MOAB, Utah -- Daniel Suelo gets the same question, all the time.
"Why?"
The 48-year-old kneels in front of the desert cave he calls home, sips cedar tea from a chipped mug and explains, again, why he has intentionally lived the last nine years without using money.
It's instinctual to live without money; it's the way we were born, he says. It's political. The addiction to money fuels corruption, he says, and he refuses to support a corrupt system. There's also a spiritual basis for his life, a philosophical framework.
"The understanding that, really, we all possess nothing is the cornerstone of all spiritual endeavors and religions," he says.
And there are health reasons. Suelo, who was born with the last name Shellabarger, is unfettered with worries about a mortgage or bills or income. Tanned with a mop of gray locks framing his Buddy Holly glasses, he is a picture of contentment, his lithe frame stretched in the fall sun amid prickly pear cactus and red rock.
"I think taking things as they come naturally is the key to good health," he says.
