Zen Pencils by Gavin Aung Than for March 14, 2016

:D

Hogwash. If materialism is given up, we’d all still be living in caves, scratching lice and trying very hard to survive. APJ forgets that without materialism, we’d be without vaccines, printing, schools, etc. He’d have to get a job stewing yak testicles or something and forego being a poet and a dreamer. Materialism in others ALLOWS him to do what he wants right now. Without the materialistic, he’d be just another poor peasant trying to scratch a meager living out of the world. Hippies and those like them all talk love and peace and such, but without someone to support them, they have to go feral pretty quick and they turn into rapacious capitalists, just like John Lennon.

I see that you completely miss the point

The endless cycle of modern materialism: Snatch to hoard, and hoard to snatch. The substitution of Affluence for Liberty.

I would not wish a comic strip to try to express my way in a small space and do it justice. It is easy to read today’s strip as advocating rejection of all worldly goods. But if we interpret it in light of Zen practice, as we should if we are to make any use at all of this strip, it simply rejects the extreme of devoting oneself to a goal of gaining more and more material wealth and sacrificing genuine life for it. Moderation. That’s Zen. Neither the vain indulgence of seeking physical misery nor the foolish pursuit of more then one needs. One’s needs can be adjusted and must be adjusted to something that can be attained through living the life truly appropriate to the individual. The balance of need and have is the middle way. Not everything that can be attained need be attained. And the goals themselves are the only real sins.

Bravo, Gavin and APJ Abdul Kalam! I think there is a happy medium between urgent pursuit of monetary gain, and possessions, and a Ghandi-like or Jesus-like rejection of the whole dance. For instance, a successful entrepneneur these days often has a website, a Twitter account, maybe a blog, and hard copies as well as electronic products available, for established prices, and maybe a book for sale….. so would I rather be a noble, innocent, ascetic (Tarzan archetype) - or a neurotic, rich, very conflicted Tony Stark (Ironman) archetype? I think there’s a happy medium. I’m sure Tony Stark could afford the very best psychiatrists in town — and Tarzan might have a really difficult time getting quality medical care, were he to get a compound fracture from a bad landing…. But I digress. Thank you again, Gavin and Mr / Ms Kalim for sharing these important issues and upleveling the genre of the comic strip!! :-D.

PS in sharing this strip on my Facebook page, via another website (not GoComics) I learned who APJ Abdul Kalami was. Please forgive this naive American. Perhaps I am closer to the innocent Tarzan archetype than I thought! We are all innocent about something in this vast world. Have a wonderful day!

Lately, authoritarianism seems to be making a comeback…

Interesting comments. Pointless, but interesting.

Send this strip to Trump—and every CEO,CFO, ETC. you can think of.

What is the old expression, “He who has the most toys when he dies, wins!” As Tolstoy pointed out in his short story, “How Much Land Does A Man Need?”—the answer: six feet.

Neither extreme is good. Lovers of materialism and money lose their humanity. Deniers of money live in caves or are homeless. Money can get things done. Provide for family and get an education. Be BALANCED

Rejecting everything others advise is the opposite of independence. And the illustrations on this page seem to be advocating anarchy rather than freedom..I’m especially suspicious of the final frame. Looks very much like Calvin heading for a crippling crash. (Looks like Hobbes has already had the sense to bail.)

I feel the quote is being taken out of context.

I’m not sure how much this quote means to people of other countries, but as an Indian who just got out of college, I completely agree with it.

Our parents force us to study and then without fail force us to choose a profession from either Medicine, Engineering or Law. Nothing else. They say the only way to earn money is these three professions. Scientists are frowned upon as they dont earn a butt-load of money.

I graduated from an elite engineering institute and while I was lucky to know that I wanted to be an engineer pretty early, I saw many of my friends disillusioned with it. They wanted to be painters, artist, designers. A lot of them went on to become exactly that. But most got stuck in a rut.