls, trees, and all that jazz. But also about the subtleties of human interaction. Things like:

• A polite dinner conversation.
• A back or foot massage in front of a roaring fire.
• Holding the hand of our lover.
• a kiss
• a wink
• a hug
• a caress
• a gesture

These are the things that connect people. It is this connection, that so many of us have lost, despite it’s availability. We have come to take these things for granted. Such a loss. The result of this is, that we are less happy. Too many of us have forgotten, or don’t realize, how badly we need these things for happiness.

So, with that being said, minimalism is also about keeping ourselves from taking these things for granted. We always keep ourselves rooted in the natural world, with people. If in order to do this we must curb our digital time, so be it (small price to pay). By living with fewer media outlets, less distraction, less empty entertainment, fewer time killers, we are more open to absorbing the natural beauty around us. It is these things, that are the real riches that life has to offer.