Isn't our cultural view regarding work the start of all our problems? I'm sure that it is. We fail to distinguish between meaningful work and meaningless work. We live the mistaken idea that all work is meaningless. Meaningless work is drudgery. But every bit of healthy tissue in every form of life is designed exactly for an unending, every breath, existence of meaningful work and presumably it is designed to find that the optimal experience. Certainly my own experience is that being engaged in meaningful work, totally devoted myself to that, totally absorbed, is the Supreme Human Experience.
To this a kind soul wrote: I don't know. Is meaningless work drudgery? Doing the dishes is drudgery and so is cleaning the toilet but it must be done. And to do it when no one pays you to is an act of love.
My reply: I only do dishes, and I have done a massive amount of dishes including this morning, I only do dishes when I see it as a way to serve a larger important good. I have chosen to avoid doing any meaningless work, work that I cannot see how it helps others in an important way, I have avoided this at all costs for close to 15 years now. Meaningless work is what almost all of us do to make a living, instead of making life for ourselves and others.
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