Why Must We Work?

Why Must We Work? from July 2024 - By M. Triplett

Recently, I stumbled upon “The Principles of Economics” by Dr. Saifedean Ammous. The pen truly is mightier than the sword, and to those like the young man named Marion who inspired me to pick up mine, I extend my gratitude. This book, as if fated to find it, granted an understanding I hope to articulate here; deep truths that had previously been elusive. This endeavor to distill the essence of the book for my life aims to illuminate what was once challenging to express, especially to myself. Despite my poetic style, I feel as if a fog of war has lifted, revealing a ‘John Galt – Get the Hell out of my Way!’ moment, reminiscent of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.

You see, I have chosen work most of my life; a fact well-known to those closest to me. I wasted my free time until I was once again useful, wilting the fruits of my labor. So, I have acquired a taste to sip on suffering like a dry red wine. Work, in its essence, can be called a suffering. Over time, as one becomes attuned to its nuances, there’s a unique satisfaction that comes from appreciating the intricate notes, at least for me, whenever I find myself embracing the grind. So, here’s to work - our daily bread, chased by the dry red which must be sipped and savored, with all its bittersweet complexity.

I do hope you enjoy reading these reflections as much as I enjoy creating them.

Labor: A Fundamental Function of Human Behavior

Labor, also known as work, is a fundamental aspect of human behavior. It defines ‘who’ we are and ‘what’ we do, shaping ‘how’ and ‘where’ we interact with the world. Labor is the transformative process that allows us to create value.

Labor transcends mere survival; it’s the pursuit of our aspirations and the manifestation of our potential.

We Labor to Survive

Labor forms the bedrock of our existence, the initial step on the ladder of human progress. From the Garden of Eden, we were ordained to work, to tend the garden. Since the dawn of time, our ancestors have labored against chaos, hunting and gathering to fend off the looming shadow of starvation. As our mastery over energy expanded, so did our needs. We transitioned from the unpredictability of the hunt to the order of agriculture, from the spear to the plow, from the wilderness to the homestead.

Survival Secured; We Labor for More

Long ago, we secured survival from the elements of nature, which I refer to as Chaos. Now, our quest extends beyond mere sustenance to surplus. This surplus springs from saving, from foresight, from sowing seeds not just for today but for tomorrow. We build, we cultivate, we innovate; from rearing livestock to harnessing machines. Now we stand at the edge of enlightenment or perhaps enslavement in this age of AI and automation.

Why We Work

Let’s delve into why we work. I’ve posed this question, or variations of it, to numerous individuals: “Why do you do what you do?” or “What led you to become who you are?” or simply, “Why do you come to work every day?” The responses have been diverse, offering some insights from this informal investigation.

Most likely, you work to afford life. The question, “What is life?” or “What does living look like to you?” or my father’s favorite, “What are you doing with your life?” is a separate conversation, so let’s set it aside for now. Working or laboring allows for enjoyment, meaningful or otherwise, which we can collectively term as Leisure.

Leisure

Leisure is an intriguing concept. Simply defined, it refers to the free time when one is not engaged in work or other duties. It’s the time for relaxation, hobbies, sports, or personal interests. However, leisure can often be a vice. As the wise have said, “Too much of anything is a bad thing, even good things.” We all harbor some degree of unhealthiness. This is the Great Paradox of Human Beings: we can exponentially multiply our value and the value of things we touch. As Og Mandino says, from a mulberry leaf, we make silk; from clay, we create a castle; from sheep’s hair, we prepare raiment worthy of a king. Yet, where has our exponential innovation led us? Despite all the back-breaking labor that built the world we live in today; we are quick to dishonor the many men and women of the past. We forsake their wisdom as primitive, arcane, and barbaric. This is the highest leisure epoch in recorded history, and we owe it to those we so quickly forget. We would do well to honor the warriors who worked away life and limb to give us the era we are in.

Leisure and Mental Health

If high leisure was the solution to man’s quest for meaning, mental health issues and unspeakable evils would not be escalating at unsustainable rates. We often rationalize everything, leading to a powder keg of people searching for purpose. When they don’t find it, the world becomes a mess. If we are not working on ourselves, our habitats, and our world, we are squandering the wealth of leisure that affords us these higher pursuits.

The Equation of Work and Leisure

The balance of work and leisure isn’t a mathematical equation to be solved, but a problem to be understood and applied. The “equation” can’t be solved, just as you can’t solve an irrational number such as Pi. Human behavior, with its many inconsistencies and variables, further complicates things. Each elevation demands more from us than mere survival. It requires vision and foresight. We need to cultivate these qualities as individuals, harnessing our own ideas and leveraging them with the capital available to each of us. We need to work on this, and hurry, for reason alone says the higher the ascension, the further down the descent.

