[sparkygoblue]

This may be one of the most self-absorbed, egotistical, and subtly offensive things I've seen posted on HN.

Here's something to think about: Being connected with your fellow man has nothing to do with how much money you make or putting arbitrary limits on yourself. If you think limiting your income and taking away "luxuries" in your life is going to somehow change your connections with humanity, you have no sense of what connecting with the common human even entails.

It sounds to me like you're very out of touch with humanity, and that has nothing to do with money IMO.

[mdlm]

What does connecting with humans entail?

[sparkygoblue]

The answers to this are on a person by person basis, but I know it doesn't have anything to do with middle class poverty or a single man living like an "average" family of four.

[mdlm]

Here is what I think connecting with others means: I connect with someone when, in my heart and mind, I understand their needs and feelings.

If my everyday experience is different from a person's daily experience, my ability to connect with them decreases radically. For example, I have great difficulty connecting with people who do not read.

So, as I imagined spending 10x what I was spending before on myself, I realized that I would lose my ability to connect with a huge number of human beings. Hence, the vow.

[sparkygoblue]

Your definition of connecting with others would be close to mine as well, however, I think I could accomplish those things no matter what my everyday experience was or how much money I had in the bank.