Mmothra
06-16-2004, 10:53 AM
Most of us work in order to live comfortably. Even those folks who may not appear to work for their livelihood work in some way: the homeless who beg, the man or woman who is "kept", those who inherit both a family name and reputation with the money... Work is paramount in importance to the vast majority of people; its importance may be negative or positive but it is still the primary focus of their lives.
I have no doubt that work is an early primate adaptation designed both to promote the survival of as many group members as possible and to create and enforce group cohesion and conformity. It is this second aspect that really interests me the most.
Many of us follow a routine very similar to the following five days a week: We get up at a time that feels unnatural and unpleasant. We hurry through rudimentary pleasantries with those we purport to love and care for while cleaning ourselves (so as not offend) and dressing in uncomfortable clothes we would probably not choose to wear if we didn't "have to" (so as to blend in and reinforce an artificial standard of "professionalism"). We endure traffic and/or public transportation (working in the comforts of home is still a relatively alien idea to corporate America) and sit in small, climate controlled pens called "cubicles" and "offices" for a given period of time (typically 9 hours). During this time, activity takes place that serves largely symbolic purposes (the movement of capital in the form of promissary notes) and seldom directly serves the needs of the worker apart from a periodic payment. Since this payment is in the form of another promissary note (or a stream of 1 and 0's to and from a bank), it's significance is largely symbolic as well.
What does this mean for human consciousness? How are we in "industrialized" nations psychologically and spiritually different from those in non-industrial nations? Are we better or worse for these societal and cultural expectations? Is it possible to be truly "awake" under such circumstances?
I am interested to hear how you cope with the seeming absurdity of work and how it intersects with your spiritual beliefs and practices.
Albino Crow
06-16-2004, 11:10 AM
In modern times, the general concept of enlightenment has become a redundant metaphor for a fantastical state of mind. The contemplation of God and the divine, the calculation of eternity, the pondering of the variable unknown, it's become a dead-end ambition with only cognitive dissonance as it's reward. We as a species, to generalize some, have forgotten how to passionately wonder. It's the primordial drive of discovery which has brought us to these times and developments, and in their wake the human spirit has dwindled. It's reasonable to say this is a factor of evolution, for the process is primarily a matter of trial and error, selection and action. So what then is, enlightenment?
Many cultures and Religions of the World have deemed it a destruction of the ego, and a re-creation of a purified self. Others claim it to be absolute harmony with one's surroundings, and a very common one, a modern one, deem it unreachable and useless. This is the day-to-day life of the common God-fearing man with his American job. Fortunately, enlightenment has de-evolved on the latter of human consciousness, and unfortunately it has a price to pay. Modern enlightenment has become the individual's passion and courage to follow through his personal convictions and beliefs, despite mass rejection. However, not every book entails what it's cover implies. It isn't the conscious, or unconscious decision to follow through one's convictions, it's the experience that belies it. It may be more common than some think, but on the other side of the coin you wouldn't know it if it were a Goth preaching emo on a stage. To a lesser degree, modern 'illumination', or enlightenment and ancient enlightenment are two seperate energies. Just as we are out of touch with our primordial selves, we are out of touch with primordial thought. They say history repeats itself, and that things on this planet act very much like a spiral, but that remains to be seen in future times.
It's suffice to say that light becomes oblivious and un-apparent in the presence of other light, in which case it may be a similar motif for human enlightenment, or spiritual illumination. With the light of our radical technologies and 'evolved concepts' of science and our very own nature, enlightenment has become an elusive wraith shunned by some, and ignored by others. This isn't to be confused with a self-proclaimed enlightened individual receiving flack for his claims, but the concept itself. With that nifty computer in front of you, or that super-interesting show on TV you've been following for weeks, who needs enlightenment? Hell, who even needs to think? As long as you're stimulated in some way, any way, you'll be satisfied to know you're alive in some way. Anything beyond that requires extra-effort, which we've been taught only counts in academics. As long as that extra thought is being put into something to make our cel phones smaller, or our computers faster, then it's useful. It's a wonder poets only became famous after they died while those modern Starbucks consumers sit and read their words with a naive smile drinking their lattes.
Ultimately, I don't think we're much better or any worse off than non-industrialized nations. I don't have living experience with the latter, so I really can't split hairs on the differences between them, only speculate. Instead of doing that, I will say that the average American day-to-day lifestyle is one of saturation and over-stimulation. You ask if we are awake? The majority of us, I would think no. At this point in time being awake means pain, and people just don't like pain. They'd rather suck their slurpy of life through their plastic straw.
DualMetal
06-16-2004, 11:10 AM
My piece is that it difficults to be truly awake as stated in an environment one thinks one knows the whereabouts as of a daily routine doing the same typical labor. Consciense is sort of layed to rest for it is not much in need when one seems to think to know what is going to happen tomorrow, today, and past tomorrow, next week, ect...
If there is a disturbance in my work, I will try to analize where I went wrong as for myself, and so I may be more flexible to the others that are different in ways.. Being a teamwork environment one is in one also has to get across and interogate questions one doesn't clarify with well. Paying attention is good deal.
Tzimtzum
06-16-2004, 11:19 AM
That's why I stuck with college and completed a degree in Theology. Now I can teach about a subject that intriques me in a field closely associated to my passion... and if I'm a little quirky, no one seems to notice.
