Meaningless Work and Meaningful Art - Featuring A Little Physics | post 22
We need Art and Work. Humans could gather every form of wealth, assets or possessions; and still feel miserable or empty inside. We are 'those who think' and thoughts cannot exist without the doubts, the struggles, the contradictions, the discussions, the criticism and the observations.
On top of that, human is a social animal. We are programmed with a desire to 'belong', for which we may seek acceptance and approval by the other humans. Then there is an irreplaceable sense of purpose; we tie our sense of self and our self-esteem with it.
Finally, you and I require capital currency and legal status to function normally in society. Earning the Salary (or Compensation for the offered time and skills) demands a job. Generating revenue is made possible only by a Financial Sustainable Cash-flow.
Therefore we admire the 'productive' and the 'efficient'.
The combination of these needs, which are specific and unique to us as a species, results in the form of goals, schedules, meetings, protocols, laws and policies. You and I are enrolling in these regulatory and time-bound restrictions either voluntarily to benefit from the concepts of Family, Neighbourhood, Community, and Governance; or involuntarily due to external influences and to reduce some form of risks in certain situations.
What was started with a glass of milk or poor handwriting, might have evolved into our daily routine.
In our childhood days, we were curious about how everything appeared to our vision. While each of us has a story of our life filled with the good, the bad and the ugly of the childhood chronicles; we cannot refuse the beauty of those innocent instincts with which we entered this plane of continuous decay and transformation.
Then the tragic comedy happened.
We became 'smart' and 'scarred' by the knowledge of real life experiences. Instead of Curiosities, our hearts began overflowing with Insecurities. No Congratulations, because we grew up to be so comfortable with 'routines' on a regular basis.
See, we both might be financially 'surviving' well wherever be our residence.
And there is absolutely nothing wrong in living a simple and 'normal' life. Who is going to disagree over the value of Satisfaction (as long as it doesn't hide Stagnation)? So, let's just explore the puzzle which is personal in our mind, and universal for the entire humanity...
The puzzle of 'Meaning'
You might recall how the educational setups used to make us read, write and recite the synonyms or the definitions of unique words. We can go on about the similar approach used for Software Commands, Programming, Communication Skills Courses or Formulae in Mathematics; but the essence remains quite uniform.
The common theme has been Memorisation, Exact Reproduction and doing those things for the sake of some formalities or third-party obligations.
Developing a reasonably good understanding of how the world actually became like THIS and what the future may look like due to the relationship between different Concepts - is simply not the first priority. Exams, Deadlines, Revenue Targets or Election Manifesto... We are always 'busy' people, won't you agree?
There is just a not-so-tiny problem with this approach.
'Busy' doesn't mean 'Productive'
In Physics, you were taught the definitions and formulae of Energy and Work Done. If you were as lucky as my class used to be, there would have been at least one teacher (or facilitator) who used to give an example of 'pushing the wall'.
Long story short, will the wall move any further if you keep pushing it for a multitude of hours, if not years?
Energy is essentially the capacity of doing work. The 84 percent charged battery gives you an approximated idea of how long the device will be able to perform certain tasks without any intervention. Your physical and more importantly 'psychological' health will determine how much active you will be today or tonight.
The nature of material of the spring will determine its performance when functioning like a spring.
Work Done is like a business person or the investors; it wants Results. When we have still some innocence left in us, our parents are such investors. Showing the results is an essential demand. As far as the equations are concerned, the force and the displacement appear in it. Force can be considered the application of some Energy to try to introduce some change.
Since I am not a Physics professor, you can benefit more from this analogy.
Using the Energy concept, it should be clear that all of us are different. Like some video games or fictional characters, we might say that our 'energy levels' differ. However, it is not a negative interpretation at all. From the concept of Force, we might say Efforts are more important than Talents. Yes, let the energy be talent. Each of us has different talents.
But that is only half part of it.
Force is the application of some energy. So, a person with high energy (or great talent) may choose to use a small part of it when 'working'. In other words, if the work is related to the actual change as indicated by Displacement of an object, or improvement in the Sales performance; such a small effort is enough for us to conclude that the final Work Done will not be correlating to the maximum potential of the individual.
And the other possibility is probably true as well.
Work Done = Force x Displacement
Thus, even if you or I lack talent (have low energy), we can choose to use a larger chunk of it carefully. Our Efforts will have to be planned and we will need extra hard-work to perform at the same level as the naturally gifted humans.
