Why Can't I Bring Myself to Work?

How do people cope with the necessity of working?

We are all in a state of collective denial.

In America, we hold the values of freedom and equality as supremely important.  Nevertheless, the majority of Americans between the ages of 18 and 65 (or is it 75 these days?) spend most of their waking hours in the workplace.  And there are few places that are less free, less democratic, and less egalitarian than the workplace.

Most people have little choice about whether to work and, once employed, little choice about whom they work with.  Work is not something that we freely choose to do or not do.  It is an involuntary activity, a necessity that we learn to cope with.  What is the urge to own rental property or stock market shares, if not the desire to obtain income without participating in the workplace?  Is not the dream of being rich really the desire to have enough money to buy your freedom from the workplace?

Deep down, if we face the truth, there is a part of us that would rather not work.