(UNICAMP - 2002 - 2 fase - Questo 16)Those who see

(UNICAMP - 2002 - 2 fase - Questão 16)

Those who seem happiest have a certain unity in their lives; work and leisure are integrated…

Well, again I can look at it only in terms of an individual. I think the person who takes a job in order to live – that is to say, for the money – has turned himself into a slave. Work begins when you don’t like what you’re doing. There’s a wise saying: make your hobby your source of income. Then there’s no such thing as work and there’s no such thing as getting tired. That’s been my own experience. I did just what I wanted to do. It takes a little courage at first, because who the hell wants you to do just what you want to do; they’ve all got a lot of plans for you. But you can make it happen. I think it’s very important for a young person to have the courage to do what seems to him significant in his life, and not just take a job in order to make money. But this takes a bit of prudence and very careful planning, and may delay financial achievement and comfortable living. But the ultimate result will be very much to his pleasure.

But there’s an incredible amount of pressure to conform.

I know it. But there is a margin, too. There are plenty of ways to coast along until you find your center. I don’t mean going on relief: I don’t have much respect for people who expect society to support them while they’re finding their feet. There are other ways to work that out. If you have a job, for instance, which allows you time enough to develop your own system of ideas for the future, and the boss offers you more money for extra hours, then you refuse that because it would take away from your free time. Do you see what I mean?

An Open Life – Joseph Campbell in conversation with Michael Toms. New York, Harper & Row Publishers, 1990.

Campbell prevê que alguns obstáculos terão que ser vencidos por quem decidir colocar em prática a visão de trabalho defendida por ele. Que obstáculos são esses?