That being said, hard-work itself may actually prevent you from finding the real satisfaction (not exhaustion) and a meaningful life.
Why so?
Tell me the first image that you can think of when you read or listen the word 'Hard-work'. Sweating? Is it manual work? Eyes burning? Constant feeling of exhaustion? Headaches? Broken calculators? Prolonged exposure to the LED Screens in the same sitting arrangement?
'Working' without any thirst, hunger or rest? I have done all that; you have done all that... We all have been through such 'symptoms' of hardworking at different stages, going through the various phases of our life, mate.
'Being busy' feels so great. First of all, we get a good sleep thanks to exhaustion. There is this empowering feeling and self-esteem boost which can't be described. The world may be having a lot of distractions but we are loyal to our Goals, Schedules, Deadlines or Plan-of-Action. If you are young, you should definitely try it.
Now, let's recall the example of 'pushing the wall'.
Is it true that the wall was being pushed? Did anything happen? Did you get any results? Did anything change? Was it even necessary? Okay, even if you move the wall by doing the hard work of pushing it, what will you get out of it? Let's say you will get some money, then what?
So, did you enjoy pushing it? The joy of victory?
But for such a joy, you will have to keep pushing it and moving it successfully, again and again, regularly. Therefore let me ask you again, did you enjoy the process of pushing it? Was any of this even necessary? Exactly who told you that pushing the wall was the only way of getting the joy of victory or money?
Think about it.
Fun fact - in a circular motion (in physics), the work done is zero per complete rotation because the effective displacement is zero... the moving body returns to its original position after every complete round. There is energy being spent in the form of force; but there is no ultimate change that will last long enough to 'matter in a practically meaningful way'.
Why is the 'Productivity' a different dance-form?
When we are being-busy, we are trying our best to reach the Goals determined by the third-parties as the only criteria for 'success'. Let's have a correction here and rename it as the 'promised success'. I don't know if this is going to be popular or not, but here is my take on an interesting idea -
1) Goals dictate the Rules. (a minimalist version)
2) Those who gave you the Goals, will rule your life. (a more straightforward version)
3) Goals and Rules, which are borrowed from the others, won't be important, useful, necessary or harmless for everyone who borrowed them. (now, this is too philosophical)
In other words,
"Productivity and Being-Busy are as same as Economics and Finance."
~ akp51v
Finance and Hard-work (being busy) are crucial for everyone without any doubts; but after a certain age, we humans start yearning for something bigger and deeper as we become more and more mature.
While it becomes difficult to embrace our inner child as already pointed out in the opening, wisdom is an added bonus of all kinds of bittersweet experiences and a source of hope that can offset the sadness of the inevitable hair fall.
Economics is not restricted to Budgeting and Profit-making or the immediate Financial Dynamics. Similarly, Productivity is not about just following the Rules and chasing after the Goals. 'Being Productive' means eliminating the unnecessary extras as well!
A Productive Person is careful about choosing which Rules are meaningful and which Goals will actually add value to the individual as well as the social spheres of growth, development and better standards of living.
A Hardworking Busy Person may start pushing the wall, without a single doubt, with an unwavering absolute commitment and with no rest. The one who is concerned with Productivity will pause and think about the activity.
"Why should I push the Wall? Is there no other method of generating income? Do I really need this money? I might be able to do it now; but what if I cannot do it tomorrow, or after certain years? Even if the wall is moved from its current place, is anyone going to benefit from this?"
"Would that benefit be really significant or too tiny?"
"Who is trying to assign such Goals to me? Why should I follow only this one method? What if the wall doesn't budge even a little?... How much effort and time I might be wasting for a clearly unimportant activity!"
And that's why we won't be entertaining 'Meaningless Work' in this article any further. If you are not enjoying the process, there is something that's definitely not right. Only by escaping the 'Always Busy' mindset and reflecting upon the value of such hard work, you and I will be able to remove the unnecessary time-consuming formalities and start doing less in frequency, yet more engaging non-repetitive activities.
Art and Meaning
Do you like typing reports? You work on information in some way, right? What we call 'Work' is clearly regular or repetitive in most cases. In the meetings and the seminars, if certain communicators focus on just throwing in as much information as possible; we know what type of boring nightmare it will be during the presentation.
