That's what plenty of people replied to my video Freedom from the future.
"I'm going to empty my bank account!"
"I'm going to buy myself the latest PlayStation!"
"Does the taxman know about this theory?"
Some called me irresponsible.
That's because they didn't see the next video, where I tell everyone to "change nothing right away".
And didn't read my note Don't stop (the path to joy).
Or Your questions about action, goals and karma.
So let me sum up:
If your life is built on the stress of the future, chances are your pleasures are too.
Shopping, consumption, addictions...
None of it usually has anything to do with the joy I talk about so often and tell you to follow.
They're escapes.
When life isn't built on alignment, you have to make an effort all the time.
We justify that effort intellectually by the result:
"You've got to eat."
"You've got to earn a living."
"You can't live without money."
That justification is the keystone.
We don't much like it being questioned, since it's the main reason for all the effort we put in.
But to make up for that effort, you have to let go somewhere.
So we chase those pleasures. To relieve the pressure.
A drink. A cigarette. Buying clothes, games. Holidays.
And it's deeply unpleasant to be told you "should stop", that it's "not necessary", that it's "too expensive".
Precisely because we suffered to get it.
It's the only release valve allowed.
The only distraction in a life where everything is complicated.
So yes: if that's your situation, change nothing.
Don't take away the small pleasures that keep you going.
Don't dismantle the emergency measures you've put in place to survive.
Carry on. All of it.
But alongside that, five minutes a day, explore.
What if there really were a "joy" tied to nothing?
That requires buying nothing, going nowhere?
That you could bring up right here, right now, with no effort?
What would it look like for you?
An answer to that question, even a partial one, will transform you.
And once you're transformed, the changes will come on their own.