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| When a person has the ability to provide themselves with the necessities of life it is accompanied by a deep peace of mind. This peace of mind allows a person to do a lot of healthy things in order to better their lives, the lives of others as well as the world around them. Anxiety, on the other hand, can cause a person to do a lot of unhealthy things to themselves and others while worsening the world around them. Anxiety is a feeling that a lot of people have grown accustomed to. They've lived with it for so long that they barely notice it's there anymore. However, the symptoms in a person's actions created by this underlying anxiety can still be very apparent regardless if the person, or anyone else, makes a connection between their behavior and the cause. A lot of times, when a person doesn't recognize that an underlying anxiety is causing them to feel or act a certain way, they will point to other sources as the reason which they will then try to justify, change or control. How a person meets their basic needs or doesn't can be a major cause of this type of anxiety. Food does not come from the grocery store, water does not come from a faucet and houses don't magically appear on your realtor's website. When most of us were children, it was instilled in us that all we needed in order to be successful in life was to make enough money to provide for ourselves and our loved ones. As long as we made enough money, we could buy food, water and shelter. There's only one problem with this belief. Food, water and shelter are real. Money isn't. Food, water and shelter don't magically come from nowhere. They are provided. All too often, they are provided by someone else. The day we allowed someone else to provide these necessities for us is the day we gave up our independence, along with a deep sense of peace of mind. The reason most people have never realized this obvious fact is because we were taught as children that this was how the world works and we're naturually wired to trust those older than us when we are young so we never questioned any of this, not to mention that someone had told them the same thing when they were young. If our minds are taught something, especially, at an early age, it becomes second nature. However, true nature doesn't work like this. You can't have peace of mind if someone else controls the distribution of your necessities. If you never realize this, they can end up controlling a lot more, like your entire life. It's a nice feeling when you get another paycheck in your bank account and you know that you'll be able to pay your bills for the month, but the feeling of having a bank account full of money compared to having a field full of fruits, vegetables or livestock might be similar to some people, but they are far from the same. Having an abundance of money and having an abundance of food, both, give a person a feeling of security, but the difference is in how these forms of security are acquired. One can be easily manipulated by someone, or something, else while the other is provided directly by the person who has done the work with no "middle-man" involved and that is when a person will realize that the seemingly subtle difference between this two forms of security are very great. "Why do I need to grow my own food when I can just drive to the store and buy it?" Convenience is king in the mind-made world. For a lot of people, the difference is something that they can live with while the world keeps on spinning. However, the earth is what's spinning. This mind-made world was created though long before any of us were born so many of us never thought to question it. We're, now, simply seeing that this lie is no longer sustainable. We are products of our environment like a sheep dog that is raised with a flock a sheep. The truth is for those who can't live with the difference between true peace of mind and the appearance of security accompanied by a lack of independence, not because they don't trust the system or "the powers that be", but because they see the simple wisdom in wanting to build a life for themselves and their loved ones. Some people look at how messed up the world is and throw up their hands and say "That's just the way it is" because they believe nothing can be done to change it, but human-made circumstances can't block out the truth. The truth is undeniable and it's the only thing in life that there's no getting around. It just comes down to a matter of accepting the truth over accepting something that we were told by others who were dependent on an unsustainable system when we weren't old enough to think for ourselves. People seeking the truth don't need to be convinced of the truth by anyone else other than their own hearts. They simply accept it and adjust their lives accordingly. The point of this chapter isn't to convince everyone to run out and become farmers, though a few may decide to. The point is to identify the source of your anxiety. We, all, get anxious about lots of different things, but the more we understand why this is happening the better we can improve our reaction to it along with our lives. The anxiety that comes from having no control of our basic necessities regardless of how much money we may have is a blind spot in many of our lives. Having someone else control our necessities is a major source of stress even if we've never realized it. Just because we've thought a certain way for a very long time doesn't make it any more true or right. Every human being has the same set of necessities, food, water and shelter and they are indisputable. When it comes to true happiness, there is a fourth necessity, but, right now, we're just discussing the basics because, unfortunately, a person can live without being truly happy, but they can't live without the first three. There's no such thing as a magic place. Food doesn't mean driving to the store and picking it up off a shelf. Warmth doesn't mean turning up a thermostat on the wall, no matter how used to these habits we've become. Buying and providing are not the same things. Being dependent on money is being dependent on an unseen source of anxiety. No matter how much money you have, you will never rid yourself of this unsettled feeling that you need more. This is the cause of our insatiable consumer society. Buying more ways to distract ourselves from this anxiety is not a solution. It is the problem. A person who provides for themself has no need to distract themself from anything. They want to be here and now because everything they need and want is all around them. Peace of mind is very grounding and food comes from the ground. Go figure.
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