There is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way.

The difference between true wealth and just having lots of money is the difference between waking up every day feeling like you get to go to work instead of like you have to go to work.

So many lives are spent going around and around on the same treadmill, hoping for tiny little moments of happiness to make it all worthwhile.

I wonder what a society would be like if under utopian circumstances everyone had the opportunity to do exactly the job that was most desirable for them.

Eliminating all of the light answers that really don’t fit the equation, you are left with the entire spectrum of tasks to be performed. If we were to assume that some form of android or artificial intelligence were capable of supplementing all of the responsibilities that would not be opted for by a human, would human beings actually be much happier and much more cooperative and much more peaceful towards one another? If every single person were spending their lives doing something that was ultimately fulfilling way beyond the pre-requisite paycheck, would humanity in general be more civilized? More congenial? More compassionate?

Or in the end, are we really driven by the greed that fuels capitalism? Would those same desires be quenched through accomplishments specific to the category of work that a person were to choose under this impossible utopian equation?

Negating all of the variables that make communism and socialism a dismal failure for this particular experiment in my hypothetical petri dish, and allowing for just the prospect that people could potentially be motivated just by enjoying the time they spent doing what they are doing and getting tremendous satisfaction out of the particular kinds of accomplishments that come with those responsibilities, I wonder if it is possible if a system like this could ever actually work?

Take for example a crew that is going on a one-way mission to a planet that they will ultimately live on. Every crew member has been selected for their particular skill set. Every crew member depends upon the other because of the skill sets. There is no extra money to be earned, no extra prestige to be accrued. But there remains a great potential joy in being brilliant at what you do. Would that be wholly sufficient?

Or would the human ego get directly in conflict with all aspects that could potentially become harmonious and instead make it a cacophony of discord?

In either circumstance, I think it is incumbent upon all of us to try our best to find a way to seek a lifestyle that enables us to spend the majority of our time doing something that we feel incredibly fulfilled for having done, separate and apart from the monetary remuneration.

Happy Tuesday!

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Written by Brian Weiner
When I was 5 years old, I discovered that the lemon tree in the backyard + dixie cups + water and sugar and I was in business. I have been hooked on that ever since. In 1979, I borrowed $14,000 to create a brand new product... photographic greeting cards with no text on the inside, called Paradise Photography. That was the start of The Illusion Factory. Since then, The Illusion Factory has been entrusted by all of the major studios and broadcasters with the advertising and marketing of over $7 billion in filmed, live, broadcast, gaming, AR, VR and regulated gaming forms of entertainment, generating more than $100 Billion in revenue and 265 awards for creativity and technology for our clients. When I took a break from film school at UCLA to move to Hawaii, my mother did not lecture me. Instead, she took 150 of her favorite aphorisms and in her beautiful calligraphy, wrote them artistically throughout a blank journal. That is the origin of the Lessons from the Mountain series. Since then, on my journeys to the top of a mountain to watch the sunrise, I have spent countless hours contemplating words of wisdom from the sages of all races, genders and political persuasions, constantly accumulating the thoughts to guide me on my life path. I hope you enjoy my books. Please let me know your thoughts, as I highly value your feedback!