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The Real Luxuries In Life

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141–150 of 258 posts

Re: The Real Luxuries In Life

#141

Rich people never mention money in such lists. Lists like this look very different when you don't have money.

because having money isn't the ultimate goal imho. it's what money enables - like a slow morning, a quiet mind, and good health. If money can't provide those or similar things, it loses its value more or less

[deleted]

Re: The Real Luxuries In Life

#142

Rich people never mention money in such lists. Lists like this look very different when you don't have money.

because having money isn't the ultimate goal imho. it's what money enables - like a slow morning, a quiet mind, and good health. If money can't provide those or similar things, it loses its value more or less

Money can be a goal, but that's only because you're keeping score with it. If your life doesn't result around the top score in something, money will never be anything but an enabler. Of course, if you're a rich person and trying to keep score, you can also keep your score where's something other than money. If you like art, then having a Van Gogh original is going to be worth more than a money, and so the specific unique art you have can be how you keep score.

Don't read the above as if all rich people are trying to keep score in some way. A large majority of them are just trying to live their life. Even when it appears they're keeping score you typically discover they like the art and that's why they have it. they couldn't care less if you have more or less than them. They might be jealous if you own the particular original that they're looking for but they're not keeping score against you with it.

Which is good for me and probably the vast majority of those reading this because we have the ability to earn decent amount of money as an engineer and with some investment we can have a nice life and retirement but we will never be anywhere near the top of any attempt to keep score.

Re: The Real Luxuries In Life

#143
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to regularly travel to rural villages in Asia and the people that live in these places have only the most basic human desires. They barely know what an LLM is let alone interact with them. They're some of the happiest people I've ever met. Of course they'll complain about work or money, and they assume that a Western salary buys me freedom. But they get to live through these luxuries on a daily basis. I'd be l…

Not to be glib, but I assume you're not quitting your Western job and moving there. So isn't this romanticizing it?

I have my own family dependencies that aren't too keen on the idea of living the village life. Otherwise I'd already be there.

Re: The Real Luxuries In Life

#144
post #136
post #64

Time, quiet mind, slow mornings, rest without guilt, calm and boring days - are all the same thing - escape from being busy. This assumes being busy is common, which is actually not that common for an age of 60+. The real luxury, for any age, in general, is in not having dependencies and needs. The need to impress someone, the need to know every ugly news from around globe, the need to read everything and be knowledg…

Why would I want a slow morning? That sounds miserable, like the opposite of luxury.

Yeah why would anyone want to chill, I want my boss shaking me awake at 5am shoving adderall into my mouth

Re: The Real Luxuries In Life

#145
post #64

Time, quiet mind, slow mornings, rest without guilt, calm and boring days - are all the same thing - escape from being busy. This assumes being busy is common, which is actually not that common for an age of 60+. The real luxury, for any age, in general, is in not having dependencies and needs. The need to impress someone, the need to know every ugly news from around globe, the need to read everything and be knowledg…

> The real luxury, for any age, in general, is in not having dependencies and needs. The need to impress someone, the need to know every ugly news from around globe, the need to read everything and be knowledgeable, need to stay connected, need to be smart, the need to travel and see places, need to taste foods from around the world, need to have many friends, need to be loved by someone, and need to have more money and things.

This echoes with my (limited) understanding of Buddhism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Noble_Truths#The_Four_Tru...

Re: The Real Luxuries In Life

#147
post #69

In very broad strokes, it seems that Europeans on the average have much more of these things than Americans. Are they noticeable happier? Would be nice to hear from someone who lived both sides of the pond for a long while.

Happy is tall order, but there is a uniquely American sense of impending doom that is always hanging over your shoulder that doesn’t exist in most other countries.

Re: The Real Luxuries In Life

#148
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to regularly travel to rural villages in Asia and the people that live in these places have only the most basic human desires. They barely know what an LLM is let alone interact with them. They're some of the happiest people I've ever met. Of course they'll complain about work or money, and they assume that a Western salary buys me freedom. But they get to live through these luxuries on a daily basis. I'd be l…

Not to be glib, but I assume you're not quitting your Western job and moving there. So isn't this romanticizing it?

It’s not that easy to emigrate afaik, even ignoring family and obligations like that.

Re: The Real Luxuries In Life

#149
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being loved is not a weakness. But a strong requirement to be loved is a weakness because that means you don't have strength to be happy without being loved.

This is actually a sad comment. How did you ever come to believe that wanting to feel loved, which is a fundamental desire (if not "need") for the vast majority of human beings, could ever be construed as a weakness resulting from a lack of "strength"?

To steel-man their argument, I think what they are trying to describe is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxious-preoccupied_attachment vs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_attachment
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