Work and Happiness.
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
Confucius
An old proverb that’s true. Doing work you love will leave you feeling impressively good.
To an alchemist of the classical era, work was defined as a spiritual endeavor. Turning lead into gold was as much about transforming yourself as it was about transforming physical matter. In the end, the elements themselves become symbols that tell the story of the transformation in ourselves.
What do you think? Can you separate your labor from your work? Is your personal development something you should do only on the evenings and weekends? Or should you “maximize your return on investment” by investing in yourself every moment of the day? Imagine what you could do in ten years if you made every waking moment a step towards being a better person. Imagine what the world could be.
To me, the matter of the question is really happiness. If you’re happy doing your job, and salivating at the thought of going there again, you’re half way there - the purpose of life is to find happiness against all odds. Being stuck in a boring, demeaning or unfulfilling job is a terrible burden to bear. If you have any doubts about work actually being, you know, healthy for you, I recommend reading Happy Hour is 9 to 5 — it’s free.
The Ethics of Desire
First off, while you may be comfortable with your current job title and/or salary, how do you know if you’re truly happy? I have to write this extended quote from the ever insightful Frank Herbert.
“… one does not obtain food-safety-freedom by instinct alone … animal consciousness does not extend beyond the given moment nor into the idea that its victims may become extinct … animal pleasures remain close to sensation levels and avoid the perceptual … the human requires a background grid through which to see his universe … focused consciousness by choice, this forms your grid …”
Frank Herbert – Dune
If you apply those paradigms to the current economic weather, and understand that the situation is as much about trust and ethics as it is about mortgages we can’t afford, it becomes plain to see that those at fault acted like animals with no conscience, no remorse, and no consideration to the potential for extinction amongst our world that their actions have caused.
Now… we’re on the brink of global catatonic failure of the systems which facilitate our survival. We are a few key collapses away from the whole thing crumbling. Because of ethics. Because of greed. Because of a choice to follow selfish and temporal desires for pleasure, rather than lasting happiness.
Happiness v. Pleasure
In simple terms, I’ve been questioning my own ethics. I’ve been working to develop my own business for several years now and it’s been especially difficult because I haven’t known what I really wanted … I haven’t known what would make me happy.
I’ve read a lot, whether online or on sheaves of dead trees. And in 2004, during a particularly trying era of my life, I read a copy of The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Llama. In it he spoke of the difference between pleasure and happiness. He said that, essentially, people are unhappy because they seek out pleasure instead. It’s easy to find examples, especially if you look at the culture of the ‘Night Life’. You may take a bit of pleasure in binge drinking, or that fine piece of ass, but you’ll regret the effects of it the next day, and like television, while you may provide a temporary boost to your feelings, in the long term such behaviors will make you even more miserable, and encourage greed, dystopia, and negligence.
Therefore, in order to endure long and satisfying happiness, one most forgo the pursuit of pleasure. On this the Dalai Llama and Cicero speak the same words 2000 years apart. Forgo small pleasures now, to receive happiness later.
It’s because of this pursuit of happiness that I’ve ultimately said ‘No’ to the vast majority of projects that I’ve started. It’s not that they were bad ideas, or that they wouldn’t have worked, it’s where they would have lead to that ultimately would have delivered unhappiness to me, and I can’t stand that.
I’ve looked high and low to find (or create) work for myself that would ultimately feed my family, as well as my soul. I’ve finally found that and look forward to sharing it with you soon.
