re; you are not what you do

von:
if you're not what you do, what else is there to be? i think about this all the time, as i'm sure you must have too. work takes up so much of life that there isn't much room for anything else; if you're not doing work that is self-identifying, then things tend to get pretty damn dismal i think. got nothing to do with the powers that be.

grar.

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me:
you just are what you...are. i know that's not a very good answer, -- but if i thought it through i'd probably come up with something about abstractions and essences and transcendence, and it would sound very zen, and it wouldn't help you very much either.

and it does involve tptb. making meaningless employment seem meaningful is one of the main aims of government. they're just more subtle about it nowadays.

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von:
that's a terrible answer. it is non-descriptive in the worst way. this is the kind of thing that gives false hope. you know, in the way myth does.


he's right, and i will make a better go of it as soon as i'm not drowning in work. (though i cannot guarantee that thinking about it for a couple of hours will allow me to write a better answer than the one i threw off in 30 seconds).