Return to Work

As I return to work today after a 2 week holiday, I am fortunate to recall the words of Kahlil Gibran in “The Prophet”, about work:

“You work so that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth.

For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life’s procession that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite.

When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.

Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison.

… when you work you fulfil a part of earth’s furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born.”

He writes much more, and poetically, about work:

“And what is it to work with love?

It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart…

It is to build a house with affection…

It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy …

It is to charge all things your fashion with a breath of your own spirit …

Work is love made visible …”

It is true that each of us work, directly or indirectly, with the pace of the earth, with the seasons, knowingly or unknowingly.

Those seasons are determined by the earths orbit around our sun, the proximity of our moon, the tilt of the earth’s axis and all the physics, chemistry and mathematics, that apply to earthly matters, such as the ocean currents, tectonic plates, atmospheric conditions and the sun’s energy.

As a structural engineer, I am aware that structures are dependent on the physics, chemistry and mathematics of our earth, as it hurtles around the sun at about 100,000 km/hr (you can do the calculation roughly in your head; 2PiR/365x24, with Pi approx. 3 and R approx. 150 million kms).

Fortunately, the speed is ‘only’ 100,000 km/hr and nowhere near the speed of light of 300,000 km/sec, otherwise all the laws of Newtonian physics and Euclidian geometry, that we use, would not apply.

We need to understand the chemistry of corrosion to ensure that our structures are serviceable for 100 or 50 years say, depending on the contract, an arbitrary human construct.?The start of the year, January, is also an arbitrary human construct, necessary for cooperation, based on one of many calendars.?Though nobody knows when the revolutions of the earth around the sun “started”.

I am also aware that our earth has evolved over billions of years to a very delicate, balanced state, suitable for life as we know it.?Some people think that the world is chaotic, out of control and unpredictable.?Nothing could be further from the truth.?The relatively constant, percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere allows us to live safely and productively.?A few percent increase and we would have spontaneous combustion, in an “oxygen enriched atmosphere”.?The relatively small amount of greenhouse effect that we have had so far, has warmed up the earth’s atmosphere nicely, sufficient for a variety of species of life to adapt to.?Unlike Venus say, where extreme greenhouse effects have created several hundred degree Celsius temperatures. We need to ensure that we don't increase the percentage of greenhouse gases too much. How much is too much, is the question that we will know the answer after it is too late.

Are you aware of how your work is affected by the seasons and fits into “life’s procession”??Whether you are working in production, consumption or somewhere in the middle; whether you are creative or just following instructions, I hope you can find purpose and meaning in your work. Not everybody is fortunate, to be able to do so.