Stone Soup

Tonight I went to a soup party. The idea comes from the story of Stone Soup:

Some travelers come to a village, carrying nothing more than an empty cooking pot. Upon their arrival, the villagers are unwilling to share any of their food stores with the hungry travelers. Then the travelers go to a stream and fill the pot with water, drop a large stone in it, and place it over a fire. One of the villagers becomes curious and asks what they are doing. The travelers answer that they are making "stone soup", which tastes wonderful, although it still needs a little bit of garnish to improve the flavor, which they are missing. The villager does not mind parting with a few carrots to help them out, so that gets added to the soup. Another villager walks by, inquiring about the pot, and the travelers again mention their stone soup which has not reached its full potential yet. The villager hands them a little bit of seasoning to help them out. More and more villagers walk by, each adding another ingredient. Finally, a delicious and nourishing pot of soup is enjoyed by all.

Just like in the story, a couple months back, a girl, Katie, knocked on my door asking for ingredients for soup.  I was not home at the time, but my roommates gave her some garlic and in exchange, Katie invited us over for soup the following Sunday. All you had to do was bring a bowl, a spoon, and an appetite.  Of course, something so random, I had to check out. To my delight, I find out that Katie, is a lot like the travelers mentioned in the Stone Soup story, she is the youngest American female to run across the U.S and meets people from all over the nation.  She connects people in her network through running and soup; how simple.  Katie is a nomad, in and out of Austin, and lives in a similar manner camping out in someone’s backyard.  She has a tent for her bed and a tent with a couch and a desk.  She has no chores or adult responsibilities other than her passions. 

Today I spent my entire day cleaning my house.  Think of how much of that energy would have been better spent in other ways.  Tonight I met a friend of Katie’s that she met during one of her running excursions. He met Katie through Craigslist rideshare, which is how he makes his living.  He is from Portland and drove to Austin on $5 by using vegetable oil from restaurants to run his car.   Katie had mentioned how amazing Austin was, so he just drove here, pulling a trailer where he sleeps, and doesn’t plan to find a place to rent either.

Austin has a lot of people in this town who live unconventional lives and lively hoods that I feel really add a great culture and twist to the city.  People are passionate and different here, following dreams and goals that are beyond the social living cycle.  The city and the people encourage me to go after creative outlets and not get sucked into a status quo.

My job provides me the ability to do the things that I love.  I, however, have lost enjoyment, passion and motivation at my job.  It has become a means to an end.  Does that mean I should end my job? My mind is in the clouds at work. I am looking up and researching all the other things I would rather be doing. 

I make money and I circulate that money through our economy. To the average adult, I am an upstanding citizen making a contribution to our society.  Then there are people in my generation who have quit their 9-5ers and are pursuing passions and dreams.  They are trying to make a difference in society through art, spirituality, and community.  Would I be contributing less if I quit my job and joined my fellow peers?  Or more? I would unfortunately be judged by older society for not following in their footsteps and the social cycle.

Does everyone struggle with living as an adult and upstanding citizen status? I don’t want to clean my house; I don’t want to sit at a 9-5 job.  But the way our society is structured makes it necessary, otherwise you are the outcast. A friend wrote “we are distracted from collective unity with paying rent or providing for a family, which are all necessary, but we shouldn’t have to devote 70% of our will power towards them.”  I made goals to learn to hula hoop, sing, run, and to continue to learn to wrap stones… did I do any of that this weekend?  Instead I went to project management school for a career that I am not enjoying and cleaned my house.  Are any of these things satisfying my being?

There isn’t enough time in my life to devote to the things I am passionate about and I am started to think it is how our society is set up.  It is keeping me afraid from breaking out and doing something different, something risky and more daring because of lack of security and future. Why should we wait until we are 65 to retire and finally do the things we want to do, and by this time our bodies and minds are already starting to deteriorate! Our life will pass us by, while we try to creating a nesting egg for our future selves.  

I share an excerpt from a peer whose self-proclaimed purpose is to inspire transformation, peace, hope, and playful bliss boogie down harmony using any and all forms of art, especially music and spoken word.

“At the moment I couch surf with great success and gratitude and I am taken care of by very loving and generous people. It feels like the early stages of the gift economy, where family takes care of family with no questions, no expectations and complete joy and shameless generosity. That being said, in this infantile sprouting there are still traces of the old way, naturally. The fear that a trade or equal exchange is required brings up shame within me as I tip toe against and away from the fragile boundaries in these places of provision that I must be keen to sense and faithful to leave. The ground of reality, is really, completely groundless. No one can stand on impermanence. But we give ourselves the impression that material things are real, reliable, yet 99% of matter is empty space. And what happens in the empty space is the experience of being alive and that’s what I’m after. Deeper and deeper into fears, into uncertainties, closer to oblivion… This monetary system is not serving the good of the whole, and I believe, if we are to move forward to a “life sustaining” society, as Joanna Macy puts it, the old must die, fall, and the new will sprout. I think it’s all happening at once. “

Passion drives me. I must find my balance.