Working Less

For me, much of what I do is a distraction from the pain and stress of work, and not the other way around.

Once you stop working, there will be no stress, thus no pent up energy, thus no need for distraction.

K: well aren’t we special… trust fund baby, well, that would explain a whole lot about you…

Kropotkin

I am an ex-workaholic fyi.

Truth is more important than desires.
Work is about desire . . . for material security.
I’d rather die penniless knowing that was my destiny, my real life, than live a no-life of a slave who’s controlled by his desires because he’s unconditionally clinging onto them.

First i have heard this, yet, makes a lot of sense

Exactly.
Life itself is fine, or at least alright, mainly, work is the problem.

Mhm, we can be a slave to our desires.

I disagree. There are many more problems than work. Lack of peers is one. Perhaps the biggest one.

There are other problems, but excessive work is one of the major ones, in my estimation.

Heard this argument for decades, and how a workers paradise can solve this problem. Yes, under Communism there was no homelessness, unemployment, there was guaranteed health care and education for free, there was comeradeship among the proletariat, yet, it failed. Wonder why?

On top of the above, work was no pressure, you practically had to rob your employer to get fired, and yet that system failed. I wonder why?

Greed

I never said anything about communism.
You can be a minimalist in a capitalist society to some extent.
Also communism is a very diverse economic philosophy, there’s many ways to do it, and degrees.

If you’re a simple organism, with few needs, then yes.
However, if you’re a complex organism, with great number of needs, then no.

Working less won’t resolve much, indeed it’s only going to reduce unnecessary build up of energy and subsequent need to release it, because it will bring to your attention other needs and make you depressed once you understand that we are living in the age of decadence and that these needs will most likely never be met.

This is why I say . . . keep working.
I say this to people who want to run away and hide from reality.
The more you work, the less you see, the less you worry.
It’s a well known fact . . . people would rather harm themselves than listen to their thoughts.

There are simpletons everywhere who do nothing but work.
It’s all work for them.
Nothing else.

work sucks…why spend your life doing things you don’t want to do, for money you probably don’t need… i’m not married, don’t have children nor do i have a mortgage…so why should i work as much as somebody who has all those things and needs to support them…if you wanted them, then support them and work…but there aint no way you’re turning all those work hours into a fucking standard for everybody else…

Pointless money vs time. Time wins everytime, it’s precious…

I am also financially secure for life and currently maintain low living costs…

exercising, reading books, watching movies, playing world of warcraft with aaron, and painting is way more important…

Work is a great form of obedient civil service in the global plantation if you can find some in what is otherwise comprised of global economic instability (Huge swathes of the unemployed or unemployable). Laughs

Yea, it’s an unfortunate state of affairs, that the economy is rigged in such a way, so that the working/‘middle class’ (if there is such a thing anymore) must work very hard producing luxuries almost exclusively for those who produce little-nothing for no one, just so they can afford necessities for themselves and their families, but hey, they throw us an iphone or a video game everyone once in a while, so it’s all good.

“Low right now” can change on a dime.
Balance is the name of the game.
You decide to work less now and when life turns around and bites you “you know where” you won’t have much time to enjoy all of the above ~~ you will be too preoccupied, too snowed under, to enjoy those things. You will ask yourself: "Why, oh why, didn’t I learn the lesson which the squirrels try to teach me.

Observe the squirrels!!!
Try for a happy medium.
Swim somewhere between the stoic and the epicurean.

While moderation is generally good advice, I think I’m going to do as little as possible for now.
I’m pretty resourceful, I think I’ll be able to handle whatever comes up.
I’m a minimalist, I can get by with very little.
Maybe when I’m in my late 30s or early 40s I’ll think about my financial future more, right now I’ve got other priorities.

Agreed, unless you have those things or want them, and not everybody does, increasingly fewer people do, you don’t owe anyone anything, just work as much as you need to, or feel like, and then spend the remainder of your energies on whatever you’re passionate about, or interested in.