I appreciate that you say that because I do find it troubling that some people here seem to suggest that unless you are willing to take the kinds of risks involved in doing a startup, you are not really living or actualizing your potential.
It's the attitude that if you work in a company you are just a wage slave and a drone.
It's an attitude that expresses a value system which places a premium on achievement and 'Success' and is not so different from the value system of certain people inside the corporate world who are desperately clawing their way up the ladder to prove something to their peers, their neighbors or themselves.
I don't begrudge someone their ambition to do that if they want to but what I do resent is when someone tries to make me feel that my choices are somehow less if I'm not willing to 'step up'. It all comes down to what you value more.
Robustness, and potential of evolution, of a society relies on its diversity, I think. Tech start-ups stand on the huge body of relatively risk-free infrastructure provided by traditional structured organizations. Although such structure may change from the current way big corporations run, there will always be more people needed to work for such stable infrastructure than trying new things on top of it.
And people are different from each other. Some can draw their potential by taking risks and trying new things. Some can draw theirs by maintaining and gradually improving the existing organization. Some even want to produce things that don't pay their bills (e.g. most artists) so the need day jobs, but they are roots and trunk of rich culture.
PG doesn't say explicitly, but I think his essays aim at very specific type of people, especially those who aren't risk-averse type but are afraid of taking risks because they're educated so.
If you're bothered by those who look down you, you can just remind yourself that their success actually relies on you.
Preface to the following: I don't have enough time to frame my arguments in a more objective view-point, so, for those that read this post please do not take them personally! I respect individual free will greatly and never expound my philosophies unless someone asks :)
I would agree, in the end it is ultimately about happiness and joy. However, if you are inherently seeking personal evolution (which is what joy IS), 9 to 5 will do a lot to suppress that.
Unless you happen to be paid for research or bleeding edge development on some cool project, building webapps for other people day in and day out; or doing maintenance work day in and day out isn't a terribly creative expression IMHO. (Creativity IS spirit, it is an aspect of the intellect - there is regurgitation and then there is creativity)
I resigned from my 9 to 5 (as a systems engineer and web application developer) to pursue my self-education and a startup idea. While I almost did not hand in that letter of resignation, I did, and I am loving my life.
Mind you, I am 22, have 0 debts, 0 dependents, and am willing to live out of a tent and work from the library till my projects begin to generate an income (yes I am a lone wolf).
If you feel fear, that is an excellent indicator that you are staring right at your 'edge'. Edge being that boundary in which you, as a man (I'm assuming you're a man), find your present state of consciousness expanding into; pushing that edge pops the bubble and you begin expanding into that new boundary. The phallus is an excellent symbol, as men (speaking for myself and many that I know, I apologize for the sweeping generalization) we feel purposeless and mediocre when we are not constantly PUSHING, SPEARING, HUNTING, PENETRATING.
Find your edge and lean into it (don't jump off the edge), push push push. Use the masculine aspect of your psyche (intellect, hunter, etc...) to challenge yourself and your edge; you can even do this within the context of a 9 to 5 job, however, you will find at some point the typical 9 to 5 structure of serving your time to someone else is far less appealing than serving it to the greater self that is your life.
It's the attitude that if you work in a company you are just a wage slave and a drone.
It's an attitude that expresses a value system which places a premium on achievement and 'Success' and is not so different from the value system of certain people inside the corporate world who are desperately clawing their way up the ladder to prove something to their peers, their neighbors or themselves.
I don't begrudge someone their ambition to do that if they want to but what I do resent is when someone tries to make me feel that my choices are somehow less if I'm not willing to 'step up'. It all comes down to what you value more.