In Someone Else's Words:

All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.
- Aristotle



Jobs, by definition pay us to do things we wouldn't do for free. Jobs are almost always a means to an end. Be that end money, "work experience", work references, prestige, or honour, none of them are complete ends in and of themselves.

If we take the common example of working for money, we find that just as the job is the means to the end (of money), the money is a means to an end as well(usually tangible goods) such as food, clothing, shelter, leisure activities, etc. Once these things are obtained, what sort of end is reached, and, is this end a final end, or merely another means?

If acquiring and having stuff and stability were truly the end, and thus the ultimate meaning of life, we would be a pretty sad species, wouldn't we? To merely collect, and to claim ownership over things, only to put up our feet and rest, marvelling over each of our own tiny kingdoms. (which really end up looking so dreadfully similar, it is a hilarity that western culture admires itself as severely individualistic).

But what of the time whenst the mind will wonder, and will wonder "why?" That inherent search to go beyond the material/tangible accomplishments is some type of nagging proof that this is not enough, this is not an end.

It's like the example where working couples save their money all year to go away on a vacation, then whilst on the vacation, the tourists are unable to clear their minds and really relax. That the leisure of consuming, and ultimately becoming a state of being (call-it-luxury), is really not leisure at all, infact it may very well be nothing at all. It is nothing more than a slow awakening to the unanswered and ignored questions about life, that will re-surface in the gaps away from work.

Rather than take seriously these questions, such as searching for the ultimate end, and learning to live a life where people seek the ultimate end (or meaning), people unequiovcally redirect their attention back to narratives they have been told and have had culturally engrained in them, such as the "work ethic." It's good to work hard, because it's rewarding, and you reap what you sew. Working hard builds "character." This type of attitude, this type of easily reproduced statement cuts off so much thinking and reflection right at the root. Anything that cuts off the ability of the human mind to think is abhorrent.

The type of work that should be done, and is critical in this age, at this time of such simultaneous growth and loss is of the up-rooting sort. First, to find the courage and the time, and then the will, to uproot all of our assumptions, and all of the things we have been made to believe are true, and function to our benefit. We need to locate these assumptions, these narratives, at their very roots, and begin the gentle tug that it takes to lift them from their place in the earth. Next, a careful examination needs to be done, to see which plants will get thrown out, and which face the possibility of being re-planted.

Another equally as damaging solution to this dilemma is for people to say, "fuck it, life is so meaningless and complicated, that I won't care to put in any effort, I will only care for myself." Giving up without an active search, without pursuit is death of the human mind, and the of the human spirit in the same way that living off of cultural cliches and narratives is. Instead of uprooting the garden, this option drenches the entire field in damaging chemicals, inhibiting the growth of all things, positive or negative.

The type of work that needs to be done is the not the type where one is paid. It is not the type where one uses something as a means to something else. It is the type of work where the means is an end to itself. The pursuit of knowledge is this example, and I have witnessed so many of my generation either re-tell themselves the same stories, or just give up. It's time we wake up. No more distractions, no more superficiality, no more jumping from issue to issue because it gives us a nice illusion of ourselves.