So it begins: the deep struggle to understand who I am and where I want to go in my life. Previously written narratives offer many examples to guide us forward. We are all familiar, I am sure, with Kafka’s Metamorphosis. (1) Gregor, the protagonist of the story, wakes up one morning only to find himself transformed into a giant cockroach: he is no longer a man. His boss is soon at his door demanding to know why he is not at work. Upon catching sight of him, he flees in terror. Gregor is thus forced to deal with his new reality. Due to his transformation into a bug, he hides in his room and is no longer able to provide an income. Financially, this deeply affects his family causing a collapse in their social standing. They are forced to take in boarders to help defray the costs of living. One day the tenants catch sight of him. They threaten to move out because of the filth and squalor associated with insects. This is just too much! Even Gregor’s formally supportive sister, Grete, decides that he is too changed to ever be a part of their family. She sadly concludes that it is better if he dies. He overhears her conversation with their parents. Broken-hearted, he returns to his room and, subsequently that evening, does die. This produces immense relief to the family and their life begins anew.
On the face of it, this is a strange and fantastical story. None of us will ever turn into an enormous flea and have to deal with life. Kafka is describing the trauma associated with trying to develop “the beautiful you” in the face of opposition and rejection. Many, for example, feel this character when we enter the workforce. Nothing prepares us for the profound strangeness and psychological dislocation associated with employment. When we enter the labor force, it often feels like we have migrated to a new country. Business has vastly different rules and ways of doing things. We usually have no prior experience to create an idea or even form an opinion: we are just there. Welcome to modern capitalism. You will undoubtedly find a certain remoteness and artificiality to it. You quickly realize that you are here to sell your time – whatever your training – so that some person, family or group of shareholders will become even richer than they already are. Sounds weird, doesn’t it? This is not what mankind thought was going to be the consequence when we left the farm for the city at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. (2) And, increasingly, this is not the progressive part of our modern-day economic system, either. (3) Vestiges of the old system, unfortunately, continue to exist. We usually get pulled into a traditional company when we first get a position. This is producing an enormous backlash with young people. They change jobs frequently, seemingly with little forethought. (4) The secret to all of this is, don’t — don’t change your position, no matter how boring, tedious and underpaid. Be patient and wait for a period of time. On your resume, if you look like you are “job hopping,” that is moving from one job to another too quickly, you will paint yourself as unreliable. This is fatal in the infancy of your work history. A little forbearance will go a long way in your career development. The great inventor, humanitarian and industrialist, Thomas Edison (5), leaves us with a thought: The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.
A closing thought: The model of life provided by our parents and grandparents, though seemingly dated, is essentially true. Technology and communication may have changed dramatically in the last 100 years, but we are essentially the same people. The challenge facing all of us is that we must also mature the self, that being which is part of the human family if our civilization is to move forward and develop. Next week we will discuss personal development and its trials, tribulations, and consequences.
To sum up: This week we spoke about the trauma of employment and its irrationality and superficiality. We discussed methodologies to deal with its onslaught to our psyche.
A philosophical question: Why do we all seem to suffer the same feelings of alienation and isolation? How have the great seers like Buddha, Christ, and Krishna inured themselves to these feelings and yet moved beyond them to “enlightenment?”
Just for fun — Tchaikovsky
This week on your thoughtful walk, please think of what your initial employment was like.
Every day look for something magical and beautiful.
Quote: It can be done! This great gift called life can be experienced to its fullest, completely grasped and enjoyed. Nothing, however, can be achieved without pain suffering and effort. Prayer and faith are your concomitant bedfellows in your struggles.
Footnotes:
3) How to run a company with a (almost) no rules
4) The Future Of Work: Job Hopping Is the ‘New Normal’ for Millennials