When I read this thread, it seems that I have hung out with entirely different Islamic, Christian, and Jewish groups than a couple of posters have. Some of the ideas presented are absolutely foreign to my experience of these. They seem to assume non-thought, regurgitation, a party line, etc, which is not the case with those I hang out with.
There are many aspects, groups, and schools of thoughts under each massive religious umbrella. Let's not assume all aspects present a given belief, or paint all groups with the same brush. There are too many variables involved to be able to say, "This [broadstroke] religion is..." or, "Jesus thought..."
My favourite people to hang out with in any religion (or financial forum!) are those that are deeply thoughtful, while enjoying sharing in their words their own experiences, neither quickly accepting nor writing off any given first impression. There are lots of people in many religions like that.
No passion
No purpose
No meaning
Hmm, except for the references to Vonnegut most responses seem to suggest that there is something wrong with this state of affairs.
I don't see that. I, for one, and I tend to think several others, were responding to the OP's
discomfort (not that there's anything wrong with discomfort, either) and his apparent
desire to move to a place of decreased discomfort.
OP: It sounds like you've pinpointed what's getting in the way of you feeling joyful more hours of each week. That's awesome! Some jobs are indeed soul-sucking. On this forum, we often hear from people who are frustrated because their work requires that they "just sit there" all day. They acknowledge that if they were allowed to do other things -write their novel, research investing, become a yoyo master in time for their kid's birthday party- it would be at least tolerable. But the jobs that essentially require one to literally do nothing -no real work for most of the day, but no option to do anything else in those hours- just eat away at them. The other job-type that seems to do people in is that in which ethics are disregarded, and the workers are being asked to violate their own. Most of us can handle any job that engages our sense or mind while allowing us to honour our sense of ethics, but jobs that violate one or both are no-gos for a lot of us.