Everything about work.

[Mike Cl]

Slowly, painfully, however you can - acquire the costumes, props, and other wherewithal for the part that you wish to play.

If you want to be a teacher, you need a masters degree - that's a prop. Get it. But, along the way, look, act, even smell like your idea of a teacher. I've not yet gotten my masters degree (working on it), but already strangers assume that I'm a college professor. When I step out of the house, I look like a college professor, down to having my pipe in hand!

NEVER LET ANYONE TELL YOU THAT YOU CANNOT HAVE WHAT YOU WANT! They will put "PhD in Mathematics" on my headstone!

This!  Yeah, I agree! 

You tend to get what you expect you will.  If you expect to be a great math teacher, you will.  The key here is 'expect'.  That is NOT wishful thinking or hoping or longing.  It is 'knowing' you will be that teacher and that you are willing and excited to do the work to get the tools you need.  As Campbell says--follow your bliss.  Bliss and expectations are fairly close.  One of the few things I took home with me from Unity was what they called 'affirmations'--little sayings you say to yourself.  It can be anything--I am happy.  Say it over and over several hundred times a day.  Train your mind to expect to be whatever you affirm.  Keep it up.  Then it will be yours.  The hard part is figuring what it is you really want--not what you are told to want, not what your parents want, not what you wish you wanted--what do you want?  Then go get it.  Put in the work.  That's what work is.

Can work ever be play?  I used to love putting together lesson plans in subject areas I liked.  That was not work.  That was play.  Playing football was not work--it was play.  It was hard at times, but still play.  Can play ever become work?  Sure.  Playing good football took work.  But I was willing to put in that work to make my play more fun.

[marom1963]

This!  Yeah, I agree! 

You tend to get what you expect you will.  If you expect to be a great math teacher, you will.  The key here is 'expect'.  That is NOT wishful thinking or hoping or longing.  It is 'knowing' you will be that teacher and that you are willing and excited to do the work to get the tools you need.  As Campbell says--follow your bliss.  Bliss and expectations are fairly close.  One of the few things I took home with me from Unity was what they called 'affirmations'--little sayings you say to yourself.  It can be anything--I am happy.  Say it over and over several hundred times a day.  Train your mind to expect to be whatever you affirm.  Keep it up.  Then it will be yours.  The hard part is figuring what it is you really want--not what you are told to want, not what your parents want, not what you wish you wanted--what do you want?  Then go get it.  Put in the work.  That's what work is.

Can work ever be play?  I used to love putting together lesson plans in subject areas I liked.  That was not work.  That was play.  Playing football was not work--it was play.  It was hard at times, but still play.  Can play ever become work?  Sure.  Playing good football took work.  But I was willing to put in that work to make my play more fun.

I agree w/you wholeheartedly. That is exactly what I was talking about. Drilling yourself as though you were your own drill sergeant, putting yourself through your own paces, day in, day out. It's not easy; it's hard work - but that's what really successful people do. "I want this. I want it. I want it." You cannot let anything become an excuse. A setback is a challenge and nothing more.

The only one who can really tell you that you can't have what you want is yourself.*

*Note: I am talking about decent, worthwhile things, of course. If you want to kill people and bury them in your cellar, well, yes, we, as a society, can tell you that you cannot have that. And, no, I do not mean that you may cheat and lie and steal to get your way. That is no good. You must work for what you want. Otherwise, you do not deserve it. Sadly, the World is full of cheats, liars, and thieves - they are not good role models! - no matter what goodies they have managed to pile up ... If you have a conscience, you know if you deserve what you've got.

[Baruch]

I like your walk back in the second half of your post ;-)  Self actualization would work, if it wasn't selfish, and if people weren't shit at choosing goals.  Find the common good, and your own good will take care of yourself.  If you find you don't like that, then do it anyway and STFU.  Of course this is what got Socrates executed eventually.

I am fortunate in that I have enjoyed my work, most of the time, for the last 20 years or so.  But it was never bliss, it never involved drugs.  I get bliss when I have an orgasm, but the bliss doesn't last very long.  Maybe work is your bliss ... if you are a porn star and the girl is pretty ;-))

[Mike Cl]

I like your walk back in the second half of your post ;-)  Self actualization would work, if it wasn't selfish, and if people weren't shit at choosing goals.  Find the common good, and your own good will take care of yourself.  If you find you don't like that, then do it anyway and STFU.  Of course this is what got Socrates executed eventually.

I am fortunate in that I have enjoyed my work, most of the time, for the last 20 years or so.  But it was never bliss, it never involved drugs.  I get bliss when I have an orgasm, but the bliss doesn't last very long.  Maybe work is your bliss ... if you are a porn star and the girl is pretty ;-))

I like your kind of bliss--especially with a porn star!  I don't think Campbell meant that as bliss, and I certainly did not.  The bliss I talked about is harder to find.  Bliss=what feeds your inner most self.  Maybe deep satisfaction would be a better term.  If whittling things out of wood is what you would do 24/7 if you could, then I'd say whittling is your bliss.  Campbell explains further, that that is what one should do then, follow your bliss and your well being will follow. 

[Baruch]

I have seven billion ape men between me and my bliss ... so I don't think I will get any of that "deep satisfaction".  Maybe Campbell had bliss, because bliss for him is having your own TV show with Bill Moyers ;-)