GuidoWorld

Learning How to Purr: Part 2

April 14, 2008 on 8:31 pm | In General |

In my last post I started my discussion on my goal of learning how to purr. At the end of the post I mentioned that our society’s structure has many elements which are contrary to the feelings of satisfaction and contentment which are the bedrock of purring.

Both are system of economics and our political system seem to foster and thrive on creating an atmosphere of fear and discontent.

We are taught to be economically ambitious and to work hard and stay busy. The slow and lazy are felt to be dead weight on the nation’s wealth and are viewed as leeches and free loaders, essentially taking from the industrious what they have  earned “by the sweat of their brow”.  In order to avoid becoming one of these social parasites we must work hard and long at whatever job we can find.

As consumers we are encouraged and seduced into buying as many things and conveniences as we can afford. Leisure and free time which was classically the  property and status of old money (wealth), has been recently replaced in capitalistic societies with the amassing of possessions. In the olden days any one who labored was unfit for proper society, now a person working over sixty hours a week is hailed and envied if he has multiple houses, cars and the like.

This need to constantly prove one’s worth by making and spending money does not make for many contented individuals. The perpetual striving, inherent in capitalistic competition, makes it near impossible to ever feel but a momentary sense of completion. Surely, one is never allowed to “rest on their laurels” and stop proving their worth by resting contentedly for any length of time. Even our vacations are full of events, tasks and adventures which are generally more stressful than relaxing forays into solitude. Seldom are we encouraged to lick the cream from the bowl and curl up and purr for anything but a very brief respite. To make contentment our major goal would certainly fly in the face of modern convention.

Though we in the US  pride ourselves in freedom and the pursuit of happiness, we seldom talk of freedom without the fight for freedom, and our pursuit of happiness is always at a full gallop. We pursue wealth and happiness like a greyhound chasing a rabbit around the track. I’ve never seen the greyhound get the rabbit and I seldom see even the wealthiest of people stop their pursuit of the elusive wealth and happiness.

Politically are freedom is fragile and a source or envy and hatred for others. We can never relax and enjoy our freedom, instead we much vigilantly defend and fight for our freedom. Defending freedom is a full time job and we are told that those who take freedom for granted will surely lose it. Such vigilance and effort has little room for contentment or savoring what we have. Instead we are prodded into defeating all our potential foes. When one foe is defeated or dies out such as communism another threat is detected such as terrorism. Only a fool would rest when such dangers are lurking about.

As you can see the desire to purr and wallow in contentment is not something we are encouraged to cultivate in our lives. In fact, it would be safe to say, that such goals are thought of as being childish and even selfish by political and economic thought.  Such goals are in themselves indicative of a uncaring individual who does not understand the effects such a philosophy will have on the lives of their children and grandchildren.

A certain amount of trust and acceptance is necessary to make the states of contentedness and happiness an integral part of your life. A life full of ambition and fear is poor soil when your goal is to grow satisfaction and contentedness. This is not to say that a happy person has no ambition or is without goals, but that the goals have to do with savoring and self-development. After all purring is a goal and an accomplishment. One I hope to talk further on in future posts.

Jim Guido