The Luxury of Masochism

[thirdreel]

The awesome new online Buddhist magazine, Prapañca Journal, included one of my India stories in their second issue on the theme of "Four Protections." It's about modern-day austerity, the search for new adventures in testing limits, and the kind of privilege you have to have to seek out testing experiences.

Comments

[zyzyly]

I enjoyed reading this. It makes me wonder about how our environment shapes our view of luxury vs necessity.

It has been interesting to see my wife transition from living in somewhat of a third-world existence to being in America with everything that goes along with it. Two years ago she thought nothing of living in a wooden house where it was at least 110 degrees most of the time (or felt like it), hand-washing her clothes in a tub, and cooking over a charcoal grill outside.

This morning she turned on the air conditioner in our beautifully insulated home because it had gotten up to 76 inside after she turned on the clothes dryer. It was warm out, but she no longer likes to hang the clothes because the get "stiff".

[st_ranger]

I enjoyed reading it. I guess I live in a middle space-- under the poverty level in America, but not particularly feeling poor. I like my life for the most part. It does require me to not be "a consumer" but I also have a lot of free time to devote to my passion, the collection of ideas.

[thebunnybin]

First and foremost: wow. That's a stunning cover image. It's really scary in a Ray Harryhausen kind of way.

I loved your essay. Very thought provoking and still highly entertaining - this got a huge laugh: "It reminds me of the time I walked from Amritsar to Darjeeling wearing only one shoe."

[thirdreel]

Hey there stranger!

Funny thing about that line, when I wrote it, I was sure it was one of those murder-your-darlings lines, one that any sensible editor would tell me to chop. The Prapanca editors were just about completely hands-off, though, and about half of the (admittedly few) comments I've gotten about the article have mentioned that line as a particularly funny one. I feel a little indulgent for having written it, and yet I've come to see that it landed and resonated with people somehow.

And perhaps it points to a greater epiphany as a writer, speaker, teacher, whatever. My AstroBarry horoscope this week has warned me not to rein it in, not to compromise to impress people who don't get me and, truth be told, I don't want to get me. I really shouldn't murder my darlings, and I should question the motives of any editor or reader who tells me to.