肯定事继续工作,不管将来生活是否多富裕,我都会选择工作。只不过工作的性质会变轻松点的。人不工作,不出去走走,会慢慢与世隔绝的,还有财富再多,也有用好的时候,我们不能坐吃山空。再说,如果不去,也会给孩子做一个不好的榜样等等诸多因素,所以我还是会选择继续工作哦。
以下回答取自我上学时用英语写的一篇作业,有道自动翻译译文如下,已修改,通顺可读,后附英文:
如果我有足够的财富,余生可以过得很舒适,也可以养家糊口,我会选择继续工作吗?
这对我来说真是个复杂的问题。直觉上,我可能会选择立即退休,享受与家人在一起、周游世界的生活。它会让我感到平静和幸福。然而,也许几年后,我终于会觉得无趣和无聊,我会怀念工作的时光,所以我会选择重新工作。人类的本性是如此不可预测啊?在不同的时期和情况下,我们有不同的追求。我们只要达到一个目标,另一个目标就会立即出现在我们面前。持久的、可持续的成就感似乎很难期待。
这个问题让我思考了两个问题:
1)真正的幸福是什么?
2)理想的工作能提供什么?
那么,首先让我们看看什么是真正的幸福。
毫无疑问,追求幸福是人类活动的最终目标之一。诺贝尔奖得主、美国著名心理学家丹尼尔·哈内曼通过画三个同心圆告诉我们,幸福有三个层次:
1)在外圈,是物质层面的幸福:例如,拥有金钱和一些商品的幸福。
2)中间是精神层面的幸福:比如完成一些工作或经营生意的幸福。
3)在核心圈中,是意义和价值层面的幸福:例如,一个人一生所相信的,对人类的终极理想的实现,或者如果一个人相信他们会用它来救赎自己的意义,那么帮助别人的幸福就算一种。
哈内曼说,只有核心圈里的快乐才是人类最终的渴望。也就是说,通过体验和保持一种有意义、有价值的感觉,我们将不再感到空虚和无足轻重,因为它满足了人类心理最深层、最持久的需求。
其次,让我们看看传统工作能提供什么。它是否能满足人类感觉有意义和有价值的需求?一个正常的诱人的工作职位可以提供:
1)足以维持生活和家庭的收入;
2)学习和发展提高专业技能和能力的机会。
3)晋升机会,让你获得更高的职位,锻炼你的领导能力,满足你的控制欲。
4)和谐的工作氛围,让你与同事相处融洽,专注于工作效率,而不是办公室政治。
5)灵活的工作时间,这样你就可以兼顾工作和家庭。
按哈内曼的理论,一份理想的传统工作,充其量也只是一份职业,只能大致满足外层和中层的幸福要求,更不用说核心层面的幸福了。但是,如果我们完全停止工作,我们可能失去外在的快乐(也许对某些人来说,还能感受到一点点中间程度的快乐),情况就更糟了。那么,解决方案是什么?如果我现在已经实现了财务自由,我会这样做:
1)停止目前的工作一段时间,与朋友交流,周游世界,同时思考人生。
2)评估我的梦想、价值、信念,努力找出在我内心最深处对我的生活最有意义、最有价值的东西是什么。
3)制定个性化的计划,为自己开始新的生活或职业生涯;当然,目标是感受幸福的意义和价值。
简而言之,如果我有足够的财富,这样我的余生就可以过得很舒适,也可以养家糊口,我就会停止我传统意义上的工作,努力寻找新的生活,因为:
1)永久的幸福来自于有价值和有意义的感觉;
2)传统的工作很难提供核心层面的快乐。
3)一种全新的生活,革命性的,为自己量身定制的,可能会实现我一生追求终极幸福的目标。
以下为英文版原文:
If I have sufficient wealth so that I can live comfortably for the rest of my life and can support my family, Will I choose to continue working?
It is really a complex question for me. Intuitively, I will probably choose to retire immediately to enjoy the life of being with my family and travelling all over the world. It will make me feel peaceful and happy. However, maybe a few years later I will finally feel inane and boring,and I will miss the time when I was working, so I will choose to work again. Human being's nature is so unpredictable aha? We have different things to pursue in different period and situation. We could just reach one goal and another targets appear immediately for us to achieve. Permanent and sustainable feeling of fulfillment seems unexpectable.
This question causes me to think about two issues:
1) What is real happiness?
2) What can ideal work provide?
At first, let's see what real happiness is.
Undoubtedly, pursuing happiness is one of the ultimate goals of human being’s activities. Daniel Hahnemann, a famous psychologist from USA, Nobel Prize winner, illustrates with three concentric circles, that there are three levels of happiness:
1) In the outer circle, is the happiness of material level: for example, the happiness from owning money and some goods.
2) In the middle circle, is the happiness of spiritual level: for example, the happiness from completing some work or running businesses.
3) In the core circle, is the happiness of meaning and value level: for example, the happiness from realizing the ultimate ideal for human beings which one believes for his/her whole life, or helping others if one believes it will redeem them.
Hahnemann says only the happiness in the core circle is the final eagerness of human being. That is, we will not feel inane and insignificant any more by experiencing and maintaining the feeling of being meaningful and valuable because it meets the deepest and the most sustaining demand for human being's mentality.
Let's see what a conventional job can provide. Can it meet the requirement of feeling meaningful and valuable for human beings? An ordinary tempting job position can provide:
1) Sufficient income to support one's life and the family;
2) Learning and developing opportunity to improve professional skills and competency.
3) Promotion chance so that you can get the senior positions to practice leadership or satisfy your controlling desire.
4) Harmonious working atmosphere so that you can get along with your colleagues well and concentrate on productivity instead of office politics.
5) Flexible working hours so that you can balance your work and family.
Compared to Hahnemann's theory, obviously, an ideal conventional job, which is only a professional career, at best, can roughly meet the requirements of outer and middle levels' happiness, let alone the core level's happiness. However, once quitting our work, we may lose the happiness of outer levels (Maybe a little happiness of middle levels will be left for some people), and the situation is worse. So, what is the solution? If I have realized financial freedom by now, I will do:
1) Stop my current job for a period of time to communicate with friends, travel all over the world, and think about life at the same time.
2) Evaluate my dreams, value, beliefs, and try to figure out what is the most meaningful and valuable thing for the life in my innermost being.
3) Work out a customized plan, and try to start a new life or career for myself; of course the target is feeling the happiness of meaning and value.
In short, if I have sufficient wealth so that I can live comfortably for the rest of my life and can support my family, I will stop my conventional work and try to figure out a new life, because:
1) The permanent happiness is from the feeling of being valuable and meaningful;
2) A conventional job can hardly provide the core levels of happiness.
3) A kind of new life, transformed, customized for myself, possibly will meet my goals of pursuing ultimate happiness for the whole life.