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Labor as an absolute necessity, as a means to achieve the essential security and comfort level, as a way to lose oneself in a hectic lifestyle, as a way to gain status and respect in society... What role should it play in a person's life?
The morality of hard work
In USSR labor was glorified as the highest achievement of man, as heroism available to everyone: “Labor in the USSR is a matter of honesty, glory, valor, and heroism.” It was every citizen's holy duty to work for the sake of the country. That was sort of the meaning which an atheist state provided its people with. They had an aim to aspire to, they had a way of achieving symbolic immortality in becoming 'heroes of labor', those who helped bring about a better future for humanity.
The perception of labor was transformed from being an unavoidable inconvenience necessary for survival into a noble act of servitude to the greater good. It was an ideology that worked similarly to religion which attempts to give human life meaning and purpose by claiming it serves god, who has a plan.
Although, the praising of hard work is not exclusively the ideology of Soviet Union. Its just that I remember a bit of those times myself and have seen lots of movies produced in that era that often had the glorification of labor as a main message.
Bertrand Russell mentioned Soviet Russia in his work "In Praise of Idleness":
"For ages, the rich and their sycophants have written in praise of 'honest toil', have praised the simple life, have professed a religion which teaches that the poor are much more likely to go to heaven than the rich, and in general have tried to make manual workers believe that there is some special nobility about altering the position of matter in space, just as men tried to make women believe that they derived some special nobility from their sexual enslavement. In Russia, all this teaching about the excellence of manual work has been taken seriously, with the result that the manual worker is more honored than anyone else. "
And another spot on quote from the same paper:
"The fact is that moving matter about, while a certain amount of it is necessary to our existence, is emphatically not one of the ends of human life. If it were, we should have to consider every navvy superior to Shakespeare. We have been misled in this matter by two causes. One is the necessity of keeping the poor contented, which has led the rich, for thousands of years, to preach the dignity of labor, while taking care themselves to remain undignified in this respect. The other is the new pleasure in mechanism, which makes us delight in the astonishingly clever changes that we can produce on the earth's surface."
Russell advocated reducing working hours to four, so that people would have gained some time for creativity, scientific curiosity, etc. Anyway, you can simply read the piece itself, why paraphrasing it here))
Celebrating consumerism and hard work as means to achieve it
Today labor is perceived as a means to personal happiness. As a way of self-actualization for some, and as a means to buy one's way to happiness for everybody.
There's a funny saying circulating today that goes 'person who said you can't buy happiness just didn't know where to go shopping')))
The advertised lifestyle is where everybody concentrates their energy on making as much money as they possibly can to keep purchasing more and more stuff.
If you can't make people believe they're becoming heroes by spending most of their time working, you can try convincing them that one's worth is derived from his posessions. This is another wrapping for the same message: "work!" Its good for the economy. Its good for the corporations. Who cares that you're likely to regret it one day when you'll have nothing left to fear. You're not important.
When blinders fall off
"I wish I hadn't worked so hard." - one of the top regrets of the dying people according to this pallative nurse who wrote about her departing patients [guardian]. Perhaps this observation does not qualify as a study, but it seems very much believable. People keep putting life off, walking in line with the society, following its treds and fashion and trying to 'fit it', pushing the thoughts of their mortality away. And only when they are no longer able to fool themselves, when death is so close its impossible to ignore it, only then do people realize they've been fearing all the wrong things, what they should have been afraid of is living their life according to somebody else's script.
Death is pretty frightening to human conscience in any case, but even more so when one has not actually started living. If there is anything positive about realizing one's own mortality at a younger age and constantly living with this realization, it is that it can help one find power to break free from the constraints of social expectations and gain strength to live true to ones own dreams and desires before its too late. But the majority of people prefer to bury their heads in the sand. Instead of facing the fact of our finality together and supporting each other in it, respecting one another as 'fellow sufferers' (Schopenhauer), valuing each other's precious time and pretty much living every day like it might be our last (because it might), we pretend death is something that always happens to someone else, that is not a big deal as everyone just appears 'in a better place'.
