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Thread: Dude making a difference?

  1. #11
    Williamsmith
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    Quote Originally Posted by catherine View Post
    The difference between an inspiration and a bum is intention. It has nothing to do with how many possessions one has. If you see all homeless people with no possessions as bums, what does that say for Jesus or Peace Pilgrim or Buddha? Some people are mendicants with a spiritual message. Others are bums. Let's not confuse the two.
    Intention is a mental state. One minute an inspiration, another a bum. Rob himself admits his humanness, his lack of perfection. Jesus, to my knowledge was the only great moral teacher who claimed to be God and actually offered forgiveness for which he was killed. Satish Kumar declared his absolute dependence on the Earth and by proxy those who reside in it with supportive resources and charity. What is Rob Greenfield? A pilgrim. Inspirational to some, nothing to others, and a bum.

  2. #12
    Senior Member Ultralight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Williamsmith View Post
    Intention is a mental state. One minute an inspiration, another a bum. Rob himself admits his humanness, his lack of perfection. Jesus, to my knowledge was the only great moral teacher who claimed to be God and actually offered forgiveness for which he was killed. Satish Kumar declared his absolute dependence on the Earth and by proxy those who reside in it with supportive resources and charity. What is Rob Greenfield? A pilgrim. Inspirational to some, nothing to others, and a bum.
    I wonder if anyone called Jesus a bum back in the day...

  3. #13
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Williamsmith View Post
    Intention is a mental state. One minute an inspiration, another a bum. Rob himself admits his humanness, his lack of perfection. Jesus, to my knowledge was the only great moral teacher who claimed to be God and actually offered forgiveness for which he was killed. Satish Kumar declared his absolute dependence on the Earth and by proxy those who reside in it with supportive resources and charity. What is Rob Greenfield? A pilgrim. Inspirational to some, nothing to others, and a bum.
    I hate to go ULA on you, but I guess you'd have to define "bum" to me (not the anatomical version, please.

    A bum is different from a hobo which is different from a gypsy which is different from a pilgrim which is different from a mendicant. To me, bum has a negative connotation, which is maybe unfair to bums.

    I don't see people like Rob Greenfield or Mark Boyle or Daniel Suelo or Heidi Marie Schwermer as bums at all. I see them as people who have found fulfillment and freedom in living without money.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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  4. #14
    Williamsmith
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    Quote Originally Posted by catherine View Post
    I hate to go ULA on you, but I guess you'd have to define "bum" to me (not the anatomical version, please.

    A bum is different from a hobo which is different from a gypsy which is different from a pilgrim which is different from a mendicant. To me, bum has a negative connotation, which is maybe unfair to bums.

    I don't see people like Rob Greenfield or Mark Boyle or Daniel Suelo or Heidi Marie Schwermer as bums at all. I see them as people who have found fulfillment and freedom in living without money.
    What makes him a medicant? More than your average ordinary bum? Is it just because he has self professed fulfillment. Is $15,000 insignificant? I have met with more than a few bums and they have many of the same qualities and almost all of them less reliant on money and as inspirational as Rob Greenfield. So I would not say I a, trying to drag him down as a bum as much as lift other bums up to your level of medicant. But of course, most bums don't have a book, a blog, an investment business, or a charity.

  5. #15
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Williamsmith View Post
    What makes him a medicant? More than your average ordinary bum? Is it just because he has self professed fulfillment. Is $15,000 insignificant? I have met with more than a few bums and they have many of the same qualities and almost all of them less reliant on money and as inspirational as Rob Greenfield. So I would not say I a, trying to drag him down as a bum as much as lift other bums up to your level of medicant. But of course, most bums don't have a book, a blog, an investment business, or a charity.
    No, I'm not saying he's a mendicant. I'm just saying there are different types of people who live without money. I think he's just a guy who's living on very little money and trying to inspire people who might be inclined to do the same. Labeling him a bum is a little harsh, IMHO, but that's why I asked for your definition.

    I personally find people like him inspiring, even though it's not my lifestyle. I think people like him and the others I mentioned above serve to show us a different way of looking at what we think we "need."
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
    www.silententry.wordpress.com

  6. #16
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    Maybe it's the middle-aged Midwestern middle manager dad in me, but I can't help wondering who will support people like this in their old age. How do you arrange a cashless retirement?

    I can admire living below own's means. I can even admire the ingenuity it takes to live off of society's accumulated capital. But part of me is locked into the ethic of supporting oneself before claiming any ethical high ground.

  7. #17
    Senior Member Ultralight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by catherine View Post
    ...go ULA on you...
    Wait... this is a thing? "Going ULA" is a thing?! LOL

  8. #18
    Senior Member Ultralight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LDAHL View Post
    Maybe it's the middle-aged Midwestern middle manager dad in me, but I can't help wondering who will support people like this in their old age. How do you arrange a cashless retirement?
    Good question! I think it varies. From what I have read, Daniel Suelo just plans to go out like a wild animal. Perhaps Rob has a different plan.

    Quote Originally Posted by LDAHL View Post
    I can admire living below own's means. I can even admire the ingenuity it takes to live off of society's accumulated capital. But part of me is locked into the ethic of supporting oneself before claiming any ethical high ground.
    Would you say this of Saint Francis of Assisi?

    Further complicate it: Sometimes (often times?) one's method of supporting oneself is pretty dang horrible and exploitative. So simply supporting oneself does not provide the foundation for a moral high ground.

  9. #19
    Senior Member The Storyteller's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Williamsmith View Post
    Jesus, to my knowledge was the only great moral teacher who claimed to be God
    Except no, he didn't.

    But that's grist for another discussion in another area of the forum.
    "There are too many books in the world to read in a single lifetime; you have to draw the line somewhere." --Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale

  10. #20
    Senior Member Ultralight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Storyteller View Post
    Except no, he didn't.

    But that's grist for another discussion in another area of the forum.
    I thought he claimed to be 33.33% god. The other 66.66% was The Father and The Holy Spirit (which I, incidentally, deny the existence of).

    But with all this math, you can see how religion just doesn't fit into my kind of simple living.

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