Life Without Principle (1854)
thoreau.eserver.org
thoreau.eserver.org
The most dangerous way to lose time is not to spend it having fun, but to spend it doing fake work.
As a person who has suffered for the latter all my life, I cannot emphasize this more. Even now, when I have a few precious hours to myself on a Sunday afternoon (this happens very rarely), I have no immediate plans, so I surf this or that website, taking notes about ideas, etc., which to someone watching me would seem like I was engaged in valuable activity.
Why?
May I also humbly recommend:
* Civil Disobedience (1849) - the classic referred to by Gandhi and MLK http://thoreau.eserver.org/civil.html
* A Plea for Captain John Brown (1859) - Thoreau was one of the very, very few to defend Brown attempt to launch a slave rebellion http://thoreau.eserver.org/plea.html
* Walden (1854) - of course - read the first chapter at least ("Economy") for a timeless analysis of what is necessary in life http://thoreau.eserver.org/walden00.html
"When our life ceases to be inward and private, conversation degenerates into mere gossip. We rarely meet a man who can tell us any news which he has not read in a newspaper, or been told by his neighbor; and, for the most part, the only difference between us and our fellow is that he has seen the newspaper, or been out to tea, and we have not."
One thing i keep thinking about is the stark contradiction between the high standard of living of western society and ever increasing depression rates ( I don't have a list of sources at hand, but I believe this to be somewhat common knowledge ), so I think that this essay strikes right at the heart of the problem, in the sense that we are almost living for making a living( Or some such phrasing ), or at least hints at a deeper, more underlying and worrying phenomenon .
If I say things like this, people are quick to suggest medication.
BTW, I agree with the author's assertion, you should try as much as possible to be your own master and not be the slave of other people opinion.
Well, perhaps. Or perhaps they have noticed that, or have accepted the conventional wisdom that, people who say things like this are more often depressed than both not depressed and thoughtful.
http://fadeyev.net/2012/06/19/moral-design/
> Life is the ultimate aim of moral design, which it must protect, advance, ennoble and enrich. Immoral design, which is also bad design, is the opposite. It takes life by stealing time; it impoverishes by pretending to be more than it is; it does not last; it deceives, harms, enrages and degrades. The difference between the two lies at the origin of the work, when the designer first establishes their true goals and decides whether it is to satisfy their destructively selfish aims, or it is to be something higher, something that respects and elevates people’s lives, something that they are not ashamed to put out into this world because they know that their heart lies in the right place; and if they fail to achieve what they set out to do, it will be but an error of affection, not ill work laden with guilt.
Sorry, couldn't resist.