Wiki defines the Theravadin monks “is the oldest surviving Buddhist school.”  They live on the offerings of others.  I was reading this thoughtful post.  She said “I saw a report on the BBC news site about a think tank who recently claimed that working hours should be halved, thereby enabling everyone to live fuller lives and make greater contributions to society. I agree with that, not just because it would be nicer to work less, even if it meant not earning as much. Life in ‘moneyed’ society is ‘commodotised’ I think. It is dehumanising really and it’s no wonder people have mental health problems in cities like this.”

So then I realized that for many people who are on unemployment, they are experiencing a taste of the life of non consumerism.  While the government gives a small payment, it is inadequate to pay the bills of almost everyone who lives in a city.  Perhaps it might work in a rural area where housing and costs to live are lower.  Is this experience helpful to those who are going through it?

Certainly anytime that an individual doesn’t get what they want, they feel they are suffering.  In a way the silver lining on the cloud on unemployment for the 16 million americans could be a renewed sense of non material awareness.  Perhaps the concepts of non duality, nonlocality are not well known yet.  This chart shows that some of the highest rates of suicide are in prosperous countries like Japan.  So clearly money or opportunities are not the cause.

I feel kind of sad for people who don’t understand life is so much better when you are balanced.  I don’t claim to be an expert, but I know that going to extremes in behavior in the past didn’t make me happy.  The most fulfilling times of my life is when I allowed all aspects of my being to exist and accept them.  Right now I am working on feeling gratitude for everything that I have.  I know its not how much stuff I have, but how I feel inside that creates my reality.