This man is my new hero.
Daniel Suelo is 51 years old and completely broke. He’s quit using money and he’s never looked back.
He has no mortgage, no credit card bills, no cell phone bill, no cable bill, no savings account, no checking account, no retirement account, and no debit card.
Suelo’s home is a cave on public land outside Moab, Utah.
In the fall of 2000, Suelo – who changed his name from Shellabarger – completely quit using money. That meant no “conscious barter,” food stamps or other government handouts.
His mission was to “use only what is freely given or discarded and what is already present and already running,” he wrote on his web site, Zero Currency.
He was born into an Evangelical Christian home in Colorado and took his religion seriously.
One day, he began to wonder why “professed Christians rarely followed the teachings of Jesus–namely the Sermon on the Mount, namely giving up possessions, living beyond credit and debt–freely giving and freely taking–giving, expecting nothing in return, forgiving all debts, owing nobody a thing, living beyond payback of either evil-for-evil or good-for-good, living and walking without guilt (debt), without grudge (debt), without judgment (credit & debt), living by Grace, by Gratis, not by our own works but by the works of the true Nature flowing through,” he said.
He soon discovered that the principles applied to other religions – Taoism, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Islam, Mormonism, Shamanism, and even Paganism.
Daniel Suelo eventually began experimenting with the notion of living full-time without money. He took a trip to India and became enthralled with Hindu Sadhus, who wandered the land without possessions.
He thought about joining them right then and there, but then he realized that “a true test of faith would be to return to one of the most materialistic, money-worshipping nations on earth, to return to the authenticity profound principles of spirituality hidden beneath our own religion of hypocrisy, and be a Sadhu there,” he said. “To be a vagabond, a bum, and make an art of it – this idea enchanted me.”
Money is an illusion. Wealth is a dream. Daniel Suelo has reduced life to its simplest form, and he loves every minute of it.
No car to repair, no cable or satellite company to complain about, no iPods, iPhones, or iPads – just life.
Learn more about this incredible man below.
Related articles
- Daniel Suelo, The American Who Quit Money to Live in a Cave (laughingsquid.com)
- Man Gave Up Using Money 12 Years Ago, Lives in Caves of Utah Desert (odditycentral.com)
- The Man Who Quit Money (businesspundit.com)
- The American Who Quit Money To Live In A Cave (amazfacts.com)
