Being Poor

Copyright

Being Poor

by Volker Schunck

Published by Volker Schunck at smashwords.com

4th extended Edition 2022

Copyright 2022 Volker Schunck

driftersday2021.wordpress.com

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For what does it profit a human, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?

For what will a human give in exchange for his soul?

(Jesus)

Impress

My Texts and Cover: © Volker Schunck

Other Texts: wikipedia.org

Bible Texts: WEB - biblegateway.com

Volker Schunck

Albert-Wolf-Platz 2, 13-01

01239 Dresden

hellovolker@gmx.de

Contents

Copyright

Impress

Contents

About me

Introduction

Warm up: My life story

Occupation and Money

Epictetus

Gautama Buddha

Jesus

Buddha and Christ

Scriptures

Child of poor people

Bourgois Life

Meister Eckhart and the nude boy

Trust in money vs. Trust in God

Useless worrying vs. Trust in God

Francis of Assisi

Wrong Idols

Henry David Thoreau

Hotspot

Gas Crisis

Mahatma Gandhi

Poor or Rich?

Kinglike

Mother Teresa

The Image of God

Albert Schweitzer

Free Fall

Born in Poverty

Florance Nightingale

About me

I am Volker Schunck and live in Dresden, Germany. First I was an industrial clerk, then I studied theology. Through my engagement with Zen, I became aware of the Christian mysticism. Meanwhile, I go my own way. For me, faith is not a world-view but a being. It is important to me, not to live lost in thought but aware and intensely. For me, this also includes careful handling of other people. The NVC (Nonviolent Communication), which I learned during my training as a mediator, helps me with this.

Contents

Introduction

A book about poverty and being poor? This is as broad a field as writing a book about life itself. Poverty has always existed in the world and probably always will. As diverse as the societies of this world are, so is the definition of poverty in the societies. I'm not a sociologist. But anyone who is considered poor here in Germany, because he or she lives below a certain minimum income or receives ALG 2 (social welfare), commonly referred to as Hartz IV, could live comfortably with it in Africa, while it is almost impossible in Germany. In this book I am not concerned with social revolution, otherwise someone like Karl Marx would certainly have his say here, but I am concerned with showing how spiritual beacons of history take a stand on money and possessions. They have their say here, which does not mean that the social situation does not have to change.

Especially in the western industrialized countries there is an ominous connection between the value that is attached to a person and the property that he has accumulated. You are only someone, if you own something. (Money makes the man.) If that weren't bad enough, it gets even worse, when the people who have little put on that shoe themselves and think about themselves as unworthy and worthless. Man/Woman, your worth isn't determined by your wealth. Your life doesn‘t find its fulfillment, because you can travel a lot and you have a large number of followers on Instagram. On the contrary, you may have lost yourself, because you get bogged down in all directions, chasing superficial things that alienate you from yourself. In one way or another, the personalities presented here could say the same thing. Epictetus, Buddha, Jesus, Francis of Assisi, Henry David Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa. They have listened to their own drummer, as Thoreau would put it, and have not marched in step with society. And there are many others who have listened to their own inner voice, who are not being listened to here: the many nameless artists who have never become famous or only posthumously, after their death, such as Van Gogh. There is a Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who fled from his debtors across Europe, because his contemporaries did not realize his greatness until late in his life.

Why is this book publicized only now? This has to do with the Ukraine war and its global consequences. I can sense the concerns in Germany about the high inflation rate and the rising food prices. In the face of a winter, where it seems uncertain that we will have enough gas for heating. How uncertain everything has become! Epictetus maybe would say: It depends on your own focus with which you look at things. (Anytus and Meletus may indeed kill me, but they cannot harm me.) Jesus would call us to live in the here and now, trusting in God. (Therefore don't be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.)

Today I‘ve becoming aware having forgotten two important people, who are responsible for major social improvements worldwide. It‘s not to bold to say, they contributed with their lives great benefits to mankind: Albert Schweitzer and Florance Nightingale. I also added further thoughts of myself about poverty.

God bless you, my friends!

Contents

Warm up: My life story

After the death of my parents I had a burnout. I was totally overstrained by my life situation. I had to sell the buildings I possessed after my parents’ death, what wasn’t very easy at that time. For that I had to clean up our big house and I began to develop a negative attitude against possession. And I also tried to finish my studies to become a Protestant pastor. And last but not least I had to deal with my unbearable grief. It was impossible for me to finish my studies due to my lack of concentration. So I decided to travel around the world. I traveled two times to Ireland, six or seven times to Turkey, I was to Greece and finally I was in a meditation center in India. But I couldn’t find any peace. I changed the scenery but I didn’t change in myself and stayed the same as before.

