Pauper in a landscape

Some years ago, I got into an argument with a chap about money and happiness. I had said that one of the things I most need, and that most makes me happy, is walking in my local area and having a big vista to admire. He told me that I was making a virtue of necessity, that I walked because I was too poor to have any other hobbies and that if I had any money, my priorities would change and I would start valuing all the things he considered it worth valuing. All the things you can spend a lot of money on.

It is true that at that time, I was sorely financially restricted. I also had little scope for getting places, minimal access to public transport, I was a tad socially isolated and I was suffering from anxiety to a degree that did not incline me to spend a lot of time around people anyway.

Here we are, some years on. I have access to buses, trains and taxis, cinema, live music, art, theatre, people. As I���m no longer spending everything I have and more on solicitors, I have a lot more scope to spend money on things for me. I���m less anxious than I was, I no longer get so stressed dealing with people. It would be fair to say that I go out more often, buy more books, and have a lot more options.

All of this was very much on my mind this week. I was sat on a rock, in a wood, drinking tea out of a thermos and eating biscuits, and talking with Tom about all manner of things. We���ve been busy a lot lately, mostly me with work, but we hadn���t taken time out to do anything just the two of us in a while. Having allocated some time, what we chose to do with it was walk part of the Cotswold Way, carrying a thermos of tea and some biscuits. Very much as we used to when we didn���t have as many options. We didn���t get much of a view because the Severn flood plain was full of mist, but we did see some pigs, and a lot of flowers, and the light was amazing.

Given the choice, I���ll be in the woods and over the hills, or down through the valleys following the streams. I���ll be where the wild birds are, away from the traffic. I���ll be sat on a rock somewhere, looking at the sky and drinking tea. Not as an act of making the best of it. Not because if I could afford to, I���d do something else. This is what I choose. Maybe just with Tom, maybe with other people who share the same inclinations.

In some ways, money and success are a greater test of your values than poverty, for most spiritually minded people. Most religions are all about making a virtue of necessity, from a certain perspective. Greener living is all about consuming less. However, money creates temptations to own, to hop in a plane, to buy a car, to get involved with what everyone else seems to find happy-making.

There is so little I want for myself. Time in the hills, with the sky and the views, a flask of tea, and good company. I can get by without a lot of things, but not this. No amount of money is going to persuade me otherwise.