“I see a system that, even if it bounces back to “normal,” I have no interest in
rejoining, a system that is beginning to come undone.”
So says a NYT reporter who is dropping out of the capitalist work world to honor their own humanity, like much of the youth of the far east. Capitalism has produced a world that turns humans into machines to grind money into wealth (for a worker’s “superiors”). We were not made for this. I see a high salary as correlating almost exactly to the dehumanization of work. So indoctrinated are we that we almost can’t conceive of a work life that fills us with joy. Every so often we hear in an interview “I can’t believe I get paid to do this!” What a shame that such a statement is remarkable. That should describe all of our lives.
How many millions of us trudge along like slaves, compelled to work at dead-end jobs that drain our energy and add nothing to our well-being? And all this for a paycheck so unlivable that in not a single US county can a minimum wage worker afford a two-bedroom rental! The only reason for a minimum wage law at all is apparently to keep capitalists from imposing outright slavery.
We don’t have to live like this, and young people all over the world are catching on! Is it any wonder businesses can’t find workers in this climate? More young people are seeing how awful our civilization is to humans and other living things and now they are refusing to participate.
I learned the phrase “downwardly mobile” from a rich friend who was trying to downsize––against his class tradition–– to a reasonably sized apartment. Some 20 years ago I was inspired to do the same. When I could not succeed in the capitalist world without compromising my principles I decided to intentionally make less money every year. It has worked. For the past 15 years I’ve lived well below the poverty line and never been happier! I consume very little, ride my bike everywhere, and do my own work for joy rather than money. I even try to think of ways of avoiding making money because it is not needed. I largely make gifts of my work. This is the erotic life.
“For as we begin to recognize our deepest feelings, we begin to give up, of necessity, being satisfied with suffering and self-negation, and with the numbness which so often seems like their only alternative in our society.”