That was the beginning of a process of finding myself which was going on over years. I finally came to myself, when I literally had lost everything. All the possession had become a big burden to me and I had reduced it over the years. I have had over 800 books which had been a weight moving around searching a place to stay. Finally I only had a duffel bag because I planned to go as a social worker to a rice project of friends of mine in Africa. But this plan failed because my body showed allergic reactions against the drug preventing malaria. Cut.

After that I lived more or less withdrawn from society for one year in a tent. That wasn’t always a very comfortable and nice time. But looking back I see this time as crucial to find myself. Thrown back into silence without radio, mobile or Internet and a time without any material security, I lived at that time from donating plasma, I experienced myself in a way I never did before.

And for some of you that may sound strange, I experienced God’s presence in a unique way I seldom had before and after. I also learned to overcome my shame to ask other people for help. And they helped me. Now I have been back again in society for a few years, but I estimate this year in silence and poorness to be the most fruitful time in my whole life.

Contents

Occupation and Money

Your life time is precious. Therefore it is not only important to live consciously but to find an occupation that matches you because you spend most of your time in it. What are you after? Success, money, prestige? Or are you looking for something that gives you more inner fulfillment? I don’t say from the first that the mentioned targets are bad. Not everybody can become a preacher, a nurse, a social worker or a kindergarten worker. Society also needs architects, taxi-drivers, waiters and waitresses, fashion designers, models and computer workers. Everybody can bring theyselves in. I thought a long time ago that it better matches my religious attitude to become a preacher but now after studying theology and a lot more life experience I know that not the job profile is in the foreground but the attitude of your heart. Better you are a banker with an honest heart than a preacher with a greedy heart.

In the last century it was common especially here in Germany to stick with the profession you have learned. But nowadays you have to learn your whole life and you have to be flexible to do maybe something totally different as the job you started in. This is a big challenge but also a great chance for an interesting life. Then it was a flaw if you had different jobs but nowadays it’s a sign for flexibility and that you are able to adapt to the situation on the job market. A lot of work experience is good for your resume. For me it is crucial that your job matches your inner attitude and the way who you are. It is a difference if you are the outgoing, social type or someone who likes figures. Find out what your strengths and weaknesses are. In which field are you good? You can’t be everything. I guess it’s not so easy to find an accountant who is also appropriate to be a kindergarten worker. So listen to your heart and have trust in yourself and in what you are good in. If you are insecure because of your lack of confidence in yourself during the job interview how do you want to convince the recruiter that you are the right one for this position?

I know a lot of people who are not happy in their jobs. They can’t decide to quit. What a waste of life! But that’s easier said than done. A lot of them have children, a burden of a mortgage and a bunch of other financial responsibilities. I can’t answer this directly because every life situation is different. Everybody who is not lucky in their job and can foresee not to endure this situation a few years longer has to do something. Doing nothing is not the answer. Because you don’t get younger. Maybe you can change small things in your job by talking to your boss about another working field in your company or if a sabbatical is possible. Start to analyze your working situation and what the reason for your discomfort is. Maybe you have to change something in your family or you only have to evaluate your job new because you lost your visions you started with. If you don’t take the action you are on the best way in a burnout. You are not a martyr. You deserve to be happy.

Let me now tell you a story of a cellphone seller, who wasn’t happy at all in his job. He quit his old job and dared to live his dream.

Dream Job

A few days ago I wanted to check if I still surf with the cheapest rate. So I went to the market of my trust to ask the cellphone seller, whom I’ve been knowing since a few years and even from another shop in another city – such is life – what would be my best conditions.

Everybody who closed an online contract knows that one talks about occupation and surf habits, and in no time one is involved in a personal talk. So it was, when I closed my online contract with my cellphone seller 2 years ago. One talks about this and that, even about God and Zen meditation, because the chemistry is good.

Didn’t you then worked in G., I asked him, when I started to recognize him. Already then, I remembered, he told me that his job was only temporary. Actually he were a social pedagogue. Maybe that was 10 years ago. And now when I wanted to close my contract, he told me the same old story again. First by that I recognized him.

10 years – what a long time! He was unhappy and his dreams about something else were still vivid. But he never made the change. How tragic, I thought then. He seemed to be haggard and overworked. Sadly I imagined how he would be in 10 years. Would he still dream unhappily about something else, would he be burned out and bitter?

Last week I already looked forward to seeing him now after 2 years, when I wanted to ask for his advice. But his place was empty. When I asked a colleague for him, I got the answer: Oh Mr. Soandso isn’t here since a long time. He is doing now something else… something totally else. Saying that a slight smile flickered over his face. Something in the social area?, I supposed. Yes, exactly.

Finally! He has made the change and is finally working in his dream job. I sent him my regards supposed he will drop in sometime. But I hardly could speak because of my joy.

