Carry water, Chop wood

In a class today we were talking about making a lot of money, the billionaire or close to kind of money. Note: no one in the class was a billionaire. I was saying that there are quite a few old billionaires who still do long days at the office and one student commented that it is because of greed. They just never have enough money.

I don't think that is necessarily true. I think they enjoy it. It may not even be the collection of money as to do something into one's 80's would likely require a real love for what they do. The process and feel of it, not just the increase in the results. Especially when one already has so much that they can never spend it all. Most of these people aren't compulsive collectors from what I have seen and read.

I know several in the class of very rich but not 'close to billionaire' rich. These people also are not collectors of money but they do tend to really enjoy what they do. But, from the outside looking in it can definitely look like these people are ultimately greedy. I mean, when is enough enough?

My student has family forest, this means he cuts his own firewood for the winter instead of buying it. If he really loved the act of chopping wood, and spent his days doing what he loved, the split wood pile would just keep increasing and there would be no way he could or would need to burn it all. In this case, doing what he loved would create a byproduct of chopped wood. Of course eventually, this may lead to a lack of trees to chop, however in Finland, they grow more than they cut down.

For many very rich people that seem to keep working when they have no need to, the situation could be similar where they aren't working to have more nor are they scared of losing it all as they likely back their personal money management skills. They may just love working at what they do and for them, the byproduct is money or success.

This ties into the do what you love idea where often, what one is passionate about can require a huge amount of time and energy but, one is willing to invest themselves because they feel passionately about it. And because of this, it doesn't feel like 'real work'.

People generally associate work as a negative because most people's experiences with work is working for others, doing jobs they don't want to do, for a goal that isn't theirs. For these billionaires however, once they are off and running, they can increasingly pick and choose their tasks and set ever larger goals to reach. Why wouldn't they continue on as long as they can?

There are many reasons to do something but when we observe and judge the actions of others, it is very hard to be able to view their motive. What we end up doing is making a judgement based upon who we are and why we would do it and in the case of Billionaires, we are unlikely ever to get the chance to sit and talk with them one on one. This means our view of them is gossip from the media and other people's opinions and through this we think we know them.

I am unlikely to ever be a Billionaire but, if I did become one doing what I loved, I would work at it until I died. But that is my plan even if I die penniless.

The title of this post is part of a Zen proverb I read as a kid in a book my mother owned.

Before enlightenment
Carry water, Chop wood
After enlightenment
Carry water, Chop wood

What it means is that nothing changes after becoming enlightened as after enlightenment, life goes on, the tasks do not change. And if one's tasks do not change after becoming enlightened, why should one's tasks change after becoming rich?

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]