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Eek! Saint George's Dragon wrote:
> Ashikaga the Forcible Masked Drag Racer of Niceness wrote:
>>Okay, maybe when you read the title, you'd think I'm on something again....
>>But anyways, I updated my livejournal entry: (I did update at irregular
>>intervals, but most of them are private message kept away from showing to
>>public)
>>http://www.livejournal.com/users/ashikaga/
>>Do you guys find a good correlationship bewteen the meaning of your life
>>and the work you do? For those of you who live longer than I am, what's
>>your take on the issue? I would like to know your opinion too, Lost.
>>Since I know you are very religious, so I would like to know your opinion
>>as well. Everyone is welcome to discuss their perception of the meaning of
>>life and work.
>
> Well, first your concerns about industrial man not understanding the
> significance of his own work are an old one that streches back to Adam
> Smith, although I think more associated with left wing thinkers. I do
> not really see an alternative to industrial conglomeration except for
> universal scaricity. I would point out worrying about it won't change
> it, but this rings hollow as I worry about all kinds of things I have
> no hope of changing. I would say that just because such problems exist
> does not obligate you to feel miserable, you can be happy and still be
> geniuily concerned and engaged with such things.
I'm very right-wing in philosophy in term of economy. I am very
anti-communism just for the very idea that human are assumably
interchangeable and can be relocated to do different works as the state
assigns them to for the greater goods of the society. I mean why would a
person endowed with talents to do arts do factory works; or a man lived in
Toronto with a talent in construction assigned to do highway planning in
Montreal (and therefore, forced to relocate to another place), just because
the state decided there is a shortage of highway engineers, but
construction worker allocation has been filled? Humans are not designed to
be robots (or otherwise we are all replaceable by machines). People have
aspiration to do something they have a passion for.
Anyways, back on topic. Yes, one can deceive oneself into believing there
is a reason why one is working at something s/he doesn't have a great
interest in, but don't expect happiness to be ensued.
> As to the relation between work and the meaning of my life or purpose
> in it. Well, I am fortunate in that I am essentially paid (via a
> scholarship) to do something that I might pretty much want to do
> anyway (some define this as success). Of course whether this will be
> the case after I finish my PhD remains to be seen. But I do not think
> my hopes of continueing to research in my chosen field are too
> farfetched. I enjoy this idea very much and it makes my efforts pretty
> easy to justify to myself, so I do not have crisies of identify as you
> describe. I think though that there is a danger to being paid to do
> what you like in that your work can become your life. I think you
> always benefit by going beyond your work and this is important.
And that's healthy. If you have a passion, the greater efficiency will be
achieved through it anyways. And yes, I also realize if one becomes his
work, there is a great danger in it, as that's one of the things I strongly
criticize about modern management theory, as it exploits human's passion
for their work by making them feel their job is their worth (which is the
other end of the extreme). But sometimes I feel quite cautious about
advicing people not to overwork but to live their lives a bit, I feel I
might be encouraging people to be slackers.... You know how some people
will take words and interpret them differently than you intended.
> With respect to my work, I hope and feel that although meager my
> efforts result in something worthwhile. However, I can hardly be sure
> of this, I may be wasting my efforts in vain pedantry.
>
> If your particular interests and aptitudes do not suit you to some
> profession where you can make a living (or live in the style to which
> you have become accustomed), well that unfortunately is life, you will
> have to pick up some work to live. Even if you do fall into some
> calling where your interests, aspirations and aptitudes match there is
> still plenty of grunt work to be done along the way.
That I understand. I'm criticizing the very fundamental of the society
that values the work a person does but not the person's intrinsic ability.
I mean an artist can be extremely talented, but if nobody wants to buy a
painting, he is considered probably lower than those who makes a minimum
wage. I think it's called dislocation of job and talent in economics.
> I worked one summer at a bottlecap factory, I was in charge of the
> machine that made the cardboard boxes the bottlecaps were shipped off
> in. I worked 12 hour shifts (and every two weeks I shifted from day to
> night shift). It was at once mindnumbingly boring and exhausting. I
> would never want to do that again. However, if it was either that or
> go on the pogy I would probably do that job again, but I would
> definetly spend lots of energy looking for something else. Later
> summers I worked at my university doing research, although not without
> boredom or long days I enjoyed that work a great deal more and found
> it interesting overall. I did not stay in physics because I hoped to
> find something more rewarding and engaging in my broader conceptual
> interests in the history of physics and the philosphy of physics.
> However, if I had not had the prospect of HPS I think I could have
> happily continued with a career in physics and found other ways to
> satisfy my speculative and humanist impulse in after work pursuits.
I'm so glad you take some time to use your real life experience to support
your argument. It makes much more sense to your audience, as it renders an
argument more life-like and more connected to people's lives, as oppose to
just like another "theory" about life.
Lots of jobs can be bearable if people you work with are interesting people
you enjoy very much. That has been the way for my past few jobs.
And I believe some fields of interests can take priority, much like your
career choice in physics if top choices become no longer practical. I
enjoy doing finance, but I also enjoy doing teaching, novel writing,
cooking and stuff. I see them as viable alternatives, but sometimes we
don't even get to choose to work on those viable alternatives.
We shall be glad that our talents lie along the ways of the skills that are
valued by this society. If we possesses some strange skills like able to
tell an animal's gender by smell, then we'd most likely be starved and even
laughed at.
> I have neither the experience nor the knowledge to give career advice.
> However, based on my own limited work experience I think if you really
> hate your job then you are going to be at least a little unhappy or
> unsatisifed overall. However, if you don't hate your job even if you
> do not love it, I think you will find you can be as satisified as if
> you love your job as long as you find ways to fufill your needs and
> ambitions elsewhere.
I'm not talking about myself only, but I see lots of people have very low
self-worth because of the work they do. They just keep doing it
because..., well, there isn't really a real because... (which is really
sad). They can explain it like "because that's just life" or "I'm just
doing it for the money" or "at least I'm not starving" or "it's better than
your job anyways" but none of those explains why they still feel miserable.
They are just excuses stemed from a hopeless feeling they can't not even
grunt, because that's just the way the society forces them to do.
--
Ashikaga a26
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