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Make time now for higher pursuits

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Hi Nicholas,

The contents of this article is surely a topic to reflect on.

Thank you for the reminder.

Regards,

Roy

 

 

 

-

"Nicholas" <jyotish108

<gjlist>

Saturday, January 31, 2004 6:29 AM

[GJ] Make time now for higher pursuits

 

 

>

> > This editorial appeared in The Times of India

>

> > Make Time Now for Higher Pursuits

> >

> >

> > Most people see money as the starting point of

> > exchange, a means to acquiring goods and services. To

> > be able to access more and more of goods and

> > services, we strive to acquire more and more money,

> > working extra hours.

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > What we often tend to forget is that money comes at a

> > real price. Money is not the first point of exchange

> > in this world: it is an intermediate point. You earn

> > money for a good life , and, ironically, even as you

> > are struggling to earn money, you are exchanging your

> > good life for it.

> >

> >

> >

> > Pursuit of money can become an end in itself. It can

> > distort all values, and make you blind to the basic

> > purpose of life. Henry Thoreau discusses this

> > phenomenon in his celebrated book, Walden.

> >

> >

> >

> > When you, for instance, build a large and grand

> > house, or buy a new car, how do you understand the

> > cost of your acquisition?

> >

> >

> >

> > You may express it in terms of how many rupees you

> > have paid for your purchase. But this amount

> > represents a certain number of years of your labour

> > and earnings, a definite part of your life.

> >

> >

> >

> > Thoreau prefers to understand the cost of any

> > acquisition in terms of how large a portion of life

> > you had to expend to acquire it. If the cost of a

> > house is the equivalent of, say, a decade of your

> > toil and earning, the expenditure on the house is 10

> > years; equal to maybe 12.5 per cent of your entire

> > life.

> >

> >

> >

> > Thoreau's view of eco-nomy in life is how to minimise

> > the portion of time on toil devoted to organising

> > food, clothing and shelter, so that the bulk of the

> > prime time is available for attending to callings of

> > a higher value in life.

> >

> >

> >

> > The situation in our present day world is most often

> > the opposite of this. Most of our life is spent in

> > the pursuit of money. Even the education of the

> > children is chosen with the purpose of equipping them

> > for this pursuit.

> >

> >

> >

> > Result: Occupation tends to become the sole

> > preoccupation, until acquiring money becomes a way of

> > life, drowning the very habit of thinking about any

> > higher pursuit. Thoreau sees much of what passes as

> > livelihood as a fool's penance.

> >

> >

> >

> > He pities young men in his town "whose misfortune it

> > is to have inherited large estates".

> >

> >

> >

> > Ego-driven, men expend the best part of their life to

> > raise their social status in a fool's paradise. If

> > and when they do get to it, they find it hardly

> > fulfilling.

> >

> >

> >

> > Having made it to the top rungs, they cannot descend,

> > because they fear a loss of face; and so they

> > continue to pay with the balance of their life to

> > maintain their 'position'.

> >

> >

> >

> > A successful CEO expressed this irony in the form of

> > a sequel to the fable of the fox and the grapes. The

> > fox, failing to reach the grapes, 'rejected' it as

> > sour. His friends, however, said he had failed and so

> > he was calling the grapes sour.

> >

> >

> >

> > The humiliated fox was provoked into action - while

> > his friends slept, he worked hard for long hours,

> > practising the high jump. One day, as his friends

> > watched, he jumped and deftly grabbed the grapes. The

> > fox earned their respect and titles were conferred

> > upon him.

> >

> >

> >

> > The poor fox, however, discovered to his dismay that

> > the grapes he'd managed to attain were in fact sour.

> > How could he reject it now? Would he not be jeered

> > at?

> >

> >

> >

> > The fox had reached the point of no return; he must

> > feed on, pretending to eat the sour grapes with great

> > relish. Miserable and unable to share his secret, the

> > fox eventually fell ill and died.

> >

> >

> >

> > K S Ram

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > (Your servant,

> > Ananga Manjari)

> >

> >

> >

> > SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it!

> > http://webhosting./ps/sb/

> >

>

>

>

>

> Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya; Hare Krishna; Om Tat Sat

> : gjlist-

>

>

>

> Links

>

>

> gjlist/

>

>

> gjlist

>

> Your

>

>

>

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