This blog has always been about my ideas. I try to avoid talking about myself except as I record experiences in my life that may be relevant to readers in the distant future.
However, there is a subject that is highly relevant to pro-commerce that I have not covered and is somewhat personal.
I have already mentioned that the pro-commerce world created the modern surgical tool, a catheter lab, that kept me alive and vital after an heart attack.
What I haven't mentioned is that the pro-commerce world gave me an adult life that was never before available in history.
I have supported myself since my first year in college at age 16. Around my late 30’s I received an inheritance of $20,000 which went into savings and has never been touched.
From 16 on, I have done precisely what I want to do next. Every day. Exactly as I wanted to do it. That is a level of freedom that is incomprehensible in history for an individual who did not have a job, a steady source of income for inherited money. I have traveled the world and spent 40 years visiting Japan annually. Never for one moment did I give a second thought to changing my behavior in order to earn money.
There are two reasons I have been able to do this.
The first is simple living. I have written a book on the subject and I have been a fanatic practitioner. There has never been a time when I denied myself any object or activity that I desired. I always saw the options in the world as having the choice of reducing my living costs, renting, borrowing or re-using.
Simple living has included such behaviors as trading houses in Japan with a good friend. This also meant several years where I was house sitting for friends while renting out my own house. The house I own, I bought when it was a ‘disaster’ in a beautiful location with a periodic river running under it. I did the remodeling work myself and built a "mother-in-law" unit downstairs that has been a source of rental income except during the time when my father and mother lived there.
The second reason is an historic anomaly because I bought a house in California in the early 1970s. The house has been a miracle of low-cost living in San Francisco because Prop. 13, passed in 1978, has kept my property taxes growing at the infinitesimal 2% a year.
My extraordinary life of complete freedom has come because I live in a commercial society. Simple living and the incredible abundance around me have combined to allow me a wide choice of behaviors, many of which have generated income.
In addition, my behavior in using this extraordinary blessing of freedom, generated some of the revenue itself. The books I have written which generated royalties were based on my experiences. The same is true for lectures and my current role as an expert witness.
I have never recommended simple living, because it may not work for many people. I don't recommend leading your life with the abandon I have enjoyed. Some people, probably not many, will be able to do it successfully. Thank modern commerce.
However, there is a subject that is highly relevant to pro-commerce that I have not covered and is somewhat personal.
I have already mentioned that the pro-commerce world created the modern surgical tool, a catheter lab, that kept me alive and vital after an heart attack.
What I haven't mentioned is that the pro-commerce world gave me an adult life that was never before available in history.
From 16 on, I have done precisely what I want to do next. Every day. Exactly as I wanted to do it. That is a level of freedom that is incomprehensible in history for an individual who did not have a job, a steady source of income for inherited money. I have traveled the world and spent 40 years visiting Japan annually. Never for one moment did I give a second thought to changing my behavior in order to earn money.
There are two reasons I have been able to do this.
The first is simple living. I have written a book on the subject and I have been a fanatic practitioner. There has never been a time when I denied myself any object or activity that I desired. I always saw the options in the world as having the choice of reducing my living costs, renting, borrowing or re-using.
Simple living has included such behaviors as trading houses in Japan with a good friend. This also meant several years where I was house sitting for friends while renting out my own house. The house I own, I bought when it was a ‘disaster’ in a beautiful location with a periodic river running under it. I did the remodeling work myself and built a "mother-in-law" unit downstairs that has been a source of rental income except during the time when my father and mother lived there.
The second reason is an historic anomaly because I bought a house in California in the early 1970s. The house has been a miracle of low-cost living in San Francisco because Prop. 13, passed in 1978, has kept my property taxes growing at the infinitesimal 2% a year.
My extraordinary life of complete freedom has come because I live in a commercial society. Simple living and the incredible abundance around me have combined to allow me a wide choice of behaviors, many of which have generated income.
In addition, my behavior in using this extraordinary blessing of freedom, generated some of the revenue itself. The books I have written which generated royalties were based on my experiences. The same is true for lectures and my current role as an expert witness.
I have never recommended simple living, because it may not work for many people. I don't recommend leading your life with the abandon I have enjoyed. Some people, probably not many, will be able to do it successfully. Thank modern commerce.