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RE: Cheap luxuries, simple pleasures
Perhaps one day we will move back toward a world where people are again the focus instead of what they possess and then, take it further. Maybe we will have a situation where the debts are cleared, the bill cycle halted and we can enjoy each others company for who we are. I think once the hunters that chase us are no longer a threat, we will find that the desire to compete and collect for a luxurious life will diminish rapidly as, the luxury would already be there, in the simple pleasures.
I have never wanted money for the luxuries it can buy but for the security, freedom and lack of worry that it buys.
Money doesn't buy freedom. That's a myth. Money buys more restrictions and constraints. Once you have money, you're now prisoner to it. If you were to lose it, you'd be more likely to lose yourself .. as opposed to never having money and being free of society's expectations and boundaries.
Freedom is a state of mind, not something that you gain from material wealth.
Money stands for help from other people. Unless you're Robinson Crusoe, you can't survive without help from others. That is to say, we are all forced to spend and therefore to obtain money to survive. Having money equals security in the sense that with enough money you are not in any danger or running out of money necessary for survival.
You need a certain degree of material wealth to survive. Also, money gives you options. If you get into trouble, money (= help from other people) can help you a great deal in solving that problem.
Yikes. I don't really know where to go with this.
It sounds like you are stuck in support of a "welfare state" and believe in the merits of communism. If you feel that you're dependent on others to survive, in a manner other than for mental health reasons, you're showing tendencies of Marxism, Socialism, Fascism, Communism, or something similar.
You don't need "material wealth" to survive. You could live and survive in a jungle if you learned the skills required to make shelter and acquire food and clean water.
You seem to be making statements based on the existing broken society that so many of us live in. Not based on facts of Life and reality. Living "off the grid" and away from today's oppressive society that we have come to know as"normal" is absolutely possible. Will it provide you with all of the creature comforts that you have come accustomed to? No. Do you need all of those creature comforts to survive? Definitely not.
The jungles of this planet cannot support seven billion humans.
There was never a time in our hunter-gatherer past when we did not live in communities. Division of labor, religion and the collective are as old as humanity itself. The illusion of individualism that radical or individualism in the first place is even possible in a highly developed modern society providing niches for the rare lone wolf to dream of living in freedom as a lone caveman.
While we have technology, we are far from a "highly developed" species, or even society. The modern and highly developed society which you speak of only covers probably 1/3 of the population of the world, at best.
Sure, communities exist globally, but government oppression has created the environment that you seem so comfortable to live in.
I'm not suggesting everyone live in jungles. I'm saying that if you wanted to live as an individual, or even a family unit, off-the-grid, it's more than possible.
Religion is not as old as humanity, please try again. Religion was clearly after humanity. In no reality can you even try to conceive otherwise. That's not even close to the chicken and the egg argument.
What are you going to do when you or a child of yours becomes seriously ill?
It's not a chicken an egg argument. What I'm saying is that primitive humans had religion. When the requisite cognitive ability was there, religion emerged. Usually such religions centered around the worship of ancestors and nature. Primitive people were and continue to be very religious by modern standards - also very communitarian. Also, living off the grid is different from living independently of civilization. If you can make everything yourself or live in some small close-knit community somewhere that has the resources to make everything you need, then you can say you don't need money because your living in some kind of self-sufficient mini-communism. But if you are leading the life of a modern nomad, it is patently laughable to say that money is worthless to you.
So what you meant to say was "Division of labor, religion and the collective are as old as SOCIETY itself. "
My point is that society was not in existence at the inception of humanity.
Also, there are many forms of society. There is no need for division of labor when all individuals are self-sufficient.
Does it add efficiency? Sure.
Is it necessary for survival? No.
What's wrong with living a life where your life is not prolonged by drugs and "modern medicine"? Is it such a terrible thing to accept that there is a timeline associated with life which is outside of human control?
Just because "modern society" has done things in a specific way for a number of years, does not mean that it has been done in the correct way.
Modern Society is materialistic. Modern society worries about keeping up with others around them in acquiring material objects; that's akin to Envy and Greed. Modern society is happy with sitting around while other people do things for them; Sloth. Oh, and don't forget the problem that Modern society has with obesity; Gluttony. If you look around the world at all of the hate and violence, I am certain that you will find plenty of Wrath. Check the recent levels of divorce rates, and you'll find Lust. And if you look at governments around the World, you'll find an abundance of Pride .. or if you want to focus on a single leader, you don't need to look any further than Donald Trump.
So, yeah.. Modern Society is amazing. Let's keep doing what we're doing and expect a different outcome.. hmm, that sounds a little like the definition of insanity.. nah, we're OK.
Where did you get that idea?
You are confusing humans with some other species.