Expert: Alex Wilding - 1/25/2011

Question
QUESTION: I ask myself how I can continue to live as a moral and honest person in a system that is not.Money and possessions are promoting greed and selfishness, so  do I renounce money and possessions and just start sharing the world?

Should I contribute to society for free, for the needs of others and for the benefit of mankind and when I have a modest need, food, clothing or shelter, should I just take freely and honestly and with piece of mind, knowing that the contribution I gave to society far outweighs what I have taken, I have shared with society, and society is sharing with me?

I have no possessions, so I can only take what I can carry, eliminating any greed , for where am I going to put it?

Should I sleep wherever someone offers me a spare bed, eat where there is spare food and cloth myself where there is spare clothes,forever leaving or sharing the things I once wore,did or contributed to society,for others to use as a resource?

Could I sleep soundly at night knowing I didn't pay any taxes but payed my dues to society ,and worked towards a positive and compassionate intent?

I know that all these answers are yes,my question is,has anyone successfully been able to live in Aust. or New Zealand where I live within the capitalist society and be a truly free person.I have no need for my possessions yet cannot live in a house without paying taxes,working and participating in today's society.
Can you tell me if I have any legal rights as a human being living in a society where I do not agree with its principles.
I thank you in advance for your compassion.
May you all Be at One.
Carl

ANSWER: Dear Carl,
YOu seem to already know the answers. Nobody can be entirely "pure" and free from the rest of society. If you want to be as separate as you can, it is very hard. I do know a Buddhist who lives more or less in the bush in NSW and does not engage with the system of tax and benefit very much. But it is hard and, as I say, in any strict sense not fully possible.
For legal rights, the answer is probably that governments grant you very few, but you would need to ask a lawyer if you wanted a serious and detailed answer.
All the best
Alex W

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you so much for the fast reply,very much respected. I still pray to be able to live within society, participate with family, friends and experiences, for that is the only way I can evolve to be everything I can possibly be,my own enlightenment.I seem to be in a state of statelessness at the moment, haha,I have included a note i typed upon first wakin that I hope helps you to understand my feelings, I am concerned for family, everybody I know and humanity if this sillyness of money continues,and also, I would like us to live in a less deceptive world.I have to help spread a message of humanity to humanity, I truely believe that is my purpose in life,learnt from our spiritual leaders like HHDL and wise men alike. I cannot recognise the system I am forced to live in without I think eventually ending up a political prisoner within my own country on grounds of religious and moral beliefs.I guess I am going to have to persuade governments to give me and the many people I know that feel the same way more rights if our intention is only pure of heart.



Should it be on my conscience that people have to pay for food, It seems strange we are the only animal on earth that has to pay to eat?Is it fair that someone can eat so much and yet another starves.and yet, do I not sell a little piece of my conscience every day for allowing this to happen by allowing food to be charged more than what it costs to produce.


Should it be on my conscience that people have to pay for clothing.That one person is allowed to pay someone for example,$2 for a t-shirt.Yet is allowed to sell that same T-shirt for $20.Am I not selling a little piece of my conscience by allowing some other fellow humanbeing to be exploited in the production, and to the wearer of that T-shirt to allow them to be charged more than it costs to produce?

Should it be on my conscience that people have to pay to sleep in a safe environment, that a piece of land with some shelter on it is worth so much money.Am I not selling a little piece of my conscience by allowing  wars to start over it,people to be tricked out of it,or allowing it to be sold for far more than it was purchased?

Should it be on my conscience that people have to pay for an education,That somebody is allowed to buy an education and recieve all there diplomers while another struggles to buy a school book.Am I not selling a little piece of my conscience by allowing institutions to continue to charge people for the right to learn?Shouldnt aweness be something that is free and every humans right?

Should it be on my conscience that someone has to pay for electricity,That someone who can afford it can burn a massive amount of the stuff lighting up there shop or home , yet another goes without light to study or look after there family after dark. Am I not selling a little piece of my consience by allowing power companys to charge the comsumer more than it costs to produce.

Wow, I have sold my conscience five times today and I have not even got out of bed yet, what a great start to the day.

Answer
Since before humanity, animals fought, ran for their lives and died young in the hope of eating. If food was not sold for more than its production cost there would be no money for other kinds of food, for clothing, shelter, education or warmth. That is how we cooperate, how we share the fruits of our labour. Animals have always fought, run for their lives and died young in the hope of finding a safe den where they would not freeze to death or in an attempt to dominate their fellow animals in order to breed as prolifically as possible before their lives are cut short. The problems you describe have a complexity that is uniquely human, but the core of the problems is not particularly human at all - it is bound up with being born at all on a planet such as this.
If you can change society for the better, well done. There is lots of room for improvement.