Forgive me, I think you're hurting yourself, Bill. There are many choices to be made. You can buy your potatoes chips with olestra, and leak through the butt, or you can buy potatoes and make them yourself. No matter how I phrase the choices, they will seem silly and trivial. But, small choices accumulate. You can sell your body to the insurance/drug/md golden triangle, or you can go to the library and read a wealth of research that shows that vitamins and supplements are a better bet, and cheaper, too. These are choices.
It may be an inescapable feature of the revolutionary impulse that makes the rebel feel that life begins only after some decisive moment of social and political progress. Thinking in this way won't help people live the life before life begins. Why wouldn't you want to buy a car that gets better mileage, if you can - or, even better ride a bike? People do it. It is, after all, within the realm of possibility. You don't have to enter into a metaphysical dimension to ride a bike, do you? It's simply a choice.
I am reminded of something about my parents that should not be taken as a reflection on you. I am not implying that you are like my parents. They have been, however, devoted socialists, through long lives. Thus, it always hurts me a little bit when I see them ignoring the homeless beggar on the street. "How does charity help to change the world?" they ask. I know firsthand what it means to lack even 10 cents, and, so, their attitude seems a tad bizarre to me.
Confucius said: "If good does not accumulate, it is not enough to make a name for a man. If evil does not accumulate, it is not strong enough to destroy a man. Therefore the inferior man thinks to himself, 'Goodness in small things has no value,' and so neglects it. He thinks, 'Small sins do no harm,' and so does not give them up. Thus his sins accumulate until they can no longer be covered up, and his guilt becomes so great that it can no longer be wiped out."
Quincy