"The Man Who Quit Money" by Mark Sundeen

Finished a few days ago reading The Man Who Quit Money and found it a thought-provoking book. It's written by Mark Sundeen and a biography of Daniel Suelo, an old acquittance of Sundeen's who lives in Moab, Utah and hasn't earned or spent any money since 2000.



I learned of the book after reading Sundeen's ridiculously captivating piece "Why Noah Went to the Woods" for Outside Magazine and unfortunately missed seeing Sundeen (along with Suelo) at a recent book signing here in the Bay Area (and he's since moved on to my old college towns of Eugene and Bellingham).

The book itself moved quickly in telling Suelo's life story up to now and had a number of things in it that stood out as interesting both on their own and in common with ideas from other solid books I've read.

Suelo is someone who at many points of his life prior to quitting money dealt with depression and struggled to find his place in the world. As such, this seemingly dramatic life decision was simply one that made sense to him within his interpretation of the world and how he wanted to live. A refrain that comes up repeatedly in the book is that he’s happy living in the immediate and as complete free will doesn't exist (we all die eventually), this is his way of having what free will he can. A concept I kept thinking of while reading was his living way outside of the norm echoed an idea from Tim Ferriss in his book The 4-Hour Workweek (which I reviewed earlier this week). Concept from Ferriss was a good way to make big life changes is to think in terms of worst case scenarios… and if the worst case scenario isn’t that cataclysmic (and it’s usually not), then maybe the big change should be moved forward with.

Also of interest to me from Suelo was his relationship with his community, his family and religion. One knee jerk response to the notion of a guy living without money would be that he must be a hermit, someone estranged from the outside world and especially those he grew up with. Reality of his life is this could hardly be further from the truth. He’s very community oriented and has a close relationship with his parents and siblings. Suelo has an appreciation of how we was raised and the decision to step away from money based on his beliefs is not entirely dissimilar to decisions his parents have made based on their principles.

One aspect of his relationship with his parents is religion, something also important overall in Suelo’s life overall. He was raised a fundamentalist Christian and it’s interesting reading in the book about his struggle in college and early adulthood to figure out whether religion would play the same front and center role in his life that it has for his parents. Suelo went to India to study eastern religions and while there found a reconnection with the beliefs of his parents and teachings of Christianity, but not necessarily with the leadership of organized Christian religion. Additionally, he talks in the book of wanting to live like Jesus and (closely related to this) there’s the notion of living as if heaven was not simply a pearly gate after-death finish line, but a place to live in here on earth. It’s an interesting idea that echoes almost exactly one expressed by Rob Bell in his book Love Wins (which I wrote about a year ago).

Last thing to mention that stood out from the book was something that helped drive Suelo to his life change decision, the concept of money and debt. Going back to the Ferriss book, he wrote in there of how he avoids investments over which he has no control (pretty much the entire stock market for most everyone) and Suelo takes this a step further in the Sundeen book to talk about the illusion of wealth and its negative consequences. This idea around money being the basis of debt and obligation is definitely an interesting one and whether or not the system one day collapses (as some predict), there’s something to the idea (from Suelo and many others) that there’s more compelling and meaningful drivers of behavior than money.

"Love Wins" by Rob Bell

Recently finished reading Love Wins by Evangelical Pastor Rob Bell.



Interesting book that I first heard about from the Time Magazine cover story “Is Hell Dead” (and then wrote about in this blog post).

There’s no unequivocal answers that come out of Bell’s work, but it's thought provoking on the questions and subjects covered... with those below being the main things I felt Bell was addressing.

Is it a God of inclusion or exclusion?

Both in the beginning and later in the book, Bell questions the conversion to Christianity story as it’s commonly thought of. Specifically the notion that if people don’t repent their sins and accept Christ, it’s over for them… off to a lifetime in Hell after death. Basic question he raises is whether a benevolent God would exclude so many people just… because.

The "love wins" notion is that God has a purpose and doesn't give up, to the point of granting virtually endless chances to live a Godly life, even after death as we know it. Basically, a story of inclusion for those that want it, not a story of exclusion by God based on a time space continuum.

Where are this Heaven and Hell and is the point to just reach the first place?

The idea is put forth by Bell of Heaven as a place on earth (no, not like the song) and entering into this state of living here and now for people who accept Christ. Rather than the acceptance being a free pass for after death, two phrases from Bell are "dragging the future into the present" and "living in this age and the age to come."

In terms of Hell as a place, Bell notes that there’s no mention of it in the Old Testament and New Testament mentions could easily be interpreted as referring to a Hell on earth type of living by those who reject a righteous life.

Additionally, Bell relates the story of two sons, one who strayed from his family and returned to an embrace in spite of his wrongdoings and one who stated and was resentful of not being rewarded for his good behavior. The reason for inclusion of this story seems to be to illustrated the concept of God's love always being there waiting for people, and them having the choice to accept it at any point. Bell also uses the phrase "we shape our God and our God shapes us" in the telling of this father and two sons story.

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Bell had very interesting content in the book, but (while he perhaps limited the scope of the book by design) I wish that he had touched more on a couple of different areas...

Moral living or Christian living?

One could almost take what Bell wrote about view it through the lens of morality rather than Christianity. However, I believe it was C.S. Lewis who wrote about God as the basis of morality… with the concept being that if righteous living didn’t come from a higher power, where would it had come from at all? In short, actions by people show what God's love looks like.

What comes after death?

Bell just doesn't get into it other than reference to a series of endless chances to come to God. I don't know if that's a case for reincarnation (and none of us including Bell know for sure what comes), but I did find myself unclear about the author's beliefs on the subject other than his brief mention of multiple dimensions in relation to God.

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All in all, I thought it a interesting book that also made me want to learn more about what Bell says through his Mars Hill Bible Church... and read more C.S. Lewis (who Bell notes being impacted by) for that matter.

Time Magazine Cover Stories: David Von Drehle on the Civil War & Jon Meacham on Pastor Rob Bell

Each of the past two Time Magazine issues featured cover stories which stood out as having really interesting content.

From the Apr 18 issue, David Von Drehle penned "150 Years After Fort Sumter: Why We're Still Fighting the Civil War".



Von Drehle is an excellent writer who I've linked to a number of times on this blog and in this story he investigates what caused the conflict leaving 625,000 Americans dead. Specifically, what he looks at and debunks is the notion (which I've heard before) that the Civil War was about something other than slavery.

It's a fascinating read for anyone interested in history... specifically the actually happened kind of history rather than revisionist looking view subscribed to by some (in this case for the purpose of aggrandizement of the Southern states who were fighting for the perpetuation of slavery).

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From this week's (Apr 25) edition of Time came the cover piece "Is Hell Dead?" by Pulitzer Prize winning author Jon Meacham.



Basis for the story is Evangelical Pastor Rob Bell and his recently written Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived (a heavy-sounding title to be sure).

Bell blends solid evangelical credentials (in the form of a 7,000 person congregation at Mars Hill Bible Church about 3 hours outside both Chicago and Detroit) with strong youth following (in part because he's just 40 and started Mars Hill at 28).

What inspired the Time cover story, though, is the idea put forth in Bell's book. In short, he questions the existence of Hell as a place long described in Christianity and wonders instead if the intent of God isn't instead to bring everyone into a place in Heaven. It's a bold idea that for those who take stock in it, changes much current dogma about what it means to become a Christian.

A really interesting idea... and one being put forth by someone deeply within the Christian community that's having a principle tenant of it's belief questioned.