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Ah, but that's too depressing. Let's talk waffles.
Jintana and I split a waffle and fruit for breakfast. Perfect. We also had a problem with money, about borrowing some to fix up the house. I have this awesome feeling I handled it more wisely than usual, where I wrote down my misgivings and said we should wait to talk about them for awhile so we can be calm and rational. That would never have occurred to me in the past. I would've jumped in and tried to settle it immediately, thereby setting up a confrontation. We'll see if I actually accomplished anything.
Also this morning I listened to Jordan Peterson (along with Joe Rogan and another guy whose name I don't know but was very erudite) and Peterson talked about a curve that held true in all forms of human endeavor. In every form of production, there are a tiny few who are more creative and work harder than everyone else. They achieve huge success and huge rewards, basically the 1%. Then there are those who do almost as well, so that they achieve great rewards also. And on down the line to those at the bottom who create absolutely nothing and starve to death.
My question is, do the rewards have to be absolutely in line with creativity and productivity? In other words, wouldn't truly smart people realize that if you're at the top you don't have to take all the spoils? Couldn't you live a good life on, say, a million dollars a year and spread the rest around to your employees, or those who are starving? I'm not saying we have to take money from the rich, I'm saying in an advanced, truly intelligent society, people at the top might disconnect absolute achievement from absolute reward. For their own benefit, they might put a personal cap on rewards and share the rest. Then they would be less vulnerable to the masses with torches and pitchforks.
Minimalism comes into play here. Even if you're wildly talented and successful, what do you actually need to live a good life? A truly smart person would figure that out and then decide what to do with the rest of the money. So maybe the solution is to educate the rich. Teach them what a truly successful lifestyle is. And isn't. It's all about what you do, not what you have.
Everyone can learn this.
You don't have to have a big house, a hot car, a home studio, a pool, or whatever. You can live a better life simply than you can by spending millions on yourself.
Life on the road taught me this.
I can live in a hotel room. That's all I need. A bed, a bathroom, and that's it. If I want to cook, I'm good with a hot plate or a microwave. I don't like to cook, and in Thailand I'm in hog heaven. The street food here is nourishing, cheap, and plentiful. Anyway, life on the road taught me my own minimalism.