psyah

is it the recipe for laziness?

Milly

Depends on the context. Striving to be the best of the best in everything at all times can sometimes lead to forgetting that only the most simple things in life count.

As I say to my 5 year olds, be the best you can be, nothing more, nothing else. Priorities are dependent on the individual.

kakaballi

I know a person who's extremely hardworking and intelligent, earns millions and gives around 90% of his income to charity being the portion 'he does not need'.

Being content with little can also be an 'excuse' for laziness, as it is in my case

notorious

Maybe it is, in some situations.

Could also be positive, when someone becomes more focused on being a better person, by learning more about religion or different topics instead of only being interested in having this and owning that, by trying to have a better character I guess and better understanding of the more important things of life.

Dushwari

great topic.

something that can be either denial, procrastination or simply low self-motivation and consequently, very little personal achievement.

men and women, just starting out as a couple, specially will need personal motivation.

this could very well be the reason for conflict and crisis - financial and also standard of living.

for anyone's extended family to feel less burdened, people must be qualified and self sufficient and not act like or remain mediocre.

it takes everyone to be ready in doing their due share to prevent unfair stress on one particular person in the context of a family.


as individuals, young adult children must be able to stand up on their feet so that parents can feel relieved.

so, this is a societal, personal and familial issue which all people from all socio economic and educational back grounds must confront and sensibly make the right decision about stability in living a successful and comfortable life.

it will also inspire other family members and friends, to follow the example of hard work and rely only on ownselves.

otherwise, being content with the minimum can certainly continually lower the standard of living and develop resentment, if one partner is high achieving and the other is placid.

psyah

So everyone here has given some sort of context to what it is being content about and why that will detemine whether it is a matter of being lazy or not.

To a religious person a materialist might be religiously lazy and to a materialist a religious person might be lazy for innovation and progress.

Being content with little food might be a good thing to be, but then surely this would mean a person no longer asks for more and if he asks from God is that not a good thing? Is asking from God a lazy thing? However, to strive to reduce ones needs is still an incontent position. To the outside it may appear to be a person who is content with little, but it may be subtly different. That person may be competing to better him or herself.

How does this all fit within the framework of selfishness and selflessness good and bad when you consider contentment?

Also, is it correct to say that the one who is not content is either competing or complaining. What is the philosophical position of these types of people? Does this clarify who the lazy ones will be?

diwana

'Minimum' is a relative term.

psyah

^ Peace diwana

If by this you mean that the minimum can be both a recipe for laziness and not a recipe for laziness depending on what the subject matter is then please explain. If you have a different reason for writing the above comment please elaborate.

diwana

^ OK. I meant that minimum is a subjective term. For some its a Jhopri for others its a Mansion, till they feel 'content'.

Now in regards to laziness. For some yes its true. Its lazines if they do not struggle for better life for themselves or for their own family members.

Having witnessed people who do not struggle to provide good place to live or get essential necessary education, for their children/spouse, I think they are lazy.

Again the term minimum has to be defined and is difficult to define.