The Foundational Problem

Humans can exponentially increase their value and the value of things, but we are mortal. Our time here is limited, and therefore its use is of critical importance. Speaking from experience, we often fail to see the need to economize our time until years after witnessing the power of compounding returns in the rare few who follow the way of strategy. As emphasized in Saifedean Ammous’ ‘Principles of Economics’, time is the ultimate resource. Its scarcity is why we must economize our limited resources, including time, effectively.

I hope you are beginning to see the eternal nature of labor, in this unsolvable ever-changing equation. In a world where we want it all but are never going to have enough time for it.

Time, therefore, is both the problem and the solution.

The Nature of Progress

The nature of progress is our need for improvement. This drive, like hunger or thirst, is essential for our survival. Progress has led to a quality of life that would be unimaginable just a few generations ago. Our machines could sincerely be considered magic, look how amplified the power of farmers and workers has become. An increase in power and energy that is thousands of times more in just a few centuries. Yet how often do we overlook the brutal, savage nature of history. Preferring to remember their sweat and suffering as a sunrise remembers the dew on the blades of grass. One consistent truth, we often romanticize the past. Therefore, based on the accounts of our parents, grandparents, and their forebears, labor was far more grueling, and they carved out a constitution of character stronger than any of us today. Resources were scarcer, not due to their scarcity, but because the means to procure, transport, and utilize them were limited. Progress is possible if we will but pay the price. To secure the promise of tomorrow, we must sacrifice today, enduring the costs, conserving whatever we may with patience and resilience, ever adapting to the shifting winds and turbulent seas of change.

Progress, Production and Consumption Oh My.

Once we have put in the effort to survive, we are rewarded. Basic food and essentials used to require whole community efforts. Now, if we need to eat, we simply prepare a meal or open an app. Labor contributes to the productivity of a society. As we work, we not only produce goods and services for our consumption, but we also contribute to the overall wealth and prosperity of our society. Thanks to the abundance created by previous generations, we live in an age of consumption. It is as if our need to consume is some psychological phenomenon, where like we see in the “breakup and a bucket of ice cream” scenes, we too try to fill the void left by the pain our lack of purpose has provided us.

This is not a new phenomenon either. In researching, I stumbled upon an article from the Fall of 1974 in The Journal of Environmental Education titled “Working at Waste in Leisure” by Bryan Hobson. It reads:

“Is man’s ultimate destiny to consume? A wise man once said that the whole struggle of the human race can be divided neatly into only two chapters: first, the fight to get leisure, and second, the struggle over what we should do with our leisure when we get it. If the first chapter was resolved by organizing and mechanizing the workplace, the second chapter seems to have been resolved by what many assume to be the natural consequence of the unparalleled efficient productivity of goods. That consequence is Consumption. In fact, in the abundant society, consumption is not only viewed as an inevitable accompaniment of product, money, and time surpluses, but as a reward for our productivity, even as an inalienable right and a key to the ‘good life.’”

Those who over consume will always collapse. However, each of us will always want more time to do what we want and not what we need to. Even though we continuously improve both chapters with each page we write, from the seeds planted and the harvests reaped do we ever really resolve them? The second chapter of what to do with our leisure once we can afford it, simply is to seek meaning and purpose. For look at what a lack of purpose produces. Millions of people are not working, even in the sense of self-care, not because there is no work to be done, but because they no longer have a life of purpose. This is a societal failure. While we should not cast these people out, making entertainment out of their situations, as seen in shows like Hoarders, is also not the answer. We “will rot and stagnate unless we are put to good use,” as Og Mandino suggests. Labor is akin to service, as energy was originally manpower, and therefore Labor and Service in an ancient or archetypal sense are one and the same. This reminds me of the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore’s famous words, “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”? As we eliminated threats to our survival, we hindered our ability to thrive thoughtfully and live life well.

Purpose and Labor

In the past, intensive, back-breaking labor was required for mere survival, providing people with a clear, understood purpose. Each member of a tribe had a job, and if they didn’t do it, they wouldn’t survive. Being useful was essential. Today, we have an abundance of leisure, throwing everything out of balance. We must find meaningful labor and leisure worthy of the higher order in which we inhabit. Often, due to the necessity of work, labor lays claim to our very identity. It is how we interact with the world so much of the time. The lines between labor and leisure have always been blurred, whether it’s a hoedown for a harvest in an agricultural community or researching and writing an article alone.

Leisure Must Be Purposeful too

What is leisure if not the time in which we build, improve, and elevate? What else shall we do? Surrender ourