Howdy,
Carrying on from my previous post - Life is for Living.
I wholeheartedly believe that "Life is for Living" and agree with the gist of my previous post.
- Life is for living!
- Life is not for:
- Worrying about bollocks!
- Sitting on trifles!
- Dwelling on bullshit!
Yet I find myself at 19:30 on a Wednesday, sat staring at my work laptop screen (I was working before I started writing this, but stopped to write this post.) And it got me thinking how crazy this life is. I don't doubt for a moment that computers are not good for my health. I am not far off 50 now, and I can feel my sight going. I can't focus on things as well as I used to. I can only read my phone close or far away (because one eye is short sighted the other medium ... alas I am not long sighted anymore.) When you start to feel your faculties failing (I know I am still super lucky compared to many) then it does make you really consider your life.
Q: Is work really worth the toll it puts on your body?
Q: Is it crazy that I know my sight is getting poorer, and poorer because my work involves a lot of staring at computer screens, that I don't give up on work or change work?
Q: How many more years of usable sight do I have left? (many old people - like my mother - lose the ability to read and see any much of anything)
Q: What is more valuable, work or health?
And this is why I think life is crazy as hell. Health is clearly more valuable than any work I do, yet why is it so hard for me to give up work!? Always need money money money.
I'm not a socialist but part of me likes the idea of a society where you don't have to do debilitating work (debilitating to your health) just to earn money to survive. If AI and robotics really level up, it is easy to dream of a world where humans only work on things they love - perhaps science, research, poetry, personal projects, improving the life of their fellow humans, arts, any full-fulling endeavour - but I know from past experience, any benefits of technology only go to the rich, the majority will be forced to work in some way to sustain their existence.
To quote:
“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society
Life is crazy.
Q: Why work if it is not good for your health?
Q: Why work if it is debilitating?
Q: Why work if you're not living, you're just surviving?
Q: Why work if you're not making your future better?
And the final question maybe explains why we work. We work because we think we're making our future better. But what if we're not!? What if we're simply wasting time until we die!? What if we're pulling the grim reaper further and further forward in time!?
I've always thought a simple life is best and I am keen to simplify my life more. How much do you really need to live comfortably and happy!?
So many questions ...
Life if Crazy as Hell!
