“Slavery dwells beneath marble and gold.” | Seneca

This is Life:

I remember one afternoon lying on a beach in Albufeira with my Irish mate Paul. The suns warmth made my body slip into deep relaxation. I closed my eyes. I could hear the gentle ripples of the sea and the sporadic voices of people relaxing and having fun. This was many years ago in my youth, I can, however, remember it clearly. I also remember the welcome escudo notes that gently drifted about us and into our reach as we swam underwater (we fed and drank well that day). I thought this is life: this is what it is all about.

Vagabond existence:

Of course, back then, I did not have the responsibilities of fatherhood which has its implications. Nevertheless, this is the period in my life where I felt most free. I had been in Portugal for over a year. One day arriving by train in Albufeira, I had only £12 in escudos to my name. Everything I possessed I carried in my backpack. I had a passport but no way of funding my return to England (if I needed to return). You could say I was leading a vagabond existence.

Nevertheless, I had supreme confidence that left me free from worries about the what-ifs. I knew with an unshakable belief that all would work out well. I faced challenges, went hungry and thirsty for a period, but as though fate played out: all fell into place, and I enjoyed a time of great friends, happiness and freedom.

Freedom Lies in Few Wants:

The quote from the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger is often thought to be a criticism of the slavery that underpinned Roman society. However, it points to a similar quote from Epictetus, another philosopher and former slave, “Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”.

Over ten years after my vagabond existence, I had the colossal responsibility of two young children. With a mortgage, credit cards bills, and many wants, I worked shifts in a job that made me brain dead. I was, for all intents and purposes, a slave to the system. Now don’t get me wrong, there are prerequisites that children need. In becoming a father, you automatically assume a financial responsibility. If that means working a job you hate, then that is an honourable thing to do. But not forever!

Before we know it, in the chase for the accumulation of stuff and status: our freedom has gone. Before we know it, the kids have grown up, and we’ve missed it all! Freedom is a rare asset, yet our everyday decisions often discount that fact. Many believe that wealth is true freedom, but in itself, it is not. It brings extra commitments, which drain your valuable time and curtail your options. Why the wise, wealthy elite, look to trade money for time.

Debt Trap:

In an age in which we can buy on credit and are tracked by clever marketing 24/7, we are, soon, trapped in the monetary system of slavery. We are then no longer the master of our lives.

“For men in a state of freedom had thatch for their shelter, while slavery dwells beneath marble and gold.”. How people live their lives is up to them. Nevertheless, the chase for the “marble and gold” points to more financial and time commitments. Family, friends and stuff we enjoy doing soon fade into the distance.

Epictetus tell us: “Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants”. The less money we need, the more freedom we have. Only after a business failure did I learn this lesson of Epictetus. I understood that time was not recoverable; and that all these effects I had accumulated: I didn’t need and only weighed me down.

Less wants, this was a big lesson for me in the pursuit of a LifeStyle Untethered. In truth, the less we possess, the more we own ourselves.