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[caitlin_mcfly]

Every time I feel I've made significant progress in defeating this western disease called materialism it seems I fall back  a couple of steps.  I think it goes deeper than materialism, it's the deeper search for satisfaction. It reminds me of this short film I saw once called 'Hunger." It was about this man that ate himself to death. It was a

Comments

[benjamin_laird]

in response to your question at the end of your post:

just travel with no money relying on only your wits & social skills.
live like that for a little bit & you will start to see other's public displays of wealth to be totally irrelevant & sooner than later you truly won't desire much past your basic needs.

[suzys_poetry]

Have you tried setting a simple budget & including charitable donations in it? You might consider just choosing a charity to start, and getting set up for automatic withdrawal, then it won't get missed. Union Gospel Mission in Vancouver sends kids to camp by donation. You can get added to their mailing list to get reminders, if you want. Also, I find a good place to start is to sponsor a child through World Vision or Compassion Canada. It helped me start thinking less about myself, and now when I want to buy something useless for about $30 I think, "this could feed a child for a month" =) It really helped me gain perspective. Of course, I mostly spend less money on clothes, etc, now cuz I'm paying off st loans =)
Just don't ever stop fighting. You will find a balance eventually!