I recently read about an experiment showing that people are more reactionary towards losing freedoms that were once possessed versus freedoms that were never had. Take for example a kid and his privilege to have a piece of candy every time he finishes dinner. Compare two kids, one has always had this privilege and one has never. You can easily predict which kid will have a more violent uprising when being denied candy after dinner.
I have been the privileged kid for most of my life. I grew up with parents who can support me through my schooling without forcing me to get a job. This time period has given me the opportunity to explore myself and my goals. I had the luxury to do what truly makes me happy; I felt like my actions were consistent with what I believe in. Like the kid privileged with candy after dinner, I am bound to revolt when my freedoms are seized.
My freedoms are under a major threat and rebelling may be my death sentence. Like an ordinary member of society, I will one day have to support myself with a job of some sort. Working for a company may be my best option (in respect to having a low risk to return ratio). Unfortunately, I have learned that working for a company means I would have to suspend my freedoms for far too long.
Working towards accomplishing others' goals gives you a sense of loss in identity. You compromise your own aspirations for someone else's in exchange for money. (Ironically, the money you earn is supposed to grant you the freedom to do what you want). Being yourself becomes dangerous in this environment. Those who become successful here have abandoned their old self and meshed it into a bigger entity, the company itself.
Should we let ourselves become our jobs? I suppose some people don’t mind, I on the other hand, can’t fathom the thought of doing so. How is earning some money going to compensate for more than 1/3 of my waking life being wasted? I am afraid that a traditional job may not be a viable option for me.
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4 comments:
if it's really important to you, you can find a company that aligns with your own beliefs and allows you great freedoms. startup companies are generally the best. it takes more digging to find the companies and the jobs, and they don't pay as well up front, but they can be unbelievably rewarding.
alternately, you can start your own company. do things your way.
just throwing that out there. i've struggled through the other way before and found great solace in startups.
Ty,
I agree and that is what I hope to do.
You are absolutely correct in identifying a "job" as a removal of the individual identity and ambition and replacement of it with an identity and ambition developed by someone else. This is why everyone who has a "job" feels so washed out and drained, and why people with traditional "jobs" are so weakly motivated to do anything other than watch TV. That is the point! To rob you of your own motivations so that you can be easily controlled by another.
We are quickly moving towards a new global revolution, where such "jobs", which amount mostly to busy work to keep everyone occupied (it's your occupation!) and distracted, will be replaced with greater amounts of freedom and leisure, and the pursuit of REAL and VALUABLE goals, not just higher profits for some asshole in an expensive suit.
As for me, that's exactly why I'll be starting my own company, a company of free men and women, experts, and voluntarily working together, sharing in all the profits equally according to the work done. And the work we will be doing in my company will enable many, many others to pursue such goals of their own, also.
get a job hippie
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