Oh dear... you own a quiet house, drive your own car, work on a good computer, have a publisher, write books, fly on aircraft, have a girlfriend, you did have a cat...
You're just part of exactly the same system as the rest of us, and you've aspired to and acquired exactly the same things most people do.
If you have something useful to add, something practical, other than the usual ain't it awful... lets hear it!
Meanwhile... you sit in your beautiful house, writing your books, that get published, and sold through amazon, to consumers, whilst you try to promote your books sale through internet forums like this... honestly...
Your suggestion that there is something wrong or contradictory in living in a quiet house, being happy and writing/selling books is confusing to me. When did I ever claim that I don't live in 'the same system as the rest' of you? When did I ever suggest that producing and selling useful things is wrong? I am not advocating that we do away with technology and go back to living in a primitive manner. I am not advocating misery, loneliness or unhappiness. I am not advocating poverty or lack of comfort. Neither am I advocating the end of commerce or systems of production.
My argument -- which I'm sure you understood but chose to misrepresent so you could take a cheap shot at me -- is that projecting numinous meaning onto
things is a neurosis characteristic of a materialist ontology, which leads to all kinds of sick patterns of behavior and associated economic, political and power structures, as well as potentially major global crises. This is expressed by taking things to be the very meaning and purpose of one's life, instead of tools. It leads to a compulsive, addictive need for wealth accumulation, status, power, and runaway consumerism, and takes one's focus away from the psychic reality of existence. But things as
tools are entirely valid, necessary and good. Producing and selling them is entirely valid and I never advocated otherwise. Commerce is not the source of the problems I am pointing out. Commerce is simply misused for the reinforcement of a psychic ethos useful to current power structures.
What I
am saying is that
a non-materialist ontology allows one to see material goods as tools
, not as the meaning of life. This prevents the
exaggerated, compulsive, pathological need for the accumulation of things, beyond any reasonable context of utility or necessity, that materialism is conducive to.
I am quite happy and unapologetic that I have a reliable 12-year-old car that brings me from A to B so I can commute to work and earn a living. Years ago, I would swap this car every couple of years to look cool, which I couldn't care less about today because I see my car as merely a
tool, not the meaning of my life.
I am happy that I have a quiet and warm house to shelter me and provide me with an environment conducive to expressing myself through my ideas. Expressing myself is the meaning of my life, and shelter is a basic tool for realizing that meaning. That said, I have no interest today in upgrading my house to a mansion; that means nothing to me, whether I can afford it or not.
I am happy and entirely unapologetic about the fact that my books are published (what the hell could possibly be wrong with it?). Do I earn money with my books? Nothing of any significance, which is the reality of publishing today in case you didn't know. People who live from their writing (which is not my case) do so from speaker fees, which I don't get because I hardly speak and, when I do, it's usually without a fee. Remember, I work a regular working week.
And yes, I am very happy that I have a girlfriend. I have been through the nightmare of a divorce before and am quite grateful to have found love again. What the heck motivated you to suggest that there is any contradiction between this and the points I am trying to make?
Your post is specious and the motivations behind it unclear but alarming to me.