Aristotle, Wealth and Consumption

the noted ancient philosopher Aristotle
made the distinction between natural wealth and unnatural wealth

natural wealth had to do with the earth, animals and farming
and unnatural wealth had to do with money and currency

an Aristotle scholar once told me that lust was about consuming

i lost my family at a certain time in my life
when it became evident
that i was unable to understand and support consumerism
and the unnatural wealth that i was expected to acquire
if indeed
according to their beliefs
"i loved my family"
for they felt that as the father
i was to do all those things to keep them happy
in their state of continuous consumption
waste and novelty

but i categorically refuse to concede to their belief
that my inability to support the consumerism of the 80's and 90's
in any way represented
any lesser love for my love for my family
when in fact
it represented a greater love
when i left
i left with my self respect
holding my head high
and willing and capable of preserving the values i believed in
which i do until today
i was indeed abandoned
by my family
although they understandably felt abandoned by me
i was alone
and without the support of a community
that would base it's wealth on values that i could embrace wholeheartedly
namely
honor, respect and loyalty to parents and guardians
to name a few

it took years to learn
the one of the greatest philosoophers of all time
made such a distinction between that which was natural
and that which was unnatural
in the acquiring of wealth
to know the difference between what governed them
and what governed me

our children dictated to us
what they wanted
and what we were expected to do
in order to gain their cooperation
i think that both the media and the educational community
trained them well to become disrespectful, disobedient and weak minded
from their earliest age to control us
while we became more and more victims unaware
of the insidious power of suggestion woven over our minds
by a highly strategically designed consumer age
governed by advertising magnates, sports and advancements in high technology
resulting in a small number of filthy rich folk
and large masses of impoverished struggling families

Giving True Friendship

during our travels accross the country
it is finally occurring to me
that true friendship
is the result of being for giving
rather than for getting

meeting people
saying i know someone
sharing a few moments
eating with someone
mostly all family
causual acquaintances
and similar encouners with people
have nothing to do with friendship

true friendship is a dimension all it's own like love
in fact ... is love in action with another person

when the deepest motivation
of what one considers love
comes from the place of giving
rather than getting
true friendship exists

the best way in which this giving is manifested
is when one gives of oneself
surely many will give gifts
and physical items for many purposes
but when one gives of oneself
by sharing honestly
listening
and permitting the other to express true feelings
then i think that true friendship exists

all the rest is superficial

Danny Scherr & Jeseppi Trade Wildfeather — "Maybe You're Love is Gone"

Danny Scherr, vocal & Jeseppi Trade Wildfeather, lead
Performed on August 27th at the Hotel Utah, San Francisco

— "Maybe You're Love is Gone"

Jeseppi! Thank you much for the warm thoughts. It really does means a lot to me. I wish safe, but interesting, travels and much love in NY. We’ll all miss you.

Here is Danny’s song from last Monday. I was able to salvage about half of it.

http://theutah.org/mp3/DannyScherr_20070827.mp3

best - JJ