Letting the fields go fallow to allow for rejuvenation rings like a very apt allegory to me. Breaking routines, finding out who you are outside of work is actually one of the most luxurious things one can do. It’s a great time for healing. But most can’t afford to do this at their lifestyle level.
There’s lots of cognitive dissonance over what makes our lives rich in the tech world.
However there also a lot in the post which seems to hold high minded eruditism as some peak of existence :) still some good point buried.
I think this is the most cogent take on the essay I've read.
I wonder where the middle ground exists between letting the field go fallow and feeding your family is. If you quit your job and then need to pay an unexpected medical bill— or decide to have kids and realize you have no savings— I wonder if one might rethink the spiritual fulfillment they found in unemployment. But on the other hand, if you spend your entire life grinding at a job to make enough money to protect yourself from emergencies and support a family, you might look up at retirement age and wish you had spent more time with your kids.
It would be nice if we lived in a society where the sabbatical was normalized. That seems like a conceivable middle ground.
Covid has opened a lot of eyes. When mortality is on the line in a job people start to think hey what does this really mean. Hoping the current and upcoming generations will make choices towards a better future.
There’s lots of cognitive dissonance over what makes our lives rich in the tech world.
However there also a lot in the post which seems to hold high minded eruditism as some peak of existence :) still some good point buried.