Why do we measure ourselves, or maybe more destructively, describe ourselves, and please don't ever value yourself, by what we do to earn money? Maybe the human race hasn't really discovered the teleological answer to the question, "what was I designed to do?" just yet. No less than Aristotle wrestled with it, and countless others, maybe every, philosopher and guru since the dawn of time has too. So don't feel alone if you can't answer it. However, in my humble opinion (and you're entitled to it), until one comes to grips with this singular issue, one really doesn't have an occupation or vocation. One merely has a way of earning money. One can work all one's life and never find fulfillment or a true calling without some idea of what he's about in the world.
Having introduced the problem that way, far be it from me to tell you what it is. However, I'll begin by sharing with you what I have discovered and taken as my occupation, my vocation, my calling. It's the only one which consistently meshes w/my personality, gifts, and pardon my boldness, reality; one which Allan Bloom suggests in his work, The Closing of the American Mind. While the book is primarily about the state of education in these United States during his time of writing, in it he makes statement suggesting that the purpose of man is to know. Yep, as simple as that. It, at least to me, explains everything. When I began viewing my life and experiences through that grid, almost everything became clear . . . er.
The Hebrew people have a saying, "Everything has to do with either bread or death." In the final analysis, even bread is a means of staving off death in its own, humble way. But almost everything human kind is known for, while living at least, has to do with our insatiable curiosity. The scientist will conjecture, hypothesize, and experiment often insanely sounding propositions just to find out if they are really true. Often they learn more by disproving their original hypothesis than by the contrary. And nothing can compare to the hilarity spouted by conjectural philosophers. Lest you imagine that this urge is confined to the intellectual only, consider the test pilot: higher, further, faster. And have you ever heard of a little race called the Iron Man or the Tour de France? Both were begun to test the limits of human endurance - the organizers wanted to know if the human could endure such tests! In spite of the text, experiment, or contest, all of these were instituted in pursuit of exactly the same goal - to know.
Thus, my occupation is to know, to learn, to discover. Now that won't pay the bills. I'm made aware of that fact regularly. I know that one must do something to buy bread, in order to stave of death, ad infinitum. However, with a stated objective firmly in mind, working becomes a bit more tolerable, productive, and possibly even a field of discovery itself. While I hate working for some mindless team oriented, goal directed program designed only to fatten the bottom line for some faceless share holders in some distant ivory tower, I do find meaningful labor satisfying regardless of what it pays. Some of my best loved jobs would be considered menial by most, but provided some essential need for the customer, not to mention satisfying work and meditation for me. Such jobs had no motive beyond the service it rendered. If it came to it, I'd wash dishes for a living. It's necessary to eat from clean dishes to stave off disease after all, and thus would hold its own reward. Remember our bread and death goals above. Maybe this is what causes some to be care givers or stay at home mothers, since the rewards can be immediate.
In my past I've done everything from running blue prints, making keys, sharpening knives and scissors, framing pictures, to imprinting books and Bibles. All have a useful and immediate service in common life. Even the entertainment industry has a part to play. Just don't try to sell me on up selling or procuring personal info from a customer just so we can "market" to him better. This only serves the business's ends, rarely the customer's, and never mine. If a firm sells something the customer needs to survive or otherwise improve his standard of living, he'll shop with you, or a competitor if he receives better or more convenient service there. The point is, I need something meaningful to do and I can live happily and pay the bills. This type of gainful employment buys me time to pursue my true end - to know.
So, no matter what I happen to be doing at any one time to earn money, I can always, and typically do, pursue my true calling. I constantly seek to know. In doing so, I ponder these types of questions:
- Why is there something here vs. nothing?
- Can God be consistently omnibenevolent and omnipotent and still allow evil to exist in the world?
- If there is no God, how can anything make sense (who invented the laws of logic)?
- Where do I come from?
- Where am I going?
- Where is my home?
- What does it mean to be human? (I love this question and ponder it most often)
- What is my function (if other than above)?
- When is life worth relinquishing? To be or not to be/That is the question
No doubt you can think of others. Please do! However, ponder these things and discover if the asking enriches you life. Whether the answers are as important as the process of discovery I'll leave for you to decide (btw, I don't have good answers to the above questions myself).
Regardless, contemplating the big questions is my work and occupation. To know is what drives my search.
Until next time,
Contemplate the mysteries, and remember to breathe.
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