“The Work Is Your Salvation”
For years I made that comment to a student of mine whenever it would come up about what he should be doing next … especially when he found himself troubled or feeling lost.
I truly meant it too … “The work is your salvation” … a simple, powerful phrase for me (and him too). It’s so unlike, the sentiment of Tim Ferris’ “Four-Hour Week” … or “Four Hour Body” … or “Four Hour Master Your Life” whatever program/workshop/book/lecture he or anyone else of that ilk can or will come up with IMO.
Instead I’m suggesting that weeks, and months, and years go by while you do your work … chopping wood and carrying water so to speak … as an act of your own salvation. NOT to pay the bills, NOT to amass a fortune, NOT to achieve fame or glory … but simply to stay the course, because in that you find yourself … and your salvation.
So many people find “work” boring, or worst “dreadful” … like it’s the bubonic plague or something horrid. They seem to seek immediate relief, ala “The Four-Hour Week” … or drinks at the end of the day … or “working for the weekend’ parties.
Personally, I find myself lost at trying to get that attitude or behavior. I mean, “SURE … I get it.” … most folks aren’t doing the work that is their salvation. NOT BECAUSE THEY HAVEN’T FOUND THE WORK … but, because they don’t do it like it’s their salvation.
Most folks aren’t connected to what they do or why they do it … “for others.” They don’t get the joy of contributing to the greater good … really bringing themselves to what they do FOR THE GREATER GOOD.
I think this is mostly because of two or three things:
- They have been taught that the “greater good” means sacrificing themselves to others, and losing themselves in the process (a major function of the Great Society teaching process to keep the economy going strong … and filling the coffers of those who get to sit at or near the top of it)
- They have been taught to “Look Out For Number 1” … and that it means taking care of themselves by getting more and more stuff, i.e.: consumerism rules! This plays right into a desperate need most of us have to continue our childish “I” … “Me” … “Mine” mentalities that society continues to reinforce (good for consumerism and filling the coffers …)
- They don’t get that there is another choice … the best they can imagine is getting the most they can out of the system for themselves, even when they ain’t gettin’ much (and again, this serves the masters who enslave them from afar with the lure of luxury and laziness, while themselves feasting on the labor of others)
Heck, I don’t mean to be bleak … but, HAVE YOU EVER LOOKED INTO THE WORK-A-DAY WORLD???!!!???
No wonder Tim Ferris sold a million, gazillion copies of his book!
No wonder Eckhart Tolle sold two gazillion of his book … and,
It’s no frackin’ wonder that Oprah became a mega-star with the message she sold …
“We’re all commoners, and you’re okay … just like me.”
BULLSHIT!
We’re not okay … the world around us is falling apart … and we’re either playing the violin, or downloading an MP3 of someone else playing it for us.
Well okay, not everyone is playing …
Some folks actually are working. Some folks really do get it. Some folks have found their salvation …
Me???
I began writing this because I was struck by the question, “Why do I do what I do?” prompted by another on a forum I was reading about how folks who do something similar to what I do approach the work they do.
Many folks in the “helping professions” believe they are “helping others” … nurses, social workers, therapists, teachers … you name it, they may truly hold onto the idea they are doing it for others. Yet … why??? Why do they … why would they do it for anyone other than themselves???
Gandhi said he did what he did because it was all about him, getting his salvation through the work.
“IT” had nothing to do with others, other than his work was all about them … a paradox indeed!
So here’s Mr. Gandhi changing the world around him, and he’s really doing it all for himself! WONDER-F**KING-FUL!!!
When I step into that space myself I find that most folks think my work is to help other people … maybe to help them “change” … or “become different … or bettter” in some way … or to “do something different” … and yeah, sure, DAMN THAT HAPPENS … but it ain’t what I do!!!
Who the F**K am I to impose that shit on someone else???
I.e.: “You should/need to/ought to/want to change.” … “You should/need to/ought to/want to be better.” … “You should/need to ought to/want to do something different.”
NOPE! Not for me … I call a time out, do over … hell, I QUIT!
I’m taking my bat and balls and going home …
What I do is for me … I strive to be the change I want in my life. I open a space to step into where I want to be … where I want to live … where I find my salvation.
When I do that well … for some folks … being around me is helpful for them, they find it cathartic is some way … or informative … or entertaining …. something shifts for them because I am some way in their presence … and in that way I do my best work.
I think about it more formally at times, we can all it “mythological” … and I even spout out steps to what I do that are involved in it … like there is a process or something of that sort, but there is only really BEING … just that, no more.
The “mythological’ stuff is the story about BEING, and sometimes about BECOMING … but that’s the artifact after the fact, not the fact itself.
Yet, having a good story helps to give us a sense of clarity and direction … something to be doing. So I wake up each day and I find the story I am living … and I try to live it well enough so that others can see that it’s only a story and find theirs too.
Heck, maybe if we all find our stories we’ll be able to find a story that works for all of us together … and we’ll save the whole damn planet … and get some salvation in return.
