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Originally Posted by JcP
in order for you to have independence, you need something other than what you have when you have nothing? Isn't independence a frame of mind?
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Independence is producing more than you consume. It's not being dependent upon others for your survival and being able to be the person that you are without acquiescing to the desires of those whom you depend on.So people trade each other that which they can afford in order to maintain their survival.
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Personal growth? How does having money as opposed to having no money (for the sake of argument) make you grow more as a person? How is it that every spiritual leader that I can think of has come out of (or experienced) the poorest of the poor? Buddha had the most personal growth when he got rid of the riches of his parent's kingdom and went to live as an ascetic (for example).
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There's nothing wrong with being rich, but there's nothing wrong with being poor. Having money, though, is the same as having food or shelter. It's just a means of survival and independence. Your good nature could be considered money if others deem it as valuable. It's not the money which is valuable; what is valuable is that which others deem as valuable, to which you can trade for your ability to survive and be independent.
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I believe I mentioned in another thread regarding your insistance that government is violence that it is a necessary evil. I believe I also mentioned that transcending the need for a government on a personal level is quite easy, as it simply requires the spiritual awareness to embrace compassion for all beings.
I believe the same philosophy should be applied here.
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I still don't understand how you can accept the fact that you support evil, and yet you're talking about embracing a compassion for all beings. And you can define evil however you want to in this case; you still support violence, you still support evil. I'm going to end the conversation again.