Value vs Cost

On-TargetA recurring idea that keeps on coming up in all of my posts is the idea of “value.” The very core concept of minimalism is to only retain only those things that add “value” to our lives. It was brought to my attention recently that some people may not know the difference between “value” and “cost”.

 

Something we “value”, is something we hold in high esteem with respect to usefulness, or importance, with regard to our own personal moral standing and passions.

Example: I value life, my daughter, and my bicycle. I value life because I am a servant of God (moral standing). I value my daughter because I am passionate about her. I value my bicycle because I am passionate about bicycling.

Those first two should be no-brainers for anyone to understand. The third one however (bicycle?), seems out-of-place here. While obviously I do not value my bicycle as much as life or my daughter, it is a possession of mine that I value very much. I mentioned it here to point out that “value” is very subjective, as most would not share my passion for bicycling. Value can not be quantified monetarily. And for those things we can put a “dollar value” on, we would usually do so just to use the proceeds to get a better version of that thing; such would be the case with my bicycle. So in essence we are placing a dollar value on it only as a means to replace it with something better toward serving the same purpose.

 

“Cost” is the monetary price of something.  Whether we are buying or selling it, cost is the agreed upon exchange rate. That’s it. That is the only real definition of cost. Often we use the word “value” instead of “cost” to represent the monetary cost of an item in the open market. Example: “This original Picasso painting is valued at $5,000.” This use of the word “value” is not defined the same as the “value” I mentioned above. This use of the word is just a fancy word for “cost.” A pretentious use of the word “value” to make it seem personal, un-materialistic, even subjective.

That Picasso may be worth $5,000, but I don’t value it any more than one of my four year old daughters “masterpieces” up on the fridge. But I’m not passionate about art. On the other hand, I am sure there is an art lover out there that would place a personal value on it well over $5,000 (if they had to put a number on it). True-value is subjective, and therefore far more important than cost-value because it’s part of what makes us individuals.

 

Too often do I see people treat cost-value as if it were true-value.

 

Example: I once knew a person (let’s call him Johnny) who did collect valuable pieces of art (paintings mostly). He claimed to be an art enthusiast. When I once visited his home, he took me to the basement where he kept all his pieces (He didn’t put them up on the walls of his home, mind you). All the pieces were wrapped and sealed in plastic so I couldn’t see them perfectly clearly. But he thumbed through them one by one giving me their names, and of course boasting about their “values”.

It is clear to see that Johnny is not an art enthusiast at all. The only true-value in art, is in the way it looks. How it pleases the eye. He can’t possibly be getting any true-value out of the pieces with them all wrapped up and stashed away in the basement. A true connoisseur would have the pieces up on the walls displayed for everyone to see. A connoisseur would frequently gaze upon them in contentment and contemplation. The truth is that Johnny is just an investor. An investor that just so happens use art as his medium for profit. Johnny is only fooling himself into thinking there is any passion behind his collection. This art collecting is an empty activity.

Generally speaking, any collection hobby where one puts their collection away to be untouched and unused for extended periods of time is not a passion at all. There is no true-value being added to ones life if the collection is unused.

With all this being said, I think it is clear now that understanding “value” (or true-value) is the real path to happiness. Having a good understanding of “cost” (or cost-value), may lead to a more financially sound life, but will not gain one happiness.

The healing power of sunlight and fresh air

IMG_1021As long as the sunlight shines upon your face, know that God loves you.

There is nothing like sunlight on your face, and fresh air in your lungs to remind you how insignificant your problems are. That all the best fruits life has to offer are the ones you already have. That in the larger scheme of things, there is no reason to hold on to your anger, frustration, or any negative feelings.

We all go through tough times in life. Times when we feel worthless, lonely, hurt, useless. When this happens I recommend that we go outside for some fresh air and sunlight, and spend a good amount of time clearing our heads while we let the sunlight and wind wash over us. The benefits:

  1.  It reassures us that no matter what we have going on in our lives, we’ve still got the fresh air and sun; and that’s wonderful. We still have the sunrise and sunset on our side. And for those of us who believe, that is a sign that God still loves us. Furthermore, it reminds us that all the wonderful gifts in life are the ones we already have.
  2. It serves as a reminder that no matter what problems we have in life, these problems are insignificant compared to the vastness of our reality. Knowing that makes us that much less concerned over these “problems” in the first place. There is even the likelihood that these problems are solved just by this realization. I.E, the problem was just in our heads. One way or the other, our problems are made small.
  3. It allows us to step outside of ourselves for a moment or two. To cool down and re-focus. To elaborate on 2, by being reminded of how insignificant our problems are next to the vastness of our reality, we can then look at our problems from a more objective point of view. Solutions tend to me more clear when we can do that.

 

A minimalist’s views on sex

SexCountless times before have I mentioned that developing and maintaining strong healthy relationships is the real spice of life. Having more time and freedom to focus on our relationships and passions is the reason why we minimize in the first place.

Having a strong healthy sex life is part of that focus. A very important part. Making love with ones partner joins them together emotionally and spiritually to form a bond that can not be formed any other way. It’s actually quite amazing. This is all part of the human experience. Sex and sexuality are a perfectly natural part of life. They are one of the greatest gifts life has to offer. They’re certainly not shameful, nor should they be considered taboo.

Just like anything else though, sex must be done responsibly. That is, it must be done with the proper precautions. It must be done in moderation. Anything done in excess is bad; even the things that are considered healthy activities. Eating too much food leads to obesity. Too much working leads to burnout. Too much exercise leads to strained muscles, and potential physical incidentals. Too much rest also leads to obesity. So then too much sex leads to an unhealthy dependency, and increased risk of disease. I’m not going to go into a rant about safe sex. We all know how to be safe.

With all the precautionary stuff out of the way, I would like to say that I believe that sex/sexuality is much too taboo in our society. Sex should be taught to our children in a way that would educate them about the joy, responsibility, and risks of it. This education should come from their parents. Instead they are getting misinformation from their friends and media, then going out in the world irresponsibly experimenting.

Why is it that full frontal nudity cannot be seen on daytime television, but horrific violence is displayed openly any time of day? The human body is beautiful, natural, fruitful, a symbol of natures divine power. Violence is ugly, destructive, and evil. Yet we have chosen to expose our children to the glorified evil of violence, but shelter them from the beautiful bounty of the human body.  This makes no sense to me. Sex and sexual expression was all part of natures plan. “Brother kill brother” was not.

Furthermore, I am appalled at the stigmas of sex/sexuality between the sexes. Why is it that men can go topless in outdoor festive venues, but women can not? If a man is sexually promiscuous, he is a stud (positive connotation). If a woman is promiscuous, she’s a slut (negative one). Men can do whatever they want while a women must be a lady.

Everyone assumes that when a women has a lot of sex with a lot of different partners, she must be trying to fill some void created by some traumatic event in her childhood. Huh?? Why can’t she just be a women who really loves men, and has a strong sexual appetite for them? We seem to be fine using that reason for men. We men expect women to be available to satisfy our sexual appetite, but then also expect women to be demure and repress any sexual appetite of their own. Excuse my language, but that’s bullshit.

In summation, sex and sexuality should be open and free in our world. Open, and freely expressed by both men and women. By that I mean that sex itself should remain private (behind closed doors), but sex as a topic should be able to be discussed openly. Nudity should be open as well.

So go and have sex, have lots of sex. It’s does good for relationships, and is amazing for our health (I didn’t get into the numerous health benefits of having a healthy sex life, but I don’t think I have to).