Head-dibs

“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor. What does it matter how much a man has laid up in his safe, or in his warehouse, how large are his flocks and how fat his dividends, if he covets his neighbour's property, and reckons, not his past gains, but his hopes of gains to come? Do you ask what is the proper limit to wealth? It is, first, to have what is necessary, and, second, to have what is enough.”  (Moral Letters 2, “On Discursiveness In Reading”)

If happiness is the acquisition of the highest good, how do we find happiness in that which is not the highest good? How have we become "far too easily pleased"? As we think about this, let's discover if money can bring happiness. Here's a song:   "Money, get away Get a good job with good pay and you're okay Money, it's a gas Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash New car, caviar, four star daydream Think I'll buy me a football team . . .  Money, it's a crime Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie Money, so they say Is the root of all evil today But if you ask for a rise It's no surprise that they're giving none away."   Does money buy happiness? Pink Floyd gives us both sides of the proverbial coin in their 1973 hit. Since nothing's new under the sun, Pink Floyd echoes the truth that Lady Philosophy was trying to impart to Beothius nearly 1500 years previous: if you accumulate all you c...

Lars Eighner's 1993 book Travels with Lizbeth includes the chapter, "On Dumpster Diving" wherein he recounts some very specific lessons learned from three years of living as a homeless person. Eighner was not always a homeless person as his life experiences include working as an attendant in a mental institution and college instructor. He was one of those whose sitation left him in the precarious position from which he wrote. Through this work specifically, Eighner demonstrates expertise in areas that we may find instructive, and perhaps be challenge to a level of personal reflection. Eighner would like us to understand a few basics starting with the discovery: what is a dumpster? The word "dumpster" is actually the name of the company that makes the product we know as the dumpster, the Dempsey Dumpster Company. Interestingly, the company has no generic name for the product. Eighner would like us to understand there is a vast range of meaning as well as thought...