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RE: Would you accept a $1 million gift on the condition that you could never be a wage earner again?
I completely agree algo.coder!
I am not even able to add much to this because it highly resonates with my own beliefs. There is, however, one major obstacle one will face when living the life you describe and that is finding a suitable partner. You would have to find a special one who would agree to sacrifice just as much for his/her freedom. My guess is that most people choose security, comfort, living conditions etc. over having autonomy which limits the number of suitable life partners.
The life you describe is not ordinary so you would probably have to live a fairly independent life.
You just put your finger on the weakness of my strategy.
That vision isn't shared by many people, because for them, it's the wage that allows the much-cherished week-end freedom illusion.
For the woman-side of it, it's even more true (not that they're more materialistic but more inclined to stability), especially when thinking about children. Nothing beats the wage system when it comes to financial security (except inheritance) and that's the beauty of the system. Enclosing you while making you think you just liberated yourself. Allowing you to become parent because you're financially stable, when parenting is all about transmitting values, morals and convictions. A child doesn't care about money (assuming he isn't dying of hunger), it cares about love, attention and thriving in a knowledge-rich environment.
And our vision of freedom has been so distorted that people can't even enjoy real freedom anymore. Freedom is now the possibility to buy whatever the hell you want, and not living accordingly to what you think your life should be.
If you look at reactions when people get a working contract, they're happy. They just put chains on their feet but they're doing it while laughing.
Disclaimer : I'm French by the way, so that can influence my point of view.
And I'm far from being free as I described it...
I concur.
It is easy to view this as the enlightened vs. the blind, but I would hesitate to reach that conclusion. I am (we all are) very biased towards my own beliefs which again are based on traits learned / born with.
If I was more risk averse in nature I would probably find employment much more desirable. If a person finds happiness in a job then that life is probably the right setup for him/her.
Happiness might be the underlying goal for everyone. Happiness is naturally much more important for the individual than the collective progress of human kind.
Then again, I think we would create a happier and more passionate work force if we could somehow eleminate financial stress, but that is just guesswork.