Hooked on books.....or, you can't pay for everything with beans.
Anyone who knows me and has visited our home therefore knows that I love books.
Novels, biographies, poetry, travel, photography, philosophy, all the arts, yoga and self help/self improvement books (OK some of them are Lizzie's), gardening, greening the planet, wildlife....they're all there and more.
Of course I'm not satisfied with simply reading my way through our own book cases and extra boxes of books, oh no, I also often find myself either in Hastings or Havelock North libraries checking out even more books.
I've recently started reading a library book called "Changing Gears" by Greg Foyster.
He and his wife live in Melbourne and after becoming more and more concerned about the damage to the planet that their consumer driven lifestyle does, decided to make the change and take a pedal powered detour from the rat race. They travel, for six months, by bike - that's bicycle rather than motor bike - from Melbourne all the way up to Cairns, with side trips to other places along the way, visiting people who are living a more gentle lifestyle......getting more from life by living with less.
The idea is that they will learn from these people along their journey, absorb all the information and ideas for living a more sustainable lifestyle and then at the end of their trip will be in a position to sort out their own lives.
The main idea though is to reduce their income and consumption but increase their quality of life. Basically it's a straight swap - by giving up the rat race and regular 40 hour a week well paid jobs, they gain free time and freedom. That's the theory.
Consume smarter and we can consume less, live better and do less damage to the planet we depend on.....and reconnect with our fellow human beings and rebuild a sense of community.
It came as a bit of a shock to him to suddenly realize that he had no real control over his life and had just kind of drifted along to where he finds himself at the start of his journey.
I certainly get it. It happened to me too. I had no real idea of what I wanted to do, what I wanted to achieve and absolutely no clue as to what sort of career I wanted.
I drifted along without making any conscious choices and generally took the path of least resistance. Got into a job I didn't really want, was not passionate about, simply because it was there and looked easy. It paid the bills and more and I got sucked in by the advertisements and bought stuff - just like everyone else I knew.
I've read research showing that once our basic needs have been met, more stuff doesn't necessarily make us happier. Sure at that initial time of acquiring it and for a few days, even a few weeks after we are on a high, but eventually we come back down again and the item is just another thing to store somewhere in an ever growing house of clutter.
So we're sad and bored again and looking for the next fix.....like any addict.
It's funny that all the people that the worlds major religions are based on lived simple lives, lived with less.
As Greg says in his book "Jesus was hardly a shopaholic despite the orgy of consumption we see each Christmas".
In some ways I admire the younger generation - the ones who work out exactly what it is that they want from life at an early age and go for it. They go off to university and study for their chosen career and chase a lifestyle that they want based on their career choice.
I never actually knew for sure what I wanted to be or what career choice I should make....hence the drifting along aimlessly.
In other ways I pity the younger generation though because they have been born into and brought up living the lives of consumers so they have to have the latest phone/pad/laptop/watch/update their cars every year/get that bigger house.....keep on working longer hours to get all that yummy stuff. Becoming more connected to information technology and online communities but more detached from the natural world and real communities - and less able to differentiate between what it is that they need to live and what it is that they want.
Somewhere along the road of development, of so called civilization, we totally stuffed things up.
We end up ruining the planet to make stuff that we want to own in order to give us our happy fix.
It pisses me off no end that scientists are looking for water on other planets so that we can set up settlements there once we've totally screwed up this planet. For goodness sake, use your intelligence and solve the problems here. It's not difficult.
Just say no to consumerism. Forget money. Change the system. Shut down the big corporations. Sack the multi-million dollar a year CEO's. Look locally for your needs not globally. Re-build communities - give value to the idea of a community - get communities working for one another at grass roots level......not for some fat cat with an off shore hedge fund.
Grow your own real food - don't eat "food products" - result - healthier people who are less dependent on pharmaceuticals.
It's taken me long enough to come to my senses.....and I'm still not there yet.....it's not easy to make a complete change without changing the system. It's all well and good opting out from the commercial world - turning your back on promissory notes (money) that aren't actually worth the paper - or these days the plastic - that they are printed on. But the local council still want the rates bill paying and for some reason won't accept veggies in full payment.
