> Isn’t wanting “enough money to not have to work” similar to wanting your body to not need oxygen or food or sleep?
It is, by proxy. However, breathing, eating and sleeping are activities that don't require much effort, and some of them are in fact pleasurable due to our biological imperative.
Work, on the other hand, is rarely pleasant - you have to be lucky to have a job you actually enjoy, the real world work is full of pointless bureaucracy, goals that don't align with your beliefs, repetitive boring tasks, synthetic deadlines, and so on.
> Sure, it would be amazing in many ways, but perhaps a tad unrealistic?
There are people out there that have enough money not to work, so it's not that unrealistic.
> But we can choose whether to feel gratitude for what we have or feel jealousy for what we don’t have, and it’s probably obvious which course is healthier IMO
Feelings, by their definition, are not voluntary. I don't believe I can simply "choose" how to feel.
It is, by proxy. However, breathing, eating and sleeping are activities that don't require much effort, and some of them are in fact pleasurable due to our biological imperative.
Work, on the other hand, is rarely pleasant - you have to be lucky to have a job you actually enjoy, the real world work is full of pointless bureaucracy, goals that don't align with your beliefs, repetitive boring tasks, synthetic deadlines, and so on.
> Sure, it would be amazing in many ways, but perhaps a tad unrealistic?
There are people out there that have enough money not to work, so it's not that unrealistic.
> But we can choose whether to feel gratitude for what we have or feel jealousy for what we don’t have, and it’s probably obvious which course is healthier IMO
Feelings, by their definition, are not voluntary. I don't believe I can simply "choose" how to feel.