Erich Fromm in his 'Escape from Freedom' spoke about it this way:
"There is one tabooed emotion that I want to mention in particular, because its suppression touches deeply on the roots of personality: the sense of tragedy. ... the awareness of death and of the tragic aspect of life, whether dim or clear, is one of the basic characteristics of man. ... Our own era simply denies death and with it one fundamental aspect of life. Instead of allowing the awareness of death and suffering to become one of the strongest incentives for life, the basis for human solidarity, and an experience without which joy and enthusiasm lack intensity and depth, the individual is forced to repress it. But, as is always the case with repression, by being removed from sight the repressed elements do not cease to exist. Thus the fear of death lives an illegitimate existence among us.
I'm far from maintaining death makes life beautiful, or anything in that fashion, but since it is an unavoidable reality one can't wish away, I believe a person is better off living with the conscious acknowledgement of his demise.
Work as a flight from reality
While we talk about how corrupt governments, evil corporations and the rich in general want to enslave the majority and profit from wage slavery, lets also not forget how people themselves oftentimes can't stand idleness and freedom, which entails responsibility, how they require something to validate their existence, how they like the feeling of being irreplaceable, needed, especially when these feelings are lacking in personal life. That's not to say that work is exclusively used as an escape from the rest of reality and a means of boosting one's self-esteem. People create an addiction out of everything, work is just no exception.
Being constantly busy exempts a person from virtually any other responsibility, provides an excuse for why one has no fulfilling intimate relationships, no good friends that they trust, because theres no time, theres always not enough time for 'trivial' things like that. One does not even have to admit they are afraid of intimacy, afraid of trusting people, of not being loved back. The 'no time' excuse will take care of that.
Of course, no one can escape labor completely, that is, unless he is either talented and/or lucky enough to invent something that will feed him till the end of his life, or is comfortable with cheating and screwing people over, parasiting on his fellow humans. A certain amount of work is naturally required. The question is only whether we should praise labor for the sake of labor and consumerism for the sake of consumerism. Should we admire people who can't accept themselves unless they're permanently busy or own whatever it is they think is necessary to own in order to feel successful. People who can't let themselves be idle when they have a chance usually look down on those who make a conscious choice not to take part in the race of accumulating goods and statuses.
Sure, there are also those who actually would like to but can't 'succeed' in the contemporary sense of that word. Those people probably then tell themselves they never really wanted to :) Our defense mechanisms work magic.
But those who try to live their lives according to their own standards of whats worthy and valuable also exist.
In search of balance
In my view, both the position that everyone should strive to climb a career ladder and try to posess the overpriced commodities to prove his self-worth and that a person has to be happy with what little he's got are extreme. Even though one can't just buy his way to happiness, one is still better off having a nice home, wearing nice clothes, eating good food and being able to afford a healthcare. And if one is unable to provide that for himself the last thing he should do is have children and preach to them how it is wonderful being proudly poor and lowering one's expectations. Though we have plenty of examples like that in my country. Then those people hit the streets to ask government for support blackmailing it with children they chose to have when they can barely take care of themselves. Sure, even in this god forsaken country people are technically entitled to social support, but everyone knows its just on paper, and that its going to be next to impossible to get that support, yet they make an irresponsible choice to have children before they're sure they'll be able to provide for them. Getting a bit sidetracked here, I know. It's just that this is the other side of the coin, the other silly ideology that claims everyone should want to be ascetic, that theres nobility in having the lowest expectations possible. What's particularly great about that? Unless one is on a spiritual quest, this kind of ideology seems to be a rationalization of the inability to provide for oneself and one's family. Poverty isn't an achievement, it's a tragedy.
Now lets get personal :)
I don't consider myself a role model, peoples needs and preferences differ. Mine are only good for me, and precisely for now. Priorities can change any day. Sure, we tend to compare ourselves to those who're doing worse than us, but let's not forget, there are also those who in the similar conditions are doing better. Those bastards, how dare they!
Anyway, a bit about how I'm doing.
I am self-employed. I work a few hours a day. Usually, nothing urgent. And that's something I treasure. I could also simultaneously get a regular 9 to 5 job and make almost twice as much as Im making today. But I never thought what you earn equals the amount of money you get. What should also count is how much time and effort you're spending. So I'm counting: + some amount of money, - getting up early 5 times a week, - same boring route to work, - rush hour traffic, - nerves wasted on tolerating annoying co-workers and clients you'd rather hang on the tree, - free time, the time of my life that I am currently spending on pleasant, exciting, relaxing things and that I can never get back once I've sold it.
