What would you do and where will you be if you lost all worldly possessions?

Question

Namaste

Peace and Love

Fools are happy when acquiring wealth; noble people find happiness in giving it all away. Lepers feel better when they scratch their sores, but note how the wise dread leprosy.

-Sakya Pandita, In Ordinary Wisdom

Answer 1

I have lost all my material possessions twice, once in a flood 5 days after my oldest child's birth & years later, someone just cleaned the house out. Both times no insurance. But I learned some valuable lessons. It's just stuff, & most of us are slaves to it. We work to support our houses, cars, & ipods. Thsy own us. That is not for me. I am not what I own, & end the end, it's not the why of here, just a hiding place.

Answer 2

Once many moon ago I sold most of my worldly possessions, all beds etc put my white goods in my mothers shed..just enough money to take a train with my two young sons...2 and 7. All our worldly possessions in two pushers to a paradise I had 'heard' about Northern New South Wales...Murwillumbah...All my family shaking heads etc...When I stepped off the train it was drizzling a light misty rain..and the perfume of a Frangipani permeating the air....Such treasures are unmeasured to the wanderer...We stayed in a caravan for 12 months..'lived' at the beach.. sub-tropical splendor...first week I found a pumpkin on a vacant lot...we ate this for 7-8 days..fried, boiled, mashed...washed down with sweet black tea...one day a caravan neighbour bought us fresh fish.. I quickly learnt how to fish to feed my kids..
I would hence forth find another pumpkin patch....Cheers and Good Morning...........

Answer 3

depends on you willingness to accept...

is there a greater chance of going within and finding what you truly seek if you were forced to? or could the pain of loss be a distraction and keep you from reaching that very goal?either scenario is possible...

i would say that i don't believe that the path of renunciation is the right path for everyone, and that poverty does not define a highly developed spiritual soul.

money should be used as a tool to help people (those in need, those you feel can do more good with it, and those whom you love)

money is energy... power... and can be a very good thing. to be attached to it (or to worldly possessions) is not so good, but to understand it and keep the relationship flowing..., participating in the karma of what you give out, comes back, the cycle of energy

and that the Universe is infinitely abundant, there is enough for everybody...enough of everything, as long as we are smart and don't destroy our resources- keeping the natural balance that sustains life.

Answer 4

What would I do? Take the opportunity and start over.

If you really think about it, what do we truly need? We don't NEED shelter. We'll still exist without it, right? It's nice to have, but millions of people are homeless. They still exist, they're still there. What about money? Millions don't have money, either, and they're still there. We don't NEED that either, technically--we'll still exist even if we don't have money.

What about food? We certainly need THAT, right? After all, it IS necessary for survival...and yet we still don't need it. Even if we die, our spirits will still live on. We'll still exist, just on a different level. So we don't even need food.

When you think about it, we truly need nothing--it is an illusion, and it causes so much pain. When we change our perception to needing nothing, all that pain disappears. We agonize over not having enough money, enough power, enough this, enough that...there's never enough. So people will go to war to get what they "need," they'll be greedy and withhold all they have from everyone else...even when there IS enough food, money, and shelter to go around. Even though there are thousands homeless and hungry in America, and millions who don't have adequate health care and who live under financial stress, less than 2% of our population will still hold 96% of all money in the country. There's something seriously wrong with that.

We even think God needs things. We project our human needs onto God, thinking He needs worship, adoration, and acceptance...or He'll send us to Hell. But if God is truly as expansive as we think He is...if He truly is everything...if he truly can be found under a rock and when you split a piece of wood...then what does He need? He doesn't need worship or unwavering devotion. God needs nothing from us humans. God has no requirements for us.

And we shouldn't either...we THINK we "need" things, but if you look at it, we don't.

Instead of thinking, "There's not enough," we have to start thinking, "There's plenty!" And if you truly believe it, mountains will move to make it happen. If you focus on needing something, you'll only get more needs...but if you focus all your energy on having everything you need and not worrying about it, then if you look around, you'll realize you have everything you could ever possibly want.

Answer 5

Let me direct you to a record in the bible of two contrasting individuals and the lessons to learn therefrom. Luke 12:16-21, someone lost his share of inheritance and Mathew 19 16-24, a certain rich man wanted to know what to do to have a satisfying life.
From the two accounts it was obvious that our view of material possessions will affect our reaction to their lost but, what is most consoling is that our life do result from the things we possess.
Seek to do what results in life- learning and doing the will of God.

Answer 6

Ask all those people who lived in New Orleans
and survived Hurricane Katrina, but had nothing
else left. Their lives will never be the same (even
tho some of their new lives may eventually be for
the better).

Answer 7

I think I would feel much freer once the initial shock wore off.
I have always thought I'd like to join an ashram or an intentional community of some type.

Answer 8

I would probably be in shock for a few minutes, but I would praise God that I still had my salvation. I would not be worried at all because I have a great fellowship at my church and I know that between God and the church my family and I would be OK. Then I would ask God, What is it that you would have me do next Father?

Answer 9

in the company of true friends or all alone on the hillside looking at the mountains, preparing for Winter. I already have lost everything worldly.

Answer 10

I have lost all my stuff several times throughout my life. However to compare it to scratching leprosy lesions, is pushing it a bit.