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It's a little disturbing to me that he focuses so much on his career. I don't know what I will regret on my deathbed, but I'm pretty sure work won't be promine
by wing-_-nuts 5y ago
It's a little disturbing to me that he focuses so much on his career. I don't know what I will regret on my deathbed, but I'm pretty sure work won't be prominent on the list. It's important to be productive, sure, but let's not fool ourselves. Almost none of us will have had any sort of lasting impact. We're making Tibetan sand art. Our 'purpose' is simply to enjoy our time in the sun.
I do like his idea of maximizing gratitude though. What will I be most grateful for on my deathbed? Probably the relationships I had, and a chance to see the world as it is now, in the golden age of our civilization, before it gets wrecked by climate change.
- Aulig 5y ago> We're making Tibetan sand art. Our 'purpose' is simply to enjoy our time in the sun. I like that metaphor :)
- philwelch 5y agoA lot of people find meaning in creating some sort of legacy that outlasts them. Something about old men planting trees whose shade they will never sit in and whatnot. And some of those people try to do it through their career. Marcus Aurelius wrote extensively and convincingly about the futility of creating a lasting legacy--about how everyone and their deeds will inevitably be forgotten when the last person who remembers them finally dies--but his words are a little bit undermined by the sheer fact that I read them millennia after his death. But personally, I'd rather just have kids than try and have a successful enough career that I become a historical figure.