Don’t worry

I don’t want to be rich

I don’t want to be famous

I don’t want to be well-dressed

I don’t want to have power

I don’t want to live long

so why do I worry

Contents

Epictetus

Epictetus (/ˌɛpɪkˈtiːtəs/;[3] Greek: Ἐπίκτητος, Epíktētos; c. 50 – c. 135 AD) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was born into slavery at Hierapolis, Phrygia (present-day Pamukkale, in western Turkey) and lived in Rome until his banishment, when he went to Nicopolis in northwestern Greece for the rest of his life. His teachings were written down and published by his pupil Arrian in his Discourses and Enchiridion.

Epictetus taught that philosophy is a way of life and not simply a theoretical discipline. To Epictetus, all external events are beyond our control; we should accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately. However, individuals are responsible for their own actions, which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline.

Life

Epictetus was born around AD 50,[4][5] presumably at Hierapolis, Phrygia.[6] The name his parents gave him is unknown; the word epíktētos (ἐπίκτητος) in Greek simply means gained or acquired;[7] the Greek philosopher Plato, in his Laws, used the term to mean property that is added to one's hereditary property.[8] He spent his youth in Rome as a slave to Epaphroditus, a wealthy freedman and secretary to Nero.[9]

Early in life, Epictetus acquired a passion for philosophy and, with the permission of his wealthy master, he studied Stoic philosophy under Musonius Rufus.[10] Becoming more educated in this way raised his social status.[11] At some point, he became disabled. Celsus, quoted by Origen, wrote that this was because his leg had been deliberately broken by his master.[12] Simplicius, in contrast, wrote that he had simply been disabled from childhood.[13]

Epictetus obtained his freedom sometime after the death of Nero in AD 68,[14] and he began to teach philosophy in Rome. Around AD 93, when the Roman emperor Domitian banished all philosophers from the city,[15] Epictetus moved to Nicopolis in Epirus, Greece, where he founded a school of philosophy.[16]

His most famous pupil, Arrian, studied under him as a young man (around AD 108) and claimed to have written his famous Discourses based on the notes he took on Epictetus's lectures. Arrian argued that his Discourses should be considered comparable to the Socratic literature.[17] Arrian described Epictetus as a powerful speaker who could induce his listener to feel just what Epictetus wanted him to feel.[18] Many eminent figures sought conversations with him.[19] Emperor Hadrian was friendly with him,[20] and may have heard him speak at his school in Nicopolis.[21][22]

He lived a life of great simplicity, with few possessions.[13] He lived alone for a long time,[23] but in his old age, he adopted a friend's child who otherwise would have been left to die and raised him with the aid of a woman.[24] It is unclear whether Epictetus and she were married.[25] He died sometime around AD 135.[26] After his death, according to Lucian, his oil lamp was purchased by an admirer for 3,000 drachmae.[27]

Thought

No writings by Epictetus are known. His discourses were transcribed and compiled by his pupil Arrian (c. 86/89 – c. after 146/160 AD).[18] The main work is The Discourses, four books of which have been preserved (out of the original eight).[28] Arrian also compiled a popular digest, entitled the Enchiridion, or Handbook. In a preface to the Discourses that is addressed to Lucius Gellius, Arrian states that whatever I heard him say I used to write down, word for word, as best I could, endeavouring to preserve it as a memorial, for my own future use, of his way of thinking and the frankness of his speech.[18] In the sixth century, the Neoplatonist philosopher Simplicius wrote an extant commentary on the Enchiridion.[29]

Epictetus maintains that the foundation of all philosophy is self-knowledge; that is, the conviction of our ignorance and gullibility ought to be the first subject of our study.[30] Logic provides valid reasoning and certainty in judgment, but it is subordinate to practical needs.[31] The first and most necessary part of philosophy concerns the application of doctrine, for example, that people should not lie. The second concerns reasons, e.g., why people should not lie. While the third, lastly, examines and establishes the reasons.[32] This is the logical part, which finds reasons, shows what is a reason, and that a given reason is a correct one.[32] This last part is necessary, but only on account of the second, which again is rendered necessary by the first.[33]

Both the Discourses and the Enchiridion begin by distinguishing between those things in our power (prohairetic things) and those things not in our power (aprohairetic things).[34]

That alone is in our power, which is our own work; and in this class are our opinions, impulses, desires, and aversions. On the contrary, what is not in our power, are our bodies, possessions, glory, and power. Any delusion on this point leads to the greatest errors, misfortunes, and troubles, and to the slavery of the soul.[35]

We have no power over external things, and the good that ought to be the object of our earnest pursuit, is to be found only within ourselves.[36]

The determination between what is good and what is not good is made by the capacity for choice (prohairesis).[37] Prohairesis allows