Adopting a free open-air spirit

A New Year has dawned. almost everybody seems to be paying too much attention to buying and owning various household items from clothing to electronic goods. There is nothing wrong in going on a spending spree if you have the means. The trouble arises when you have to borrow money to do so. In a consumerist society a lot of goods are bought and sold in the open market. Consumerism has spread its tentacles to every strata of society and everybody has to pay a price for their existence.

The Buddha advised his followers to be content with what they had. In other words, he said to enjoy real happiness you need to have only the bare essentials. The craze for amassing wealth and the desire to live in luxury lead to unhappiness in the long run. Even certain philosophers who who lived in ancient Greece believed in the virtue of possessing leas of material wealth. what is more, a few Greek philosophers rejected worldly values and opted to live on the streets.

Diogenes of Sinope is a shining example. He flouted convention by eating only discarded scraps of food. He dressed himself in filthy rags and preferred to live in an abandoned tub. He was always surrounded by stray dogs and eventually earned the nickname “The Dog.” With all such extremist ideas abut life, Diogenes shared Socrates’s passion for virtue and rejection of material comfort. What really went wrong was that Diogenes turned out to be an incorrigible extremist.

External restrictions

Diogenes argued that to lead a happy life, it is necessary to let go of external restrictions imposed by society. For instance, we do most of the activities to satisfy societal norms. society expects us to to live in houses, not under trees. We are expected to get married, produce children and educate them. We are duty bound to look after our life partners, children and elders.

In the process, we are bound to earn money, save a part of our income and raise loans if we run short of funds. Then we start buying consumer items and fill our houses with them. However much we spend on essentials and sometimes in essentials we will never be happy.

When we have amassed wealth, we start living in fear. We take precautions against burglary and theft. All these activities complicate our life leading to unhappiness and stress. If we can live a simple life, governed by reason and natural impulses most of our worries will disappear.

Desire for wealth

The million dollar question is whether we can renounce our desire for wealth and comforts. All the major religions have advised us not to amass wealth. The Buddha, Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammad wanted us to give away whatever wealth we have accumulated. However, most of us pay only lip service to such religious teachings.

Diogenes was the first of a group of philosophers who became known as the Cynics, a term taken from the Greek kunikos, meaning “dog-like.” They were determined to spurn all forms of social custom and etiquette. According to Diogenes, the happiest person is someone who lives in accordance with the rhythms of the natural world. He strongly believed that we should be free from the conventions and values imposed on us by the civilised society.

Sturdy character

Diogenes once said, “When I saw a child drinking from his hands, I threw away my cup.” In a civilised society we may not be able to emulate his example. If we try to do so, we will be accused of going back to barbarism. However, we can follow the spirit of what he said. If we are self-disciplined, we will be able to control most of our desires and appetites.

The Cynics admired Socrates’s sturdy character and wholeheartedly accepted the basic premise that excessive wanting always leads to unhappiness. Today none of us will be able to follow the Cynics’s way of life Yet, as another leading Greek philosopher Epictetus said, Cynicism will help us to adopt a “free open-air spirit.”