Imagine each slide pumped up with three highly detailed graphs and an impossible to read font size. If you want to witness a hell, sit through a Slideshow Presentation of a hundred slides with 3 paragraphs per slide.
Fear or disdain towards our daily routines can impact our final outputs.
The more meaningless our activities become over the passage of time, the higher the irritation and frustration will be felt. While good qualities of an individual will take a lot of time and a few careful co-learners; we are brilliant when it comes to absorbing the toxic and unproductive tendencies from those with whom we share the room.
A person, disturbed due to family dynamics or traffic problems, is capable of treating the close-ones in a questionable manner purely to vent out the pent up pressure or dissatisfaction.
One of the interesting attributes of youngster in any generation from any era is that of 'seeking something meaningful'. Whether we listen to Simon Sinek, Chris Do or Seth Godin, we encounter the idea popular amongst the youth - having an impact, serving a higher purpose, finding a mission that resonates with their beliefs for a better place to exist and to grow.
Nevertheless, something has to be sacrificed to be a better person.
The non-essential aspects are not limited to the piles of the files or the inbox full of a gazillion subscriptions. Productive Lifestyle is not confined to a desk, a building or a specific time of the day. You might have heard how important it is to de-clutter your life already.
And our attraction towards the comfort zones, easy 'Motivation Boosts' or the devices designed for prolonged escapism from the mundane or hurting realities of our daily inhaling exhaling is never going to leave us alone just in a few days.
But if you were to force yourself to comply with such new rules for being a better version of yourself without any strong emotional connection, let me assure you - it will be just one more 'To Do List' to be blindly obeyed and completed for the sake of illusionary progress.
Humans are naturally talented in converting everything into a feel-good ritual; you as well as I... are not superior to the entire humanity, thus we might be better off auditing our feel-good moments.
Thus, we arrive at a scene where we want to keep growing in a meaningful manner and at the same time, we shall stay away from the feel-good gimmicks such as worrying about strict compliance or doing something regularly just for the sake of telling ourselves 'Great, we made some progress'.
If we were to stay satisfied with the same things done on a daily basis again, it would be not much dissimilar to what we were trying to avoid!
And throughout the history of homo sapiens, there is one device that reigns supreme to all other alternatives when it comes to living meaningfully, gaining satisfaction through activities (NOT work or job) and preventing the shallow ritual.
Every Act as a Form of Art
Is there a way to make that slideshow more interesting? Why don't you pause for a moment and look at your Report from a reader's perspective? Is your content emotionally satisfying without relying or plagiarism and other similar cheap tricks?
Okay, let's play around with different fonts and for the well-being of the human species, please stop using Times New Roman if you are not planning to print the contents.
Curiosity can never be erased from our consciousness.
However, the worldly noise can definitely numb our senses, rendering us unable of listening to our own inner calling. 'Playing' has no age requirements or restrictions; and though Sports is one of the best mediums of unlocking all your clogged and rusted abilities, you have the option to play around with the lines, colours, shapes, fonts, music, your own voice and even your clothing preferences.
Simply put, the world and the organisations will always remain confused about exactly how anything should be done.
There is no way a single standardised solution will work for everyone anyway. So, instead of waiting for some hero or heroine, you and I have the choice of taking care of our own brains and bodies.
Looking at each and every action from the point of view of an artist can reduce your fear of judgement (if you still have any). Art is a different approach than quantifiable outcome calculations. An Artist can never satisfy everyone around the globe. Artists are obliged to treat all kinds of Praise and Criticism from only one lens - Feedback.
Another benefit is that no extra efforts or planning are necessary every time.
You can be free from the anxiety or stress of managing your reputation by always conforming to the thousand sources of socio-economic worries. As an Artist, you have to fail; otherwise, you will never discover what is working for you and what is not working for you. You will learn to observe your own emotions during the process of creating something.
We would no longer need any reason or statistical projections of 'promised success' or 'expected profits' to take a decision in the favour of change. There will be a higher level of self-esteem since we become responsible for our own decisions in the place of seeking some external approval.
Imagine if every email is beautiful and free of irritations or deadlines.
Try to visualize a world where each of us appreciates our me-time without developing any insecurities or dependency on constant entertainment. What if we could prevent some fellow humans from committing certain extreme acts of self-harm or inhumane nature?
