On sin, personal habits, philosophy of living, and cell phones

SolitaryRoad.com

Website owner:  James Miller

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There are some things in a person that can cause him a lot of trouble. I am thinking about things like Pride, Anger, Hatred, Lust, Envy and Jealousy. See Stay away from these demons: Pride, Anger, Hatred, Lust, Envy and Jealousy. I note that all of these that I have just listed are viewed in the Bible as sins. Now there are many kinds of sins that a person who is self-regulated by fear of God, knowledge of his Word, a good healthy conscience, good sense, good judgment, and self-discipline can avoid. I am thinking about things like lying, cheating, stealing, adultery, fornication, murder, etc. He is able to apply self-discipline and avoid the sin. However, others like pride, (inner) anger, hatred, lust, envy and jealousy are in a different category. A person can try very hard, apply all kinds of effort and self-discipline, and be unable to shake them. They tend to be extremely tenacious and most people who have them never get rid of them and carry them to their graves. They act like innate personality traits. However, they are not innate and it can happen that some shift in underlying outlook, attitude, or value within a person (perhaps due to some traumatic experience) may cause them to completely disappear. For example, an underlying shift may cause a person with excessive pride to become genuinely humble or a person with a lot of inner anger and hostility may lose it completely. (I know this is true due to my own personal experience.) In general people don’t know what to do to cause this change but it is important to understand that it is possible. For an insight into how this can happen let us consider the problem of excessive pride. Just what would you say excessive pride is? Let me suggest that excessive pride is nothing more than a wrong attitude regarding yourself. Changing it and replacing high pride or arrogance with genuine humility is a problem that is no more than just a problem of changing your attitude regarding yourself. You might think that would be very easy. You might think anyone should be able to do that. But it is one of those things that are easier said than done. People have a very difficult time doing it. The same is true for the problem of inner anger toward society (hostility toward society). Getting rid of it is simply a matter of change of attitude, change of outlook. I am sure the same is true for hatred. And I believe the same is true for lustfulness. I think replacing lustfulness with purity of thought is all about attitude. It can be done if you really want to.

Much in this world is about habit and personal outlook and value. Most people in this world seek after the gratification of base appetite in the form of pursuit of carnal pleasure. I am speaking of drinking alcohol, enjoying delicious dinners, eating sweets, using drugs, listening to sensual music, viewing pornography, engaging in illicit sex, etc. They lead lives of self indulgence. And no matter how much money they make they spend it all in pursuit of these things. In contrast to this is a life that emphasizes such things as simplicity, self-discipline, self-abnegation, self-renunciation, self-denial, moral purity, frugality, contentment with little, living on little. And in connection with this is generally a tendency towards reflective thought and the pursuit of wisdom and understanding. I believe it is in this way of self-renunciation that one finds true happiness. For example, I personally have not been to a movie or watched television since the late 1970's. [Why? I just object to the content. The outlooks, attitudes, and values projected conflict with my personal values. And I object to the language. I don’t like low, filthy, vulgar language. I find it offensive.] And in a world where it seems like every one has a cell phone (including poor people in the poorer countries) I still have no cell phone and probably will never have one. Why?

Cell phones are everywhere. Everyone has one. Wherever you go, wherever you see people, they are always preoccupied with their cell phone, intently picking at their cell phone. Whether they are waiting in an office or standing in line, they are engrossed in their phone. Even when you are out walking and you see others walking, they aren’t just walking, they are talking to someone on their cell phone or playing on their cell phone with their fingers. Even when people are walking they can’t just walk. They are preoccupied with their phone. Well, I simply do not understand it all. I don’t understand why everyone has to have a cell phone.

Now understand that if I had an honest need for a cell phone I would certainly have one. In some circumstances a cell phone would be very useful and definitely worth the cost. For example in some types of vocations or businesses you might have a real need for one.

What does a cell phone give you? It gives you 1) A phone on your person that allows you to make and receive calls wherever you are; 2) A camera that allows you to take pictures wherever you are; and 3) access to the internet and the ability to send and receive emails. And most people in this country pay $80.00 - $100.00 per month for their cell phone service and the phones themselves can cost up to $1000 and more. In addition, many people trade in their old phones and get new ones whenever the latest model comes out.

