Just Wanting to Be.

From Facebook
https://scontent-sjc2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/12345578_1121956801169971_8159322570596712902_n.png?oh=83e9a880d9fe2630005d68f0b768b7e5&oe=571ABC61

I want to live simply.  I want to sit by the window
when it rains and read books I'll never be tested on.
I want to paint because I want to, not because I've got
something to prove.  I want to listen to my body, fall
asleep when the moon is high and wake up slowly,
with no place to rush off to.  I want not to be governed
by money or clocks or any artificial restraints
that humanity imposes on itself.
I just want to be, boundless
and infinite.
Unknown Author

The comment 

A guaranteed personal stipend would make this possible. If your infinite boundlessness includes contributing to your society you can climb out of your narcissism and do so.

was taken as an insult by the poster who saw the image as an enjoyable reading and posted it apparently without further thought. 

The quote from the image seems to be new age and stolen by the OP, but no worries, it is a common new age failing.  They just want to be, sourcing quotes, and other intellectualizing is to be avoided.  
Possibly the new ager stole it from a Zen writing, the thinking is Zen, the word tracks are new age. 

But to our muttons.  The stipend, assuming it is sufficient for the basics of living, universal medical care as part of the package would be a fascinating gumption (Pirsig sense) filter.  Some of a new age bent would read by the window, smear paint on canvas, with no thought other than personal ego enrichment. Perhaps staring at their own reflection in a pool should be added to the list.  

Others would simply vegetate in front of whatever is popular on the big screen at the time, tweet or snapchat, and otherwise remove themselves from the gene-meme pool.  No judgmentalism, removing oneself from the gene-meme pool is a popular and possibly reasonable choice given the human condition today.  And not bothering your neighbor humans while doing so is laudable.  

A few may decide that Homo Sap. is salvagable and try to do what they can to improve the lives of others if only by giving away that painting to a friend to show that you are at least trying to bring a bit of joy to someone else.  It might end up on the refrigerator door with the kids but at least you cared enough to share.  Then again it might end up on someone's wall, probably virtual these days, for others to enjoy.   Or perhaps think about that book that you read by the rainy window.  Maybe it was good enough to share and discuss with others who can read.  They are the only ones who matter in any event, and maybe you all can teach others to read.  It may seem futile, as reading and thinking about it are discouraged by all media these days as reading and thinking about it are fatal to belief, bigotry and hatred.  But there are a few out there that do so and they are the last hope for this media saturated world bent on the destruction of all for the profit of the few.  Too bad the few won't survive in the gene-meme pool either except, if we are lucky, as warnings along with all the others that put personal ideology or gain against the rest of the world.  

It is fortunate that some of the countries in the far north are realizing that those who must spend every waking moment staying alive have no time to read books or paint even with nothing to prove. They are already providing free meds and education for as long as one can get admitted, and some sort of universal basic income is being implemented.   If I were much younger I would probably move to one of the smaller countries north of the 50th parallel which are likely to survive the destruction of the temperate zones which seems irreversable at this point.  My choice would be Iceland if only because the Universal Basic Income is already in place and the Jolabokaflod, or the "ChristmasBook Flood." is a delightful tradition where people actually spend Christmas Eve reading.      

Nyah Wynne on UBI

Nyah Wynne

3 hrs · 

Thoughts on the value of a Universal Basic Income

The biggest reason I support UBI(Universal Basic Income) has nothing to do with our possible automated future, as labor becomes less essential, or at least as we need much less of it, though that's a great reason to support it. It's not even about eliminating poverty or making the unemployment rate a non-issue, though those are very good reasons too.

The reason I want a UBI is to make work at least -technically- optional. I want this because so long as work is not optional, so long as it is mandatory, it is coercive. I want UBI so that every low wage worker whose boss screws them on hours, who reprimands them for taking sick days, who asks them to work too fast in unsafe conditions(see the current fast-food lawsuit), every young employee whose boss secretly grabs their ass while no one is looking, who's constantly making lewd comments, or racist comments, or any other sort of hateful bullshit... So that every employee who finds themselves trapped in the fiefdom of some petty little tyrant of a boss, which is actually The Majority Of Low End Workers, so that they can say:

"TAKE THIS JOB AND SHOVE IT"

So that they can really, truly, meaningfully walk the fuck away. And not have it mean they end up on the streets or their kids starve or they find themselves turning tricks to keep the water running and the lights on. Or for that matter just ending up in yet another job with a slightly different petty tyrant. And they can do this, deal with this, without having to deal with lawyers or Union Reps, who though are better than -not- having them it'd be nicer to just be able to do it ourselves. Because if -enough- of them(us) say 'NO' to this petty fucking bullshit, then firms will be forced to stop letting the petty bullshit happen(those who fail to will simply not get workers), and work in general will end up less awful for everyone.

Because the ability to say 'NO' to someone who's actively abusing you... that should be pretty high on the list of 'Liberties' worth defending. In my mind.