[sseth]

Somerset Maugham wrote a great short story - "The Lotus Eater" about a bank manager who earned a lot of money, then retired to an island of Capri to live comfortably off his savings - become a "lotus-eater". The kicker is when after 25 years his money runs out, and his life of comfort has deprived him of the will to work again.

Perhaps here the author is talking of a different type of "lotus-eater" - one who has become comfortable not taking risks, and live in the comfort of their company perks and just coast along without striving hard. Their day of reckoning may come if they get fired and suddenly find they have lost the knack of living in a world without these perks and strewn with risks.

I think this should be read as a person's own story of what compels them to live as they do, and not as a judgement on other people who choose to make different life choices.