No more insults in front of your colleagues. Then, everyone takes full charge of the personal psychological and physical well-being without any external pressure or induced stigma attached!
A world with no unnecessary rules, self-imposed inferiority complex or sleeping pills. Classrooms will be celebrating that cartoon drawn on the wall instead of punishing the child. Offices will be driven by an Empathy-based Conductive Environment. Traffic Management Systems will always consult the drivers for improving the quality of the experience.
What is truly 'Meaningful'?
This article was dedicated to only one possible approach for living a meaningful life which is revolving around one idea - Satisfaction. As mentioned earlier, Satisfaction and Stagnation should be two different things. Thus absence of deadlines or decease in the rules are not supposed to be misunderstood as some justification of self-destructive, unhealthy and lazy lifestyle.
Every idea (and every ideal) has a risk of being mistaken as a justification for something else.
As the records of all the conflicts from a hopefully unbiased history book might have told you, Satisfaction can be fake or made possible through blissful ignorance towards certain bitter realities. Pretending to be happy when you can clearly detect some unethical or unjust events is far from anything 'Meaningful'; and who is going to label it as Satisfaction?
Art will have no meaning if it is standing on a superficial core.
It's in the best interest of the artist, and of the society... to not let Art be dominated by the short-cuts, tricks, superficiality and excessive greed. Since this article has proposed the discontinuing of meaningless work, this clarification is adequately befitting to any and every activity.
At the end of the day, we will simply grow old and only the piles of our un-donated body organs will remain after the next 100 years, or even in the next 100 seconds!
Here won't be any step-wise quick process to get a Meaningful Life, simply because it's my personally learnt life-lesson, that we are better off developing our own interpretations. Another reason is the Steps or Bullet Points will lose meaning the moment you read them.
You will be following some ready-made Goals or Rules created by a stranger third-party who merely uses a keyboard. If you seek thought leadership, we both know about some popular Online Platforms and the abundance of such guidance.
Be kind to your future-self and stop living by the rules or checklists created by someone else.
Unlike a proper recovery treatment from a legally permitted and professionally qualified psychologist or counsellor, most things over the internet are way too generic, stereotypical or one-size-fits-all in the terms of the common theme across all the platforms. I love reading them, that shouldn't imply my endorsement or total agreement with such content.
This blog will make use of Bullet Points or Steps when they are technically necessary, say if using some software or discussing some general ideas.
But 'Meaning of Life' is an extremely serious concept. We all should continuously read, write, travel, discuss, play, experiment or combine and deconstruct various ideas from books, music, mythology, culture, history, mathematics, computing and other literature.
Let it be you or me; the seeker of the meaning might lose the sense of uniqueness and individuality if joins some group, ideology or a rigid set of rules.
We have a few resources, a tiny unspecified lifespan and a mind-body machine manufactured by mother nature... empowered by the unknown unexplained immeasurable energies, which have bewildered all the scientists, psychologists, neuroscientists, philosophers and belief systems during the time of the known unknown events preceding our birth.
So, irrespective of your agreement or respected disagreement with the ideas explored or revisited in this blog post or lengthy article, let me wish you luck in finding your own sense of purpose, sense of identity or that of community.
May all of us discover the Meaning of Our Past, Present and Future; although I have reasons to believe that only humans think that past, present or future are somehow three distinct categories.
When you will be searching for a Meaningful Art to enhance your time in this plane of 'being', remember that our Present is a result of our entire history, which became possible due to the origin of the universe and events which had occurred since then.
Similarly, our Future is not going to be unrelated to our Present, and the shadows of our Collective Past as the human species will always appear in our Future. The Present, in which we both belong to when you are reading this article, will determine what part of our Past wouldn't be allowed to appear in our Future.
Here, I rest this case, My Lord.
Somehow I feel something unique after posting such content. You can guess my confusion; is this Satisfaction, Stagnation or Exhaustion? Only the time will tell, I guess. It's a slow process, after all.
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Finding our 'Why' is a not a simple task, but creativity embraced through daily routines itself can help us discover the truths of life ourselves.
Though the problems of our existence may range from a phone that is charging slowly due to a poor cable, to the confusion between the job applicants and recruiters resulted due to many human behavioural factors, we continue living the life, with all of its 'But' and 'Therefore' hidden clauses.
It's a great pleasure to have you on my beloved blog, SummaryMaster51v.
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| Harry Grout on Unsplash |
