Hi @P12, I don't think we have met on the forum before. I have read some of your posts, including this latest. I am 58 and have been thinking about these kinds of questions my whole adult life and even in childhood, a time when I experienced a huge amount of loneliness which drew me inside myself and my own curiosity of mind. I see the world around us as very far from ideal, nor do I find it based on any overall logic.
Which part of society pays a minimum wage to workers to do that for which they are naturally talented and interested?
There seems to be growing discussion in the world about a universal basic wage. I totally support that as long as it is possible to live on without high financial stress within the standards of the society where it is implemented. People could choose to live partly or wholly on the basic wage and then work voluntarily (or not) according to talent and capability. It may be that most people would still choose regular work for the material gains, but those unable to, or for whom this is a completely miserable option, would be provided for as equal members of the community.
And why has Australia rejected communism?
Vast numbers of people and maybe most nations are in fear of communism, with some good reasons. Communism was a radical peoples' movement that started in Russia, where it rose into a successful 'peoples' revolution' in the first part of the 1900s. As I see it, the ideology (Marxism) contained many good things and was a big push back at rampant inequality and alienation in people. But the implementation of Communism in the real world became terribly corrupt, brutal, oppressive, paranoid to live in and utterly miserable. Anywhere it still exists now by that name seems also to be terrible in practice. I am in favour of much greater socialist principles within the capitalism that dominates us now, but that is a very different thing to a Communist regime.
It seems there is a large gap in Australia between people being paid relatively high wages to do things to which they disagree and which reduces their welfare, and in some cases are illegal...
There are also huge numbers of good people working in the community at decent things that don't require them to go against conscience, some would be paid highly and some very lowly, and everything in between. However it seems mostly the case that even these fortunate people still have to be able to manage the super-speedy, frighteningly deadline-driven nature of the workplace these days. I think workplace stress is a major factor behind the almost pandemic levels of mental health breakdowns in world populations.
...and those who are not paid at all for following their natural instincts.
That's pretty much me at 58, having been a mostly unpaid creative worker since I was 22. Along the way I've also attempted possibly more than 30 regular jobs which caused multiple mental and physical breakdowns until I was allowed a disability pension, on which I can live a simple life without the devastating stresses I had in previous decades. It's one of the absolute best things that ever happened to me. I am still working at my creativity.
Perhaps I am wrong, but it seems there is no land in the world where one can be free of citizenship.
I don't think there is. There are a minority of people who have no nation for various reasons. They may be on the high seas as refugees or living in airports while trying to find a country that will let them live there.
Apparently, if someone is born so different to the rest of the world's population, they must suffer for the duration of their life. How can someone be free other than purely intellectually?
Suffering is part of life for all of us, but from reading earlier of your posts, I know that you are suffering loneliness and sadness to a degree that is very hard to bear. I have felt myself to be in unbearable places sometimes and I also inwardly protest and feel anger about the state of things. It's hard to accept life as it is when we are acutely suffering.
I feel for what you have been going through these past 10 years, that you wrote about in earlier forum posts I read. I wonder what your interests outside work are. My non-paying creative interests and work have been a lifeline for me in many different ways, helped me through very dark times and brought me in contact with others with similar interests, some now friends.
I also find a sense of community with others who have experience of mental illness, especially here on the forum. I hope you are comforted by connections here as well, and that this social space and these conversations may even help you come to some ideas how your life may be happier into the future.
