I find that change is like an egg. If it is cracked from the inside, something living comes out and grows. If it is cracked from the outside, something useful comes out, but it is of limited quantity and quickly expires.
This is not a proverb, merely an observation I’ve made concerning the differing qualities of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation.
Considering this, I asked myself what kind of change I can best abide. The social clout that rewards industriousness is heady and addictive. The chance to actually live my life rather than rent it from an employer is essential… and incompatible with a strong work ethic.
We are taught to scavenge and fight for our right to exist, to earn living through endless work. Periods of idleness are something that forces one to beg, bribe, borrow, barter or steal for them to be obtained in any significant quantities. It is coercive. It is violent to task people to fill half or more of their waking hours with toil—or the commute towards it.
This world is built on an economy that does not know how to be satisfied. Even if I could claim I built the sky, I’d receive complaints that the birds were missing.
In this section, I muse on the struggles and joys of laying claim to one’s life by resisting the pressure to be a producer instead of a person.
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