October 12, 2023 – A

All of the philosophies of life
that I am aware of
assume a high enough income
to meet the cost of living.

I don't know of any philosophy 
that makes poverty bearable,
much less fun.

Life starts with being able
to pay the bills.
Once we take care of that requirement,
then we can turn our attention
to what we pay the bills to do.

Until then, philosophy and religion
call us to keep trying,
with promises of "pie in the sky by and by,"
when it will "all be made up to us one day,"
if we keep trying.

Destitution and abundance are the poles
between which life is lived,
Finding and maintaining 
the "sweet spot"
between the two extremes
is out of the question for 
a staggering number of people
which is rapidly increasing
even as I write these lines.

And that is a problem for all of us worldwide.

How do we address it?
How do we solve it?

As with everything else that Really Matters
(War, Hunger, Climate Change, Over Population, Pollution...),
we have no idea.

And that leaves us with waiting/watching
as things become increasingly dire and out of hand
and the systems sustaining life
overheat and collapse into a catastrophic meltdown
and it all starts over for another round from the beginning.

This is called "The Circle/Cycle of Life,"
and it plays itself out across the universe over time.

In the meantime, 
we settle into responding as appropriately
as we can manage
to the need of the moment
in each situation as it arises
in service to the good of the whole
insofar as that is possible
all our life long.

This is a philosophy that is good 
for all times and places
as long as there are times and places,
spoken first to my knowledge by Lao Tzu
in the Tao te Ching ("The Virtues of the Way"):
"Do your work and step back,
let nature take its course."

And, "This is the way things are."

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