So why causing myself all that trouble? Just to buy a few more pairs of shoes and a new gadget? Fuck it, I'll rather wear my old shoes and go read a book on the beach. I won't work to buy some brand, so I can feel more important. Bullshit. What's important in life is how you get to feel, what emotions you get to experience. I feel great having free time, that's the most valuable commodity to me, so I am buying it by staying away from day job. I may not be able to afford a trip to Maldives (as of now), but you can't have it all, something has to be sacrificed. For me, its more acceptable to sacrifice one fancy trip than 70% of my daily life.
Back in school I remember myself thinking how horrible it would be if the boring home-school-home routine will simply get swapped for home-work-home when I grow up. I was thinking to myself 'damn, if this is going to be my life, I hate it already'.
Thank gods I learnt programming and SEO and in a few years slowly it became my main business. I was hardly making anything when I started programming, at first it was just investing time and a bit of money and getting nothing in return but satisfaction from the fact that I'm actually creating something from the scratch. That was the time when others preferred to get a regular job and sell their time. Today I'm happy I didn't pick the most common road.
Now the other hobby of mine - jewellery making - might be turning into an additional source of income, though its not why I took it up, I just enjoy doing it.
No way to predict, someday I might be forced to become your regular wage slave, but today I'm enjoying the chance to feel less enslaved, because this world does not provide us with an opportunity to be completely free. There are necessities that are unavoidable, there are desires the fulfillment of which makes life more colorful, and everything here has its price. The important thing is figuring out what it is that you really need and want and whether the benefits of getting that will be worth the costs required.
More posts from this category: Profound Bullshit QuotesArtsybashev pessimistic quotes on life, meaning, death - 3/1/2016
mike
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05-07-2012
I like my work to be sporadic, I don't like to be labeled when it comes to how I get income and I do what I can to try and change up different ways of making money... on the other hand beggars can't be choosers I guess. I actually enjoy hard labor much of the time simply because I NEED to burn the energy, the only problem with hard labor work is its usually a total rip off when it comes to pay... but yeah I totally mowed my neighbors lawn today ha. Anyway this is a really good blog!
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Irina |
05-07-2012
Hey, at least you did something of actual value! As I wrote, we can't escape a certain amount of labor, it's necessary in our lives. We need people to grow veggies and crops, collect them, ship them, clean the streets, fix our appliances etc. Who needs those smart asses betting on currency rates? They might be working hard, too... You're lucky to have the surplus of energy, keep it up! :) |
Brian
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05-07-2012
You are soooo right I live in D.C., which is the workaholic capitol of the U.S. I have a boring day job but in a few months I will be able to leave at 4:30 and won't have to "take" my work home with me while I am off. So its' a trade off, like you said.
I have a friend who makes 4 times what I make, he runs a company, but it is high stress and he says he only stops thinking about it when he's hammered drunk We all need to read more Epicurus and think like him |
Irina |
05-07-2012
Hi Brian) Glad we agree on this. I also see people who are totally consumed by their businesses, they do not really own their companies, rather they are the ones being owned. No, of course, in the beginning of your business you have to be willing to only work hard and receive no returns, to sacrifice lots of free time and sleep. But if your business necessitates such lifestyle throughout the years, I guess its not really different from being an employee. |
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05-07-2012
I think you\'re perfectly right when you say it\'s all about creating meaning. Have you ever heard about terror management theory?
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Irina |
05-07-2012
Yep, read Ernest Becker and watched Flight From Death. |
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05-07-2012
Hooray! So what did you think? It makes a lot of sense to me. I mean... it shows in the downplaying of depression and suicide, don't you think?
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Irina |
05-07-2012
It does. Also explains religious wars. Regarding downplaying depression, and any strong negative emotions that persist for a while, Erich Fromm also mentioned similar trend in his 'The Fear of Freedom ': "In the process of tabooing emotions modern psychiatry plays an ambiguous role. On the one hand its greatest representative, Freud, has broken through the fiction of the rational, purposeful character of the human mind and opened a path which allows a view into the abyss of human passions. |
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05-07-2012
Well, if all institutions have the implicit goal of generating meaning and keeping death at bay, then we can't exclude science from that list, even if it claims to be "value-neutral" (it's not).