I just don’t think cell phones are worth the cost for me. I am careful with my money and don’t buy what I don’t need. I don’t have a need of a phone where I can make calls wherever I may be and where I am always available to anyone who wants to talk to me. People can leave messages on my answering machine if they wish to talk to me when I am not home. In addition, I value my privacy and don’t wish to always be on call. If I wish to have a camera with me wherever I go, you can buy a very good miniature camera for $100. I could use one of those. And if I wish to use the internet I want to do it using a desktop computer where I have a large full sized screen and a full sized keyboard where I can input information using all fingers of both hands. The tiny screens of the cell phones don’t impress me at all nor does the idea of inputting alphanumeric information by picking with a finger. I am a person who always asks the question: “What is the best way of doing a thing? What is the most efficient, least expensive way of doing a thing?” — and that is the way I do it. And for me, cell phones just don’t make sense. My internet service costs me around $50 a month and my phone service costs me around $5.00 a month. (I have Ooma, an internet based phone service, where I can call anywhere in the country for free). So for $55.00 per month I have everything I need.

Instead of an expensive cell phone I have a used refurbished desktop computer for which I paid around $200.00. I have been doing this for years and get a few years out of each computer. I also buy a three or four year warranty for $10 - $15 when I buy the computers. That is a lot more economical than paying $500 - $1000 for a new computer or a cell phone.

I suppose that if a person was an extremely gregarious person with a whole lot of friends that he was continually conversing with and loved taking pictures and exchanging them with people, a cell phone would be very useful.

So why does everyone in the world have to have a cell phone? What do they know that I don’t? In some circumstances a cell phone is useful. Like if you are traveling and want to look at a road map. But these advantages just aren’t worth the cost to me. What do I think is happening? I think cell phones are the latest toy and everyone wants the latest toy. I think everyone has to have a cell phone because everyone else around them has a cell phone. All of their friends and family have cell phones so they have to have one. And so they get themselves a cell phone. And then they have another expensive habit that taxes them financially each month — an extra load to carry.

People like myself, people of my philosophy and mentality, have an independence of thought that the crowd just doesn’t have. And this applies not just to cell phones, but to everything in life. Life is filled with decisions. Decisions are the stuff of life. Some people make decisions based on Reason but things other than Reason determine the actions of most people. Most follow fashion and want the approval of the Crowd.

How happy a person is in life has a lot to do with his most basic values. What things are important to me? One thing is my good, sweet wife and our happy marriage. My good relationship with my wife is very important to me. I strive to maintain it. Another thing is good health. I have long done a lot in the interest of maintaining good health. I walk five miles a day and do 15 minutes of exercises (back exercises, stretching exercises, and push ups) every day. And I have been doing this for over 40 years now. The most important thing to me in life, however, is obedience to God and living as I ought to live. That means living in accordance with Biblical teaching, conscience, and Reason. The main object of my life: Wisdom, Understanding. How about money? I believe in saving money. I have long accumulated money. My only real interest in accumulating wealth, however, is security, as a kind of insurance policy. It is protection against the very unpleasant possibility of finding myself one unhappy day out in the cold without home, food, clothing, and money and unable to find a job. Other than that money is not of great value to me. I don’t spend very much at all, very rarely buy any personal items for myself, and today I live just as simply and frugally as I did 50 years ago. My lifestyle is essentially the same as it was 50 years ago. My wife and I have, by now, accumulated a substantial amount of wealth and I give it little thought. I am conservative and invest conservatively, mainly in real estate. I can say, for certain, that even if I were worth ten billion dollars, I would not spend a bit more than I do right now. It wouldn’t affect my style of living in the slightest. I would still watch every penny, watch for the best prices, live frugally. That is just the way I think, the way my mind works. It is all about habit. Habits define us. I believe my wife and I could live in a cabin we own for $1500 - $2000 a year and be very happy there so we don’t really need a lot of accumulated wealth.

6 Oct 2021