Dalai Lama: humanity and money
I first read this on a G+ post, and it appears there may be some doubt about the accuracy of the citation, but regardless of that it is a great for providing some balance to ones perspective:
The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, said:
“Man.
Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.
And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present;
the result being that he does not live in the present or the future;
he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”
I think we are driven to do work, perhaps partially out of habit, or maybe because of an implied societal expectation to work. However, even if I was to suddenly gain substantial wealth tomorrow, there is a lot of what I do as work today, that I would continue to do. Sure, there is plenty I would change, but not so much as to be unrecognisably similar.