I love the bit about being "carefree." It reminds me of my aunt and uncle on my mother's side. They worked as psychologists for a while, and they were paid well enough that they could eventually quit. Now they spend all their time trying out fancy restaurants and traveling. At one point they asked my parents why they hadn't quit their jobs, as they could get by without them--and my parents said that, well, they actually got something out of their jobs.
My aunt and uncle are completely carefree and, although they're happy, I don't think I would be in their situation. To cut off engagement with the world and resign yourself to consumption seems so depressing. Even outside of ethical imperatives to be engaged--helping other people, and so forth--I don't even think individual people, on their own self-interested terms, were meant to live without cares. Having some sort of "endeavour," some great challenge in life at which you could imaginably fail, makes both material comforts and other people seem so much more valuable, and ... right, somehow. I've noticed that after I've had a hard academic week at Reed, the sheer act of eating in Commons with other people is amazingly enjoyable: the food, the conversation, all of it feels so surprisingly good that in some sense, I think those things were "meant" to be enjoyed in such a context. Even though that context is stressful, painful, often unhealthy--the kind of thing that, on first glance, you'd want to avoid if possible.
So, I think "living up to one's potential" is a better goal than "being carefree" for more than one reason. For one thing, it's usually better ethically, because one usually needs to care about the world to improve it. But I also think that the very feeling of striving towards one's potential can fulfill you in a way that the lack of cares cannot.
As for what your potential is ... that's a hard question for anyone. And it's also possible to feel as though you're achieving it when you aren't--which nets all the experiential benefits without the ethical ones. (You feel fulfilled, but you aren't actually accomplishing anything.) It's a hard balance to strike, between something that can fulfill you and something that's worthwhile in the world at large.
Yeah, I'm not really sure what I'm saying ... but yeah, I wish you luck in whatever endeavour you take on. And keep away from potential wells :D
My aunt and uncle are completely carefree and, although they're happy, I don't think I would be in their situation. To cut off engagement with the world and resign yourself to consumption seems so depressing. Even outside of ethical imperatives to be engaged--helping other people, and so forth--I don't even think individual people, on their own self-interested terms, were meant to live without cares. Having some sort of "endeavour," some great challenge in life at which you could imaginably fail, makes both material comforts and other people seem so much more valuable, and ... right, somehow. I've noticed that after I've had a hard academic week at Reed, the sheer act of eating in Commons with other people is amazingly enjoyable: the food, the conversation, all of it feels so surprisingly good that in some sense, I think those things were "meant" to be enjoyed in such a context. Even though that context is stressful, painful, often unhealthy--the kind of thing that, on first glance, you'd want to avoid if possible.
So, I think "living up to one's potential" is a better goal than "being carefree" for more than one reason. For one thing, it's usually better ethically, because one usually needs to care about the world to improve it. But I also think that the very feeling of striving towards one's potential can fulfill you in a way that the lack of cares cannot.
As for what your potential is ... that's a hard question for anyone. And it's also possible to feel as though you're achieving it when you aren't--which nets all the experiential benefits without the ethical ones. (You feel fulfilled, but you aren't actually accomplishing anything.) It's a hard balance to strike, between something that can fulfill you and something that's worthwhile in the world at large.
Yeah, I'm not really sure what I'm saying ... but yeah, I wish you luck in whatever endeavour you take on. And keep away from potential wells :D
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