DualMetal
06-16-2004, 12:42 PM
The difference in phychology if the country of U.S and Sudan is that poverty is accepted more willingly in Sudan than in the U.S. In the U.S alot of respect goes to industrial heads of the crew, while the rest of the nation is complaining about taxes... In Sudan, poverty is more-so in the spotlight as the people of our nation, they say.. Although U.S citizens are more skeptical on what to have faith in...
Lord Ruthven
06-18-2004, 11:10 AM
Spiritually I believe nine-to-five is a stunting, damaging schedule. I surmise this by the observance of others since I have never done it myself - apart from at school which I was last at four years ago and isn't really the same thing.
I never intend to do it myself. It is an absurd thing which I would only do if 100% necessary. While there are other options available to me, I take them. I never want somone else to be my boss. I never want to have to get up at a time of day which ruins my social life and I never want to be a wage slave.
Note, I may someday soon have to give up and accept these things, but I will not go gently into that dark night of the soul.
Mmothra
06-18-2004, 11:40 AM
Attention: Rant follows
My feelings regarding traditional work practices, environments and mindsets were probably pretty clear in the initial post...but just to be clear, I feel that work (and I include academia in this condemnation, LR...in some ways it is worse) is the primary reason for the zombification of humanity. When work became largely symbolic activity with an internal culture emphasizing conformity, souls began dying. Academia is worse in the same way that Playboy is worse than Hustler in terms of the damage done to women--it implies that you can have your cake and eat it, too, i.e. that in academia there is an opportunity for "open discourse" that is not present in the workplace. In fact, academia is business and had been expressly designed to train complacent and malleable worker-bees (Foucault has written about this most clearly).
So what is to be done? "Work-Life Balance" needs to become "Life-Work Preference" and a holistic view of the worker adopted. I like the work that I do, but I shouldn't have to give up who I am and become a neuter being in order to do my work. The power of individuality and benefits of inclusion and diverse points of view need to bob to the surface of organizations.
Sound like the summer '68? Maybe that's a good thing. Perhaps a corporate Guy Debord is exactly what we need right now.
"Young people everywhere have been allowed to choose between love and a garbage disposal unit. Everywhere they have chosen the garbage disposal unit." -G. Debord
Mmothra
06-18-2004, 12:56 PM
Just found this in the "Oddly Enough" section of Yahoo! and felt it communicated a bit of what I was getting at in my rant above.
LONDON (Reuters) - A major investment bank is advising clients to have sex, get more sleep and stop equating happiness with money -- turning the industry image of hard-nosed dealmakers on its head.
German-owned Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein offers the advice in a note to clients by its strategist James Montier.
"I thought it was time that I reminded people there was more to life than watching screens every day," he told Reuters.
The note recommends clients have sex, ideally with someone they love, reflect on the good things in life, give their bodies enough sleep and exercise regularly.
But they shouldn't get too carried away.
"I still need a little bit of money just to keep me happy," said Montier.
feranaja
06-18-2004, 02:30 PM
My brother used to say his law office was staffed by very personable sociopaths. I have always done oddball things and found a lot of joy and freedom in the way I live. after I got past being bothered by small minded jabs from nine to fivers, that is.
There is no longer any dissonance between what I believe and what I do. I teach people to take better care of creatures that humanity actually seems capable of loving, at least to some extent. There are other "messages" in what I teach, but I don't presume to state them directly. I get to help
people solve problems they thought were insurmountable and I can slip in some seeds of larger change as well. I also feel I speak for those without a voice, which is a very good feeling.
When I work with people and Tarot, I see myself as
facilitating self exploration, not in the arrogant role of a "therapist" who knows better and therefore, can "help" others. It's esotric psychology, to be sure, but more a process of teaching than presuming to decide FOR others. An important distinction for me personally.
My work and my spiritual life are nicely aligned. I hope as I write more (professionally) that this will expand and evolve, too.
Would that everyone had this harmony, i feel it's a prerequisite for peace in this life.
fera
frotish_mewn
06-19-2004, 02:26 AM
Mmothra, you've touched on something that has bothered me for most of my life. I completely agree with you that it is "the primary reason for the zombification of humanity". At times I wanted to live in the wilds because I couldn't stand the whole work world that's now common everyday reality for most people. That's not really an option anymore for me, for several reasons, but I have my own solution. I plan on buying land, creating a permaculture environment, and starting a business growing and selling medicinal plants (on the same land I live on). This way I don't have a job, I have a life that makes me smile. I just can't accept the idea of a job that I'm only doing for the money. I want to be directly connected to the natural processes of life. I want to feel the pulse of life around me at all times.
Unfortunately, I have just gone back to my job (full-time hours). It's a warehouse: no windows, lots of machine, flourescent lights, mass production/packaging of things that have nothing to do (directly) with what I want of life. Many times I have heard people say that they feel like machines. I worked in this same place a few years ago and it was hard on me. I remember one time briefly seeing people as though they were 2-dimensional cutouts gliding along on tracks while a recording of many voices was played to give the illusion of life. I'm sure you can guess already, but I was far from happy. Now I can deal with it much better than before, but it's just a step to get me closer to what I will create in my life.