Wisdom and philosophy with ere.

[J_]

Jennypenny (thank you!) gave such a wise comment about ere in a recent tread by Did:

"The goal should be finding joy and peace now while working towards the same for your future self. That's the beauty of ERE--it can show you how to restructure your current lifestyle to allow for both. There's nothing in the ERE playbook that says you can't/shouldn't strive to be happy now. I get annoyed when I see people interpret ERE as some austerity contest where the winner is defined as the person who is the most unhappy now in an attempt to produce the happiest life later on. That's nonsense.

One of the best parts of ERE IMO is that it gives equal weight to our present selves and future selves. First, it urges us to build a robust system for sustaining our future selves in the lifestyle we want. Second, it presses us to reexamine our current lifestyle to stop wasting resources on things that don't make us happy, and focus our efforts and resources on the things that do. As has been shown many times on the forum, people who do that usually end up with a much higher quality of life at a lower cost of living. The third leg of that ERE stool is the focus on finding ways to allocate time/resources to activities that benefit and satisfy both our present selves and our future selves. Activities that benefit both eliminate the pressure of deciding whether to spend resources on current or future needs.

The most important lessons I've learned here are (1) most of us make more than enough money to keep our present selves and future selves abundantly happy, and (2) most of the things that make me really happy cost very little or no money at all, so there's no reason not to fill my life with them now. "

Can it lure others to give (ere) wisdom?

[Papers of Indenture]

Good post. I agree with your sentiments.

I have found Epicurean philosophy to be compatible with my ERE journey.

J_ says ..."Second, it presses us to reexamine our current lifestyle to stop wasting resources on things that don't make us happy, and focus our efforts and resources on the things that do."

The Epicurean view on pleasure has helped me with this in particular. I find that Epicurus is very relatable. Moreso than the Stoics who have a heavier dose of holiness and determinism.

The best book on Epicurus imo: http://www.amazon.com/Epicurus-Philosop ... MAN+DEWITT

"We are born once and cannot be born twice, but for all time must be no more. But you, who are not master of tomorrow, postpone your happiness. Life is wasted in procrastination and each one of us dies without allowing himself leisure." VS.14

"Of our desires some are natural and necessary, others are natural but not necessary; and others are neither natural nor necessary, but are due to groundless opinion." VS.20

"We must not violate nature, but obey her; and we shall obey her if we fulfill those desires that are necessary, and also those that are natural but bring no harm to us, but we must sternly reject those that are harmful" VS.21

"In investigating nature I would prefer to speak openly and like an oracle to give answers serviceable to all mankind, even though no one should understand me, rather than to conform to popular opinions and so win the praise freely scattered by the mob." VS.29

"No pleasure is a bad thing in itself, but the things which produce certain pleasures entail disturbances many times greater than the pleasures themselves." VS.50

"A free life cannot acquire many possessions, because this is not easy to do without servility to mobs or monarchs, yet it possesses all things in unfailing abundance; and if by chance it obtains many possessions, it is easy to distribute them so as to win the gratitude of neighbors." VS.67

"Every desire must be confronted by this question: what will happen to me if the object of my desire is accomplished and what if it is not?" VS.71

[Dragline]

I have a habit of using objects long after most people would have thrown them out. I form attachments to things that look worn and not so perfect, which I liken to the story of the Velveteen Rabbit, which was one of my favorites as a child.

“Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.'

'Does it hurt?' asked the Rabbit.

'Sometimes,' said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. 'When you are Real you don't mind being hurt.'

'Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,' he asked, 'or bit by bit?'

'It doesn't happen all at once,' said the Skin Horse. 'You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.”

I recently learned that there is, as usual, a related and older idea behind this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBUTQkaSSTY

[IlliniDave]

What you quoted from jennypenny almost exactly mirrors a series of little epiphanies I had between 2011-2012. Some of that has been captured in my journal and elsewhere so I won't rehash for the sake of the patient people who have put up with me for this long.

To me Zen philosophy is the clearest illustration of the intersection of simplicity and contentment, the idea that careful use of your resources/money is a form self respect grew out of reading YMOYL (I don't remember if the idea was specifically stated there or not), and there was a lot of synergy in simplifying my life now and the humble lifestyle I envisioned in early retirement.

I hadn't quite thought of it explicitly as a balance between future life and present life, but that seems apt. I have to admit that for me it was a happy accident that I grew to enjoy life more when I made it simple rather than any great insight. It started as a blatant sacrifice of the present for the future, but surprised me.

[7Wannabe5]

Hmmm...I think maybe a 70/30 mix contentment /anticipation works best for me. As in, I am content sleeping on a bed roll and bundling myself up against the February wind to walk down to the market to buy a cabbage for my soup. I anticipate that I will be even happier after I sew myself a futon out of used comforters and my asparagus sprouts and my daffodils bloom this spring and if I make better plans that will find me camping on a beach in South Carolina this time next year.