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Irina |
05-07-2012
Science has doubl-blind randomized studies which I hear are the most trustworthy and objective. But then, where the personality comes in is interpreting the results. And psychiatry is a very special kind of 'science', where diagnosis can be voted into existing by the majority of votes on a panel. I'm not saying psychiatry is to be totally abolished, I doubt we could go completely without it, but we should keep in mind it is very much arbitrary oftentimes. Just some years ago it was pathologizing homosexuality. |
John
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10-07-2012
Once again, writing that I feel like I think about every day. Really great. I wonder how many other people are thinking about these things? From the few people that comment.. and I certainly don't meet many. There are fewer than I can count on one hand that I have met in my entire life.
There's really a confluence of factors that come together in all these subjects here.. Is all of history, people trying to brainwash one another to get them to do what they want? We learn that as kids, when you want your brother or sister to do something, but you don't want to get in trouble with your parents for fighting, you convince them or get them to do it another way. This posting made me think of the glorification of slave-levels of labor that all countries have had in their propaganda. It's really sick.. I've revolted from this system.. just like you mentioned, Irina, 'fuck it, I'll wear my old shoes and go to the beach..' Exactly right! But the difficulty for me has been to maintain my sense of self worth, when I choose a completely different life path that isn't valued or understood by the robotic majority. It is very difficult at times and makes me want to go live in the forest. |
John
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10-07-2012
I just wanted to say one more thing..
I had this sense of overwhelming depression from a really young age about exactly what you said.. "Back in school I remember myself thinking how horrible it would be if the boring home-school-home routine will simply get swapped for home-work-home when I grow up. I was thinking to myself 'damn, if this is going to be my life, I hate it already'." I thought these exact words.. as I saw my parents and other people's reality. I was pushed and told, you must do your very best so you can get into a good high school! I did that. What was my reward? A few months of summer break and into the new school which took even more work than the regular school! Then it was, do your best so you can get into a good college! More work was the reward for working hard! By then I had figured it out. Was everyone else so dumb that they really fell for this carrot perpetually beyond the nose? Like donkeys, they got led through life. Most people willingly did this!! If that's not insane (and stupid), I don't know what is. Maybe fear.. herd pressure. The desire to compete for better strip steak than the other lemming has on his plate? (Then you are the better lemming.) Well, I left it. I don't want to ever go back to being a wage slave. I'd consider that a failure of my life. The difficulty is knowing myself well enough to know what I really want to do while I'm alive. It's easy to get brainwashed and lose yourself in this society - which is designed to do just that to the masses. So, I guess I hope for more clarity on where to make those compromises.. |
Irina |
11-07-2012
I was suffering so much in school, having to pay attention and take in tons of uninteresting facts, I couldn't imagine going thru life having to rape myself every f-ing day. In college finally the list of subjects I wasn't interested in got narrowed down to just a few, then - none. People like to glorify the 'will', the ability to force oneself to do 'whats necessary' regardless of one's feelings. That is what I call a self-rape. Nothing glorious about that. Sometimes it's a sad necessity of life, but it's nothing to be striving for. I mean, first you get trapped here, in this world, having all these needs and desires and then you're told 'but you need to force yourself to suppress your desires, stop wanting whats exciting, inspiring, interesting and become thrilled with what teachers say you should'. This ideology instilled from the early childhood should prepare a future obedient worker. This is so sad. And its regrettable parents think its ok to subject their kids to this slavery. That is, by having them in the first place. Compromises are unavoidable. Occasionally I will take more work than usual just to buy smth I need/want, most of the time I prefer not to. |
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10-07-2012
Compromise as much as you need to in order to live comfortably, but don't compromise your mind, and try not to hurt anyone else (that's not really feasible since our lifestyle is predicated on slavery in third world countries, but do your best).
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AndrГЎs
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10-07-2012
“I wonder how many other people are thinking about these things?”
Perhaps more than you think, John. (Not everyone comments who reads these pages…) There used to be a good site called whywork.org; it is no longer up, but some of it can still be found in the Internet Archive at http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/whywork.org Anyway, those who think about these things are but the surface. Many more may be dissatisfied with them, whether they realize it or not… |