Along with contentment we also need to consider how much we care. Contentment is about the extent of our well-being; caring is about the intensity of our well-being.
When we don't plan for the future it's because in an important way we don't care.
Contentment and caring operate at a level of being that is deeper than the level at which our tastes and preferences operate. Tastes and preferences focus on the materiality of the material realm – that which is subject to consumption (for consumption is what we are pointing to when we speak of a good's utility: it is the utility of its consumption) – while contentment and caring focuses on the spirituality of the material realm – that which mediates our relationships with ourselves and with others, and with the things we don't consume.
When we speak of ‘care and feeding’ we are implicitly recognizing the difference between tastes and preferences vs caring and contentment.
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