Nordic wrote:His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi[4] and Martin Luther King, Jr.[5]
I'm kind of embarrassed to admit I knew nothing of this until I saw the movie.
Brings up a lot of interesting points about what's involved in giving away your wealth.
On a related note:
How Much Land Does a Man Require? is an 1886 short story by Leo Tolstoy about a man who, in his lust for land, forfeits everything...
The protagonist of the story is a peasant named Pahóm, who at the beginning can be heard complaining that he does not own enough land to satisfy him. He states that "if I had plenty of land, I shouldn't fear the Devil himself!". Unbeknownst to him, Satan is present sitting behind the stove and listening. A short amount of time later, a landlady in the village decides to sell her estate, and the peasants of the village buy as much of that land as they can. Pahóm himself purchases some land, and by working off the extra land is able to repay his debts and live a more comfortable life.
However, Pahóm then becomes very possessive of his land, and this causes arguments with his neighbours. "Threats to burn his building began to be uttered." Later, he moves to a larger area of land at another Commune. Here, he can grow even more crops and amass a small fortune, but he has to grow the crops on rented land, which irritates him.
Pahom, the peasant with just a
tiny bit more land than the other peasants in the Commune, clearly feels he is Taxed Enough Already.
Finally, he is introduced to the Bashkirs, and is told that they are simple-minded people who own a huge amount of land. Pahóm goes to them to take as much of their land for as low a price as he can negotiate. Their offer is very unusual: for a sum of one thousand rubles, Pahóm can walk around as large an area as he wants, starting at daybreak, marking his route with a spade along the way. If he reaches his starting point by sunset that day, the entire area of land his route encloses will be his, but if he does not reach his starting point he will lose his money and receive no land. He is delighted as he believes that he can cover a great distance and has chanced upon the bargain of a lifetime. That night, Pahóm experiences a surreal dream in which he sees himself lying dead by the feet of the Devil, who is laughing.
He stays out as late as possible, marking out land until just before the sun sets. Toward the end, he realizes he is far from the starting point and runs back as fast as he can to the waiting Bashkirs. He finally arrives at the starting point just as the sun sets. The Bashkirs cheer his good fortune, but exhausted from the run, Pahóm drops dead. His servant buries him in an ordinary grave only six feet long, thus ironically answering the question posed in the title of the story.
Late in life, James Joyce wrote to his daughter that it is "the greatest story that the literature of the world knows"; Ludwig Wittgenstein was another well-known admirer.
We can substitute land with money here (though land reform is a serious requirement in itself) and ask: "How much
money does a man require?" Enough to live is all, and to support whatever family he might have, and die a decent death. Same with land. Same with anything.
Requirements and
desires are different things, though. See, I like hoarding stuff and keeping it all to myself even though I know it is an infantile practice, most likely the product of a mild mental disorder, and comically repulsive and pathetic in and of itself. I don't mean money, got none of that to speak of, but stuff... I like having stuff, which is mine, and nobody else's, unless I so choose.
Is it wrong to WANT to have a lot of stuff - I'm including money in the definition of stuff? And to want it for it's own sake, not necessarily to the detriment of others, though that seems unavoidable in a finite world? 'Cos I like stuff.
Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 10:31 pm