Through the life that I have enjoyed, all has played out in patterns, in seasons. Despite my order, my design the wisdom and practicality of my plans they’ve all played out and there been a rhythm, a seasonal change for my life, whether I want things or need things, whether I’ve planned them or worked for them there has always been a different time for every activity in this rich existence we call life.
A time to be born, a time to die,
A time to invest and a time to pull out.
A time to destroy and a time to heal,
A time to demolish and a time to build,
A time to cry and a time to laugh,
A time to mourn and a time to party,
A time to scatter and a time to gather.
A time for passion and a time to abstinence,
A time to strive for more and a time to give up,
A time to keep and a time to throw away,
A time to rip up and a time to mend,
A time to be silent and a time to speak out,
A time to love and a time to hate,
A time for war and a time for peace.
So what does a worker gain from sweating day after day? It’s as if there is a huge burden that the almighty has put on the back of the worker. In the right time, in the right place everything has its value, its beauty. Like children in a toy shop we see all the potential tastes and sights around us but we’re stuck, staring at the glittering concoctions that surround us. Even if we overcome the apathy produced by choice and set our goal and then move heaven and earth to reach that goal, there’s still a hole.
And it’s not that there’s more sweet jars to put our stick our fingers into, but more that God has put a longing, a hole, a need, an aspiration into the very heart, the depth of the soul.
Why do we like dogs howl at the moon, why does eternity, the universe, the great question, weigh upon us, fill us with questions.
It’s simple, the easy good life is this; be happy and do good. Have you noticed that the music that survives in popular consciousness from the past decades isn’t meaningful, self-aggrandising, and long haired; it’s the ‘don’t worry, be happy’ sounds of happy popular music. 70’s disco never dies but prog rock is left to some middle aged men in their shed and offices.
We don’t actually want to be deep and profound, we want to be happy, Why do we listen to years of anti-drug, drink and sex at school and then live for the weekend? We want something joyful and as we can’t get it we go for the best substitute.
The thing is that the good life is taking pleasure from every day. Somewhere we lost the idea that work might be fulfilling, good honest toil. Toil no longer is a word, it’s t.o.i.l. an acrostic to cling onto, not be to be allowed to be dragged from our clinging dead fingers.
Is there anything worth working for? Did we lose it all when we lost the soil? No one wants any job other than singing or kicking a bladder. And that takes talent, but who decided that a goal-scorer is worth more than the surgeon who saves a life? They make the economy go round, but only we chose to let them. We live in envy, a journey of glossy mags that show us what we’re missing, what we could have if… moving from job to job, dream to dream, that person, whether child or lover who will be THE answer, until next time.
The secret to enjoying work is the knowledge of the greater, Nothing I do will last, but this earth, it’s cycle, it’s eternal circle will last. The one who set it in motion knew it was going to last, the laws and patterns of science continue, whether we know them or not. It’s been done and we do little to effect it, We little ants crawling of the face of a creator’s handiwork live out lives that follow the pattern, all been done, all been before, I’m sure God’s beginning to find human actions a wee bit repetitive by now.
As I observe the earth I see violence and injustice everywhere, from the estates and tenements to the third world terror cell. Whatever happened to fairness and justice? So I told myself that some cosmic force will pay back wicked and reward the good, whether God the judge or karma the force. We are tested to show that we’re merely animals, just like animals we breathe, breed and die, and we’re no better off than they are. I saw a piece of art, a glass tank more than six foot square, a race of flies are born in a white cube inside one half of the tank; in the other half rests a rotting cow’s head. To feed the flies have to find their way through openings into that part of their sealed world, - which is also where the artist has put an insect-o-cutor. In their rush to feed the flies find death. Whilst the artist plays God, we show ourselves as animals in relation to a God who can conceive of a world and a system like ours. We like to think that our human spirits go up and that animals only rot, but who can really tell you the truth? Who knows? The great scientist fanfares his debunking knowledge, but the experienced idiot can make him foolish. No one knows, truthfully, hence the centuries of argument. To get back to the point, we need to enjoy our work, we have evolved or regressed to a point where that feeling is rare. If we are to be happy, if we are to have meaningful existence and wisdom we must. When jobs are measured via pay over joy, society will be an unhappy place.