I mean the following without snark even though it can easily be read that way:
I contribute to society by making the choices I want and not imposing my expectations of contribution on to others.
The best thing you can do for society is take care of yourself first, because that's what you have the most control over. How justified is much of the debt, guilt and obligation that we feel? I guess most of us believe that if we shirked these things then babies would be abandoned in the streets and all sorts of lawlessness would occur.
Is my lifestyle naive and selfish? Maybe. But I know who I am and I don't have to justify my choices to anyone else. I am not going to make a list of my good deeds to make sure people respect me. What if instead of trying to save the world so you can be happy you chose to be happy and that led to you saving the world? Why do we assume the former is more true than the latter?
It's really hard to talk about these things without coming off as being "holier than thou" but I think they're questions worth asking. They're questions I still ask myself all the time, I don't believe that I've reached some higher plane of enlightenment with all the answers.
People should be allowed to suffer and sacrifice their happiness but they have to want to it can't be imposed on them (consciously or not).
I contribute to society by making the choices I want and not imposing my expectations of contribution on to others.
The best thing you can do for society is take care of yourself first, because that's what you have the most control over. How justified is much of the debt, guilt and obligation that we feel? I guess most of us believe that if we shirked these things then babies would be abandoned in the streets and all sorts of lawlessness would occur.
Is my lifestyle naive and selfish? Maybe. But I know who I am and I don't have to justify my choices to anyone else. I am not going to make a list of my good deeds to make sure people respect me. What if instead of trying to save the world so you can be happy you chose to be happy and that led to you saving the world? Why do we assume the former is more true than the latter?
It's really hard to talk about these things without coming off as being "holier than thou" but I think they're questions worth asking. They're questions I still ask myself all the time, I don't believe that I've reached some higher plane of enlightenment with all the answers.
People should be allowed to suffer and sacrifice their happiness but they have to want to it can't be imposed on them (consciously or not).