During our week long stay on the Karimunjawa islands, we spent a day with a German that had decided to make the village of Kemujan in Karimunjawa his home. Married to an Indonesian woman, they and their newborn baby live in a modest house just outside Kemujan.
While chatting with him, he dropped a bomb on us when he said that his monthly expenses (which was the highest in the village), was 60$ USD. This included
- Rent – 10$
- Internet – 2$
- Electricity – 3$
- Et. Al…
On that same island, Jodee and I had managed to spend 60$ a day. Our rent was 15$ a day. We both had 3G iPhones gobbling up 2$ worth of data daily. And then, eating out in restaurants, private boat rentals, things that cost money. Sure, I agree that we were there for a short while and wanted to explore and experience the island in a ‘concentrated’ form, different from the resident populace that essentially had a slower experience of it that steeped gently in their system. Still…
I asked him about the other villagers. His neighbor, a fisherman, had for instance, an expense of 30$ a month. He had no phone, no bathroom in his house – by choice. René said, “The villagers haven’t learned about the western habit of consumption.”
Obviously something like that makes you think. I went off on two threads. I’ll write one here, and the second one in the next blog.
Thread One: Consumption
What is Consumption? Is it just buying objects? Well, we hadn’t bought any objects outside of soaps and toothpastes. But we still consumed money. Through experiences. Good foods, travel, ferry, hotels, tours… All consumption.
The fisherman was content with his batch in life. Which had me ponder there. I am traveling. In search of experiences. The seeking stemmed from a discontent. The discontent that is at the root of all movement. The ‘Dukkha’ as the Buddha said. The seeking was to quell the inner angst.
For that I consumed. Consumed experiences. Am I any better than the stereotypical picture of excess all too often talked about back in Hippie California? The stereotypical fat middle aged male gouging on Burgers, Chips and Coke while lolling around on his couch watching 172 HD channels on his 84-in 3D LED TV in his 7-Bedroom house sprawled over an acre of land?
The so called ‘educated well-traveled’ group that I identified with, shun that example of excess. Of the perennial consumer. But how are we different? We consume as well. The only difference being the consumption is in experiences instead of tangible things. They both cost money. They both bear an environmental cost. They both create waste. They both seek to move away from the inner discontent.
In that sense, we are all consumers. Just of a different variety. A hippie on the road, backpack on his back, looking to find himself. Is no different than the yuppie on the couch, remote in his hand, looking to numb himself.
Continued in The Fisherman-II : Creation…
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