Thursday, March 19, 2009

Page 26 - "Just Enough"


I made it all the way to the end of the book already. Now I'm sort of randomly skipping around revisiting the parts that resonate the most. Here's p. 26:


"JUST ENOUGH.

"Two words.

"Somewhere between the image of an empty bowl that made me feel peaceful and the too much that was driving me crazy, was a moderate, balanced space of JUST ENOUGH.

"What is the path from too much to just enough?"


Perhaps that is the question that is presenting itself to everyone in America these days. Many people in America have always lived in the poverty of want. They know what it is like to be needy and empty. In my lifetime, anyway, I think more people in America have suffered from the poverty of too much. They (we) have everything we want or need, and then some. If we want something we buy it, either because we have the money to pay for it, or available credit that allows us to buy it now and try to figure out how to pay for it later. In the current situation, more people than ever will be sliding down the scale a few notches.

That presents each of us with the opportunity to redefine what constitutes "Just Enough" I would like to think we will redefine it at some level that will allow us to move away from consuming so much more than we really need. If the wealthy define their "Just Enough" only a little lower, there might be more to go around -- and fewer would slip below the line.


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