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A Need for Excess

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posted on Jan, 25 2012 @ 07:38 AM
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Yesterday after leaving the bank a feeling of great disappointment and frustration came over me, a mortgage application for a house in another city had been declined.

Failure to declare my income as an independent worker and from my income properties had much to do with their decision. My girlfriend kept her job working minimal hours while collecting Employment Insurance after the birth of our first child but that also wasn’t enough to provide adequate income security, even if she had been working there for years and had started full time again. I guess that’s what two bachelor degrees will get you these days, absolutely nothing.

Still, the feeling of discontent was short-lived after getting home and considering what I already had: Properties, a nice home, a duplex, two camps, a red dodge stratus and a red Ford Mustang equipped with a 1000 watt top of the line Alpine system, infinity subs and Kenmore speakers. Inside the house there is a gigantic 55” 3d TV, new generation game consoles with hundreds of games, new furniture, a new massive stainless fridge, new high-tech stainless convection oven, a newly renovated 4x7 tiled ceramic shower with jets all over, newly renovated basement and even a speaker system which spans the entire house. As for my working equipment I own over 25k worth of musical gear which includes seven guitars, a drum set and a PA system, I also own over 15k worth of camera equipment.

So why did I feel such dissatisfaction?

There was a time when I was grateful for living in a cheap apartment with a fridge full of food and anything beyond that was considered “overindulgence”. Living below my means was forged within my identity, as an artist it was the type of lifestyle that made absolute sense, that is, if I made a decent amount of money but spent very little then I was rich. That used to make a lot of sense until the birth of my child but why? Of course I want to provide the best for him but I was raised in poverty, my mother was disabled, she collected a welfare check every month and all my clothes were bought at the thrift shop. Despite all that, I’ve never considered myself ‘unfortunate’ but rather quite the opposite; I had the luxury of knowing the true value of friendship, love, life, work and money.

Now I’m left pondering why I felt a need for excess? Why I felt such disappointment when my life is filled with true riches, a wonderful and beautiful girlfriend and my son, my greatest accomplishment of which I am so proud of. It’s the first time that I feel that the system had the upper hand, as if I had slipped into their game and today I am thankful that the loan application was rejected, it reminded me of what I have.

...everything else is excess.



posted on Jan, 25 2012 @ 08:09 AM
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reply to post by Cocasinpry
 


I aswell have experienced this. I have had it all and still was unhappy until I lost it all. Now I am greatfull for all of the small blessings.
I think one of the things that's on lifes checklist.... or at least it should be.



posted on Jan, 25 2012 @ 09:05 AM
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reply to post by Cocasinpry
 



I live in Singapore and I'm a local here. Despite the mainstream media hype about Singapore, the painful truth is usually unspoken for fear an individual will be silenced thru its law.

I've been experiencing similar torments too but for decades. Inflation here is non-stop. Government, companies and even welfare groups find 101 excuses to hike electricity, water, transport, food .. before, during and after crisis times.

I'm in my early 30s and have a good education but always landed underpaid and underemployed. My cousin degree holder too. And I heard that some friends (international Degree holders) of mine went jobless for 2 years. This is Singapore.

The government brings in foreigners and immigrants from all walks of life. Our cultures and our jobs are robbed. I don't mind if Singapore government bring in the rich but it's the middle-to-low group that rob jobs away from locals.

As a result, many of us locals remain unmarried till old age and death. That's the painful hard truth.



posted on Jan, 25 2012 @ 10:10 AM
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reply to post by wisdomnotemotion
 


Thanks for sharing that, definitely eye opening.

But your country and culture is completely foreign to me so I can't pretend to understand but I still sympathize and share your frustrations.

Kids here are pressured into college with promises of better employment opportunities but all they end up with is tens and hundreds of thousand dollars of debt. Kids that have tons of wealth have inherited it and while earning wealth is a possibility, and is something that I have witnessed, it remains very unlikely to happen. Debt is control, which is why I've always upheld the belief that living below your means equates to increased liberty and happiness.

I have no debt... zero. And my recent sobering experience has taught me that no matter how tempting owning a bigger house might seem, the truth of the matter is that such things only bring misery and discontentment. I am not tied down, I have the freedom to save money and travel the world if I want to, nothing holds me back; I am not a slave to a 25 year mortgage payment.

So even if my girlfriend is in a bad way with her debt, she has the opportunity to get out of it. At the moment is she actually considering going back to college, obviously graduating as a licensed social worker with two other degrees would greatly benefit her and almost guarantee a high paying job but this time she plans on working to pay for her scholarship fees instead of borrowing.

