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You know, I heard a saying that when an individual realizes life is meaningless, that individual either commits suicide or travels. And I can't think of much that I enjoy more than traveling. In fact, I bought a fuel efficient car just so I could travel more.
I'm with you on the comfort as well. But the comfort has to outweigh the amount of work performed for comfort to be worthwhile. Some jobs do come with a certain degree of personal satisfaction as well. A job well done is something anyone can feel proud of.
I'm not really as morbid as my topic post might lead you to believe, just thought it could be an interesting discussion.
Commit suicide or travel! LOL! The travel part gave me a chuckle! Well, I assume from your post that you don't have faith in God or an afterlife. I do and that confers a lot of meaning to life right there. But I've considered this before... I think if I were an atheist, I would say that the love we share with others gives life meaning.
As far as materialistic pursuit, yeah, I hear ya, but as has already been observed, some things you enjoy might make it worth it to you to work more, but yes, you would have to want it badly enough for the work trade-off to be worthwhile.
The system needs brain dead peasants to pay taxes... I used to be one of them, untill AIG screwed me out of back surgery, because i wasn't worth the cost, from a On the Job Related Crushing.
These days I do as little as possible to earn what is called money. I get just enough of that to get by.
I raise my own foods, spend time learning new skills, and mind most of my bee's wax mainly, Travel to where i want on a motorcycle.
Some fortunate people actually enjoy what they do for a living and don't see it as a waste of time.
If you only make crappy wages all your life then when you hit retirement age you'll be too poor to enjoy yourself. It's true you might die the day you retire, or you might live 40 more years. I personally find retirement the most enjoyable time of my life and with good planning have the resources to do what I enjoy - travel the world. If I hadn't planned ahead I'd be living in some dump eating catfood.
OK, maybe that's not the best way of asking it. But to me, I cannot really see the point of working more than the bare minimum for subsistence. As they say, you can't take it with you. Life is limited, there is a finite number of hours to our existence. So why waste hours of your life (hours you can never get back) working for a bunch of useless stuff?
Why not instead live a minimalist existence? Ensure that basic necessities of food, clothing, and shelter are taken care of, and maybe take on more work temporarily if there is some thing that really is that important to you.
After all, 100 years from now, every one of us will likely be no more than a memory. A rotting, decaying corpse planted 6 feet underground, eaten by worms.
Well, that's my morbid thought for the day. Is life really worth anything?
Sounds reasonable to me. I'm a bit taken aback, however, that you've plagiarized my heretical philosophy. Tired of the hamster wheel are you?
At one time, that's all the typical man did worry about (basic necessities and a reasonably comfortable living). These days, though, we've got that whole social programming thing going on. Bigger is always better. Look at what people are living in and what they drive. And what they order at Jack in the Box.
OK, maybe that's not the best way of asking it. But to me, I cannot really see the point of working more than the bare minimum for subsistence. As they say, you can't take it with you. Life is limited, there is a finite number of hours to our existence. So why waste hours of your life (hours you can never get back) working for a bunch of useless stuff?
Why not instead live a minimalist existence? Ensure that basic necessities of food, clothing, and shelter are taken care of, and maybe take on more work temporarily if there is some thing that really is that important to you.
After all, 100 years from now, every one of us will likely be no more than a memory. A rotting, decaying corpse planted 6 feet underground, eaten by worms.
Well, that's my morbid thought for the day. Is life really worth anything?
OR... You got the amazing chance to exist as a sentient being for almost a century of time who is capable of learning and understanding the mysteries of the universe. Why waste the opportunity?
It is Spring. Get out see the beauty as the land re-awakens from winter.
One can choose to go through life as Eeyore and see the glass perpetually half-empty or as one who sees the glass half-full. Your choice. But, no one gets out of this life without dying first. Might as well enjoy the ride.
You hit the nail on the head. Depending on what society deems your time is worth per hour, some things can be worth it or not.
When I see something that I want (not need), I often take the dollar amount and divide by my hourly wage to figure out how many hours of my life I would have to give up in order to buy it. Many times, I figure it is not worth it.
It's the same reason I don't speed on the road. Work 40 hours to pay a speeding ticket, to shave 5 minutes off a commute. The trade is not equivalent. It is not worth it.
I kind of agree with you, it's obviously a very individual think though.
For instance I think speeding is worth it, because I save maybe 10-15 minutes, and the chances of being caught are slim 6 years of driving, and I have one ticket, essentially I've paid $185 a year for my speeding (The ticket was $1100), that's a bit under 7 work hours to pay. And I'm more than willing to work 7 hours a year for the collective time I save.
That said, there's also a lot of other things I want, and that I'm willing to work for, but I absolutely agree with you, my choice in education is partially based on the fact that I'll make enough to comfortably live with the things I want while still working less than average.
Certain things I want, and like, those are my interests, and I don't mind paying for it, nor working to pay for it. Other things are completely pointless and you won't see me buying it nor working for it, whatever some might want me to do.
OK, maybe that's not the best way of asking it. But to me, I cannot really see the point of working more than the bare minimum for subsistence. As they say, you can't take it with you. Life is limited, there is a finite number of hours to our existence. So why waste hours of your life (hours you can never get back) working for a bunch of useless stuff?
Why not instead live a minimalist existence? Ensure that basic necessities of food, clothing, and shelter are taken care of, and maybe take on more work temporarily if there is some thing that really is that important to you.
After all, 100 years from now, every one of us will likely be no more than a memory. A rotting, decaying corpse planted 6 feet underground, eaten by worms.
Well, that's my morbid thought for the day. Is life really worth anything?
Nope. Perhaps you should try killing yourself? See those walls around you? You can start by banging your head against them as hard you can.
I mean, the minimilistic existence sucks anyways, so why bother living at all?
But before you kill yourself, do this:
1) sell all that you got
2) go to a casino
3) put all the money on black
50/50
if you win - nice
if you lose - well, you ain't got much to lose, do you?
At least you'll go out free of all those parasitic posessions
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Well, I assume from your post that you don't have faith in God or an afterlife. I do and that confers a lot of meaning to life right there. But I've considered this before...
I think if I were an atheist, I would say that the love we share with others gives life meaning.