Since the end of the gold standard the value of money is a bit like the emperors new clothes. We all go along with it and pretend that it actually has some sort of value because if we don't, the whole structure of the economy will come crashing down. Frankly I can't wait!
After almost 40 years - in my case - and 32 years for Lizzie of working the 40 hour week for someone else in order to scrape by, living the consumer lifestyle of spend spend spend - "hey it's good for the economy", they tell us - by shifting our focus on the way we live, we are suddenly in a position where we can cut back our working week to just a couple of days for Lizzie and even less (actually pretty much nil, except for the occasional gardening job) for me.
Although our income is now less than 20% of what we were earning when we were both working full time, we usually have enough for our needs and we have taken so much stress out of our lives.
The work we do is enjoyable and provides just enough money to just pay the bills and put food on the table. By no longer buying in to the consumer lifestyle and spending unnecessary amounts of hard earned cash on things we don't actually need, what we have done in effect, is buy ourselves a lot of free time.
Let's face it time is very precious so why waste it doing things that don't make us happy?
Fortunately we enjoy one another's company as we spend a lot of time together, do a lot of things together - little jobs and projects around the house and grounds, getting our fruit and veggie garden up and running and then maintained, going for walks and bike rides, a visit to the movies now and then, or just chilling together at home.
When we do go out, a lot of what we do is free of charge and instead of dining at a cafe we'll take a picnic lunch in the park. Browse books at the library instead of bookshops (sometimes!).
Although we enjoy being together, it's still important to get some "ME" time.
As I said, I love our lifestyle and pottering around at my own pace in our garden keeping the weeds down, planting, picking, eating our own fresh produce or preserving it for later....and adding more garden beds or bean frames....it's a wonderfully slow pace of life. Stress free and happy.
Until an unexpected bill comes in and we're royally screwed.
I need to do something.....something that I enjoy.....for a couple of days a week that will bring in some of that filthy lucre to pay for those unexpected bills.......until the revolution comes.
Getting back to the subject of books.....maybe I should open a bookshop - I have too many books for my book cases and Lizzie has been on at me for some considerable time to get rid of some books -......I'll get back to you on that....watch this space.
Speaking of bookshops. I love to spend an hour or more browsing. Hell I could spend a whole day in a good bookshop just browsing, sitting in a quiet corner of the shop with a cup of coffee reading through a few pages of any book that catches my fancy to see if it appeals. To walk out of a good used book shop with an armful of books.......DAMN IT! I'm hooked back into the world of commercialism. See I told you it's hard to break the system....or the habit......spoken like a true addict.
OK I admit it I am a bibliophile - I love books! I particularly enjoy whiling away an afternoon in independent book stores - rather than the big brand chains - and quirky second hand book shops are fantastic.
My favourite book shops so far are - Shakespeare and Company in Paris, France - which is not only an amazing English language book shop in the heart of Paris, but also a place for writers and artists to sleep if they need a place to lay their heads for the night.....between the shelves and stacks of books. Very quirky....extremely unique.
Brattle Book shop in Boston USA - which has some real bargain 2nd hand books on sale displayed outside the shop. Inside the books are displayed over three floors.
And here in little old Hastings New Zealand we have a quirky little second hand bookshop on Heretaunga street called The Little Red Bookshop. It's awesome! I could spend all day in there.
Wardinis in Havelock North and Poppies are also pretty good if you're looking for new books.
Down in Wellington my favourites are Unity Books - who have a huge selection of new books. I sometimes, cash permitting, pick up the occasional book on photography from there.
Pegasus Books - just off Cuba Street is a wonderland of used books of all kinds.
I was in there last weekend. On the way in I passed a guy in a wheelchair browsing the books on the racks outside the shop. Just as I was making my way to the counter with my purchases, (yes plural - I know I know - I am so weak when it comes to books - they are my Achilles heel), the guy in the wheelchair handed the guy behind the counter the book that he wanted to buy and asked if the bookshop guy could pass over the Eftpos machine so he could pay. The bookshop guy took a quick look at the book, handed it back to the guy in the wheelchair and sent him on his way - no charge.
A simple gesture but a really nice thing to do. So if you're ever in "Welly" and want a second hand book, please give Pagasus Books your custom. The bookshop with a heart.
Meantime I'll try to get back to practicing what I preach.
