eugene ts wong's Journal: Revisited Thoughts: Covetousness; Eating

I'd like to welcome all the newcomers to my journal. Thanks for reading.

***Covetousness***
***Eating***

***Covetousness***

Just so that you all know, I never meant anything personal with the journal entry regarding covetousness. I honestly think that it applies to all people. In fact, that's kind of the point. We would much rather think of it as something that "those people" would do, but not us. No siree, Bob. We would never do that.

But really, what is there to stop us? Covetousness is truly invisible because all we need to do is think.

I personally never want to ever get into the position where I will say to myself, "Oh, I'll never murder someone. I'll never abuse a child. I'll never treat someone unjustly.". I'd rather say, "I have responsibility to yadda yadda yadda.", & then do all that I can to live up to that responsibility.

On a side note, I understand that "covet" & its other forms can be used figuratively. For example, "I covet your prayers.". Obviously, it's pretty hard to complain about that situation. :^)

That being said, for those of us who believe in the concept of property, we have to ask ourselves, "Do I have regard for his property?", & "How do I know that I do?".

For those of us who don't believe in the concept of property, I'd like to ask you, what is there to prevent others from just taking food from the tables & fridges of others? Although I encourage you to share your techniques, I'm thinking also in terms of principles. How do we divide the food? Are all resources shared? If not, can I eat as much as I want? If not all resources are shared, then which 1s? Can the list change?

***Eating***

I think that eating is an incentive & resposibility. Every creature, except the 2 headed kinds [& you know they exist], seem to need to eat for themselves. God never bypasses our responsibility. We could choose to do whatever we want, & the incentive stays the same. It is absolute.

If I am right, then this incentive represents an independence that must be recognized in every person & animal, by every person & animal.

Are plants independent? Not that I know of. Can they be force fed? To some degree. They absorb nutrients without asking, thanking or any effort. They just sit there for the most part.

What do you all think?

some thoughts

[capoccia]

I think there is a typo in your third-to-last paragraph. Independence should be changed to dependence.

If I am right, then this incentive represents

a dependence that must be recognized in every person & animal, by every person & animal.

This is a good point. I think it might not occur to a lot of people this way because they haven't ever gone a day without eating. I know I haven't. I eat because I enjoy it. Sometimes I even eat because I'm hungry; but I've never eaten because I'm going to die. Eve

Re:some thoughts

[eugene ts wong]

Actually, I really did mean independence, because the idea is that each man is free to choose whether or not he eats. I don't recall God ever forcing someone to eat.

I don't recall any verse saying that we are commanded to sleep. God caused Adam to sleep for that 1st operation, which is much like forcing him to do it.

We need sleep daily, just like eating. Well, sort of, but you know what I mean. We need both on a regular basis. In fact, we need a lot of things. Eating seems to be different.

However, that d

Re:some thoughts

[Marxist Hacker 42]

No one charges you to sleep. But eating, drinking, and even just having a place to be in comfort, are all very expensive things to do in comparison. Why we move little green pieces of paper around to allow people to satisfy basic needs is one of the major premises of So Long And Thanks For All The Fish [amazon.com]. Most people don't realize that in addition to being a humor writer, Douglas Adams was first and formost a social critic and a visionary- most of his books have great meaning below the random chapters and

Re:some thoughts

[Marxist Hacker 42]

I've gone days without eating in the past. Sometimes for medical reasons. Sometimes for religious. Most recently for economic reasons.

Catholic monasteries are often built on the socialism of Acts Chapters 4 & 5, which I think is what you're refering to as "the socialism of the Jerusalem church", and have been for over 1500 years now (I'm not sure about before Benedict wrote his Rules, I imagine though that the vows of poverty and obedience had their roots in very old Christian traditions). I would

Control & Covetousness

[Marxist Hacker 42]

For those of us who don't believe in the concept of property, I'd like to ask you, what is there to prevent others from just taking food from the tables & fridges of others? Although I encourage you to share your techniques, I'm thinking also in terms of principles. How do we divide the food? Are all resources shared? If not, can I eat as much as I want? If not all resources are shared, then which 1s? Can the list change?

The concepts (myths?) of personal property are born out of scarcity. For most of

Re:Control & Covetousness

[eugene ts wong]

I wish that I had gotten back to you sooner. I think that I may have actually missed some comments. If there were any questions still requiring replies, then don't hesitate to ask in any thread.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the global aspects of scarcity.

You're beginning to remind me of the Hutterites & the Amish, in the way that you define poverty & bare essentials. Do I understand you correctly?

Re:Control & Covetousness

[Marxist Hacker 42]

I'm not familiar with the Hutterites- but I grew up in an area of Oregon that was ONLY Catholic, Lutheran, or Mennonite- and if you're familiar with the Amish I'm sure you have some idea how large Mennonite families get.

Yes, most certainly my definitions of poverty & bare essentials are defined by living amongst people who wouldn't be my friend because my family was evil (we had a TV set). I'm willing to relax that a bit because I see where modern communication could be even more usefull than it alrea

Personal and giving up to give to God

[Marxist Hacker 42]

For those of us who don't believe in the concept of property, I'd like to ask you, what is there to prevent others from just taking food from the tables & fridges of others? Although I encourage you to share your techniques, I'm thinking also in terms of principles. How do we divide the food? Are all resources shared? If not, can I eat as much as I want? If not all resources are shared, then which 1s? Can the list change?

The Chinese do not say hello. They say "Have you Eaten?" I preface this to poin

Re:Personal and giving up to give to God

[Marxist Hacker 42]

Oddly enough, I was personally affected by a loss of personal property last night- and haven't thought about it since I got to work until now. Last night my car was broken into and the technically crappy stereo was stolen.

I'm not sure that I care all that much- I was planning on replacing it eventually anyway- but I will still file a police report because I live in a capitalistic country and I still have to *act* like the myth of property exists (plus it gets me a tax break- this is the fourth time in two