So in order to have free exercise of religion, one must live in poverty with no viable way to make a living?
There are a number of philosophical tracts that argue that. In essence, the more you have... the more you fear losing. And that compels you to act to preserve what you have. Which means that one is not truly free.
---
Some of my personal favorites:
THE USELESS
Hui Tzu said to Chuang Tzu:
"All your teaching is centered on what has no use."
Chuang replied:
"If you have no appreciation for what has no use
You cannot begin to talk about what can be used.
The earth, for example, is broad and vast
But of all this expanse a man uses only a few inches
Upon which he happens to be standing.
Now suppose you suddenly take away
All that he is not actually using
So that, all around his feet a gulf
Yawns, and he stands in the Void,
With nowhere solid except right under each foot:
How long will he be able to use what he is using?"
Hui Tzu said: "It would cease to serve any purpose."
Chuang Tzu concluded:
"This shows
The absolute necessity
Of what has 'no use.' "
THE USELESS TREE
Hui Tzu said to Chuang:
I have a big tree,
The kind they call a "stinktree."
The trunk is so distorted,
So full of knots,
No one can get a straight plank
Out of it. The branches are so crooked
You cannot cut them up
In any way that makes sense.
There it stands beside the road.
No carpenter will even look at it.
Such is your teaching
Big and useless.
Chuang Tzu replied:
Have you ever watched the wildcat
Crouching, watching his prey
This way it leaps, and that way,
High and low, and at last
Lands in the trap.
But have you seen the yak?
Great as a thundercloud
He stands in his might.
Big? Sure,
He can't catch mice!
So for your big tree. No use?
Then plant it in the wasteland
In emptiness.
Walk idly around,
Rest under its shadow;
No axe or bill prepares its end.
No one will ever cut it down.
Useless? You should worry!
THE MARSH PHEASANT
The little marsh pheasant
Must hop ten times
To get a bite of grain.
She must run a hundred steps
Before she takes a sip of water.
Yet she does not ask
To be kept in a hen run
Though she might have all she desired
Set before her.
She would rather run
And seek her own little living
Uncaged.
CONFUCIUS AND THE MADMAN
When Confucius was visiting the state of Chu,
Along came Kieh Yu
The madman of Chu
And sang outside the Master's door:
"0 Phoenix, Phoenix,
Where's your virtue gone?
It cannot reach the future
Or bring the past again!
When the world makes sense
The wise have work to do.
They can only hide
When the world's askew.
Today if you can stay alive
Lucky are you:
Try to survive!
"Joy is feather light
But who can carry it?
Sorrow falls like a landslide
Who can parry it?
"Never, never
Teach virtue more.
You walk in danger,
Beware! Beware!
Even ferns can cut your feetWhen
I walk crazy
I walk right:
But am i a man
To imitate?"
The tree on the mountain height is its own enemy.
The grease that feeds the light devours itself.
The cinnamon tree is edible: so it is cut down!
The lacquer tree is profitable: they maim it.
Every man knows how useful it is to be useful.
No one seems to know
How useful it is to be useless.
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And the one I think sums it up best:
THE TURTLE
Chuang Tzu with his bamboo pole
Was fishing in Pu river.
The Prince of Chu
Sent two vice-chancellors
With a formal document:
"We hereby appoint you
Prime Minister."
Chuang Tzu held his bamboo pole.
Still watching Pu river,
He said:
"I am told there is a sacred tortoise,
Offered and canonized
Three thousand years ago,
Venerated by the prince,
Wrapped in silk,
In a precious shrine
On an altar
In the Temple.
"What do you think:
Is it better to give up one's life
And leave a sacred shell
As an object of cult
In a cloud of incense
Three thousand years,
Or better to live
As a plain turtle
Dragging its tail in the mud?"
"For the turtle," said the Vice-Chancellor,
"Better to live
And drag its tail in the mud!"
"Go home!" said Chuang Tzu.
"Leave me here
To drag my tail in the mud!"
