Extremely astute and soulful observation from David at Raptitude (he’s one of my perennial favorites in the realm of mindfulness and mental wellness and “being human”; I often quote him on this blog):
But the 8-hour workday is too profitable for big business, not because of the amount of work people get done in eight hours (the average office worker gets less than three hours of actual work done in 8 hours) but because it makes for such a purchase-happy public. Keeping free time scarce means people pay a lot more for convenience, gratification, and any other relief they can buy. It keeps them watching television, and its commercials. It keeps them unambitious outside of work.
We’ve been led into a culture that has been engineered to leave us tired, hungry for indulgence, willing to pay a lot for convenience and entertainment, and most importantly, vaguely dissatisfied with our lives so that we continue wanting things we don’t have. We buy so much because it always seems like something is still missing.
And, my own add-on to David’s train of thought: AND, we pay the airline industry and hotels etc lots of money for “vacation” because we have built insanely hectic, noisy lives and a (non)-culture that we need to “escape” from. In the process of our invasion, we degrade ecosystems and economies and culture in other people’s lands too.
And – our lives may already have been designed. But we can take charge, and redesign them.
All of this is why I’m so passionate about leading a low-footprint, low-financial-overhead life, and helping you do the same. Not only does it reduce the burden on earth’s ecosystems, but also it gives us all more self-determination over my time and energy. Space to think and create, and be the humans we want to see in the world!
Further Exploration:
• Read David at Raptitude dot com’s full post “Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed“; it is an absolute gem, as his posts always are! My quote above is just the tip of the iceberg of its wonderfulness. He goes into many related topics such as why he spent far less money while backpack-traveling the world for months than he does at home, and enjoyed a better quality of life to boot.
• Join a group of people who are taking charge of redesigning our lives, and helping others do the same! Taking back our agency; changing the drab and soulless reality we have been enduring. It’s that Transformative Adventures group on Facebook that I keep telling you about! Several of you have already recently joined us over there, and I look forward to seeing more of you! Type into the Facebook search field “Permaculture Money, Livelihoods and Society via Transformative Adventures.” Sorry I don’t seem to be able to get a link for you to just click on, but the group is well worth that initial investment of your typing labor! The work you deep-down long to do most can energize you, revitalize your community, and help the planet.