I don't want much, yet still it eludes me

I am not interested in having a lot of money or expensive possessions. Fame does not particularly interest me. Neither does having some big important job, or being successful. I actually don't care if people consider me respectable or not. I don't fret about being financially stable. I give no thought to if or how I'm going to have a comfortable retirement.I have not ever, do not now, not will I ever fit in, anywhere. I have no expensive tastes and no inclination to devote myself too expensive hobbies. Being able to travel is just not a priority.

All I want to be able to do is just to spend more time reading about and studying things that are interesting and that I think are worthwhile. It is the only thing towards which I possess anything that can be described as "a passion." I am passionate about the pursuit of knowledge. Useful knowledge. Knowledge that can unlock things that will actually help people.

I think it is possible to do this. It just requires time mostly. Pretty much all you need for what I am interested in doing is a computer and a data plan, in addition to a library card and a reliable supply of coffee.

Yet I can barely have enough time for it. Too busy working.

a reply to: olddognewtricks

Sounds like you'll be forever chasing what your looking for, it'll will always be within hands reach, yet impossible to grasp. That's just life though isn't it?

After all, the grass is always greener on the other side.

a reply to: olddognewtricks

If you don't expect much out of life you'll be seldom disappointed.
Your rant reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode called Time Enough at Last

a reply to: Subaeruginosa

True mostly. Right now I am able to chip away at it just thirty minutes a day, so I am at it, everyday, for thirty minutes. If I could go at it for twelve hours a day, I would. But for now, thirty minutes is all I get, so I take it.

Yeah I thought that way too, but now after not working for awhile I pretty much lost interest in anything I used to care about. Yeah I have plenty of time but don't seem to get anything done. It takes a special balance of work and play to make life good, too much of either makes you unhappy IMHO.

a reply to: olddognewtricks

Actually you do want much, perhaps far too much because what you want cannot be had easily and that is time, time for yourself. I have worked for 43 years, most very hard years and as you say requiring more time that I should have really given to the pursuit of making others wealthy by my efforts. However I AM fortunate because I was conservative, cheap really and when the latest Depression struck and I became a victim I had already been able to pay off ALL of the few debts we had, save a little and am now able to even thrive on the 20 hours a week part time work that I have. At 61 it is about all I can handle anyway after over four decades on concrete and the toll it took, but the time I now have to do exactly what you are talking about is priceless. It CAN be done and you can do it too if you can pare down your expenditures, pay off your debt and spend as little as possible. But you really have to want it, and trust me it is worth EVERY EFFORT you put out to get it. Be patient and be committed and you can do it too. I am rooting for you.

a reply to: BennyHavensOh

Yeah, what you've done is exactly what I'm trying to do right now. Work hard but keep expenditures at a minimum. Time is priceless. Maybe one day I too will be able to get by on just twenty hours of job time a week.

You are not alone. Many people, including myself feel the same way.

We are robots to a materialistic society. Slavery sucks!

I would love to devote all of my time to reading material as you have suggested in your OP. My passion is obtaining useful knowledge or at least the kind of knowledge that will unlock secrets. That is where my true passion is.

I am lucky enough to have a job that allows a more flexible schedule and make good money.... when the market is good. When the market isn't good, I am doing odd jobs to make ends meet.

Wouldn't it be so nice to spend our time not worried about making a dollar? YES! That would be freedom.

a reply to: olddognewtricks

Welcome to the modern world

The enlightenment is within your grasp

And yet the rich capitalists want you too busy working for them to reach it

You are in same position billion people are..

a reply to: olddognewtricks

The areas i work there are a lot of people that would be happy to be to busy working .

a reply to: olddognewtricks

Pack your job in, go on welfare for 10 years, then spend that 10 years doing your thing.

You will have to work again at some point - unless you win the lottery, you'll never escape the poverty trap.

a reply to: MamaJ

On the one hand, working for dollars is just so much easier than the system it replaced. But still, a lot of it seems a shameful waste of time. I just do it because it is by far the last time consuming way to provide for my family.

I often joke with my wife that as soon as the last kid is out of the house, I'm selling everything, quitting the job, and we are just going to live in a tent in the woods in the middle of nowhere. I will then be able to spend my days more devoted to the pursuit of knowledge.

She laughs, and says that's probably not how things will turn out.

a reply to: Skid Mark

Ha! Completely! By the time I'm done working and have all the time in the world, I will probably have lost my eyesight or something horrible.

Tempus fugit (that's Latin with a soft g, not curse words!)

originally posted by: hutch622
a reply to: olddognewtricks

The areas i work there are a lot of people that would be happy to be to busy working .

True. Please consider my observations just that - observations. They are not meant as complaints or belly aching. I am lucky all that I have and all the things I don't. They are just observations made while I go about existing.

You will find many of us here who feel the exact same as you do, including myself!

I like a simple life, don't chase a thing, don't obsess over what I haven't got or can't have. don't try to fall in line with everybody else, and I never will, but that's just me.

You know what one of my favourite things to do is? I just like to sit and think! just ponder about the world, the universe, or people, I find so much pleasure in this little exercise!

originally posted by: OldIsNewAgain
a reply to: olddognewtricks

...enlightenment is within your grasp

And yet the rich capitalists want you too busy working for them to reach it

On the one hand, we've got a relatively sweet deal going where we are working for dollars in the air conditioning rather than scraping for potatoes in the dirt.

On the other hand...I cannot quite but help having the exact same sentiments as you. There is so much exacted from us for every dollar, in terms of our time and energy.