We also have immigrant workers here in Canada. Those who complain about these people stealing their jobs don’t realize that the people in Canada, who don’t work, do not want to work. At least immigrant workers are generating income and are feeding it back into the system which promotes economic growth. I won’t pretend to work very hard, although taking care of the kid 24 hours a day is a pretty tough job in itself, my girlfriend works much harder than me and has a higher income. Which is another reason why I don’t/shouldn’t complain; I realize how fortunate I am to have the amount of wealth I have.



posted on Jan, 25 2012 @ 10:11 AM
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Originally posted by wisdomnotemotion
reply to post by Cocasinpry
 



I live in Singapore and I'm a local here. Despite the mainstream media hype about Singapore, the painful truth is usually unspoken for fear an individual will be silenced thru its law.

I've been experiencing similar torments too but for decades. Inflation here is non-stop. Government, companies and even welfare groups find 101 excuses to hike electricity, water, transport, food .. before, during and after crisis times.

I'm in my early 30s and have a good education but always landed underpaid and underemployed. My cousin degree holder too. And I heard that some friends (international Degree holders) of mine went jobless for 2 years. This is Singapore.

The government brings in foreigners and immigrants from all walks of life. Our cultures and our jobs are robbed. I don't mind if Singapore government bring in the rich but it's the middle-to-low group that rob jobs away from locals.

As a result, many of us locals remain unmarried till old age and death. That's the painful hard truth.


No offense to you personally because you are not personally responsible, but how do you think people in the USA feel? Also, China's habit of murdering their female children is bound to have some negative repercussions. The main one being a shortage of brides.



posted on Jan, 25 2012 @ 01:06 PM
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Dear OP,

Simply put, you had found 'enlightenment'. Congratulations.

Even though you felt disappointment that your loan application had been rejected and thus the rejection by the system that you grew up with, you still do KNOW where your responsibilities and love lays in, thus your enlightenment.

Some presumed that in order to achieve enlightenment, one must do so in the manner that Buddha had done - came from princehood, went into self imposed suffering for years, meditating under the bodhi tree, etc. That is utter BS.

True enlightenment is only when the scales of your desires fall downs from your eye, and finally see reality as it is, and yet can keep and sustain your sanity, by love, the most powerful force and energy in the universe, which is in your case your love for your family and son, which are truly the most important aspect in your life.

Buddha did what he did because he loved mankind, just as the Messiah and the prophet Muhammad had.

Enlightenment is only simple and within every human's grasp. The only cost is to deny ignorance, and reject delusions no matter how comforting it may be, and confront realities courageously empowered with love, to find solutions. It is NEVER as difficult as those whom professed to be masters made it out to be.

Does acheiving enlightenment makes us superiour?

No. It only frees us, just as truth will free us, to continue on with the complexities of life, but with a better confidence to always seek for truths and not allow delusions to blind us, and to spread such truths to others.

Only then, can Nirvana be achieve. Heaven can never and must never be perceived based upon our mortal understanding, as our understanding is mere infantile, compared to the Universe of billions years of age. It is not a place where your physical mortal desires such as the laughable present of 72 virgins for eternity.

It is much, much more, beyond human desires and comprehension. It is powered by love, the kind of love that you had shown for your family and kid.

Good lluck and cheers!:-)



posted on Jan, 25 2012 @ 01:21 PM
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reply to post by Cocasinpry
 


This is the problem that most people face, in their lifetimes.
Once success is acheived, and everything is bought, unhappiness abounds.

Why? Because people are taught, from an early age that making money is success.
They are taught all about spending money and how to become a good consumer.
Which 99% of people fall for...hook, line and sinker.
Life is not about how much money you can make.
Or how much you can spend.

You are clearly a genuine person, friend.
You have seen what others deny.
You have been awaken to what others still dream about.

Consider yourself lucky and remember...success is not about what you own.
It's not about how nice your house is or how everything in it is huge and new.

It's about finding what you truly need in life.
Which isn't all those material things.

Only you can find that on your own.








posted on Jan, 25 2012 @ 05:42 PM
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reply to post by Cocasinpry
 


I can relate to that perfectly.. I've made it my priority now just to pay off all my debts, including my house, so that I'm never sucked into the system again. It's one thing if you're excessive with possessions if you pay for it in cash .. it's quite another if you do it with debt.



posted on Jan, 25 2012 @ 06:02 PM
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Are we ever true satisfied? Today I was saying I wanted something but didn't need it. My young son said to think about it and after many months, if I still wanted it, I should put it on my Christmas list. Hopefully this attitude will stay with him throughout his life and he will never be an impulse or materialistic buyer.

One thing I do to keep myself grounded is I bring food to the food shelf during hours when people coming in to collect food. When you see the people there, young, old, some really sad people, it reminds me how blessed I truly am.



posted on Jan, 25 2012 @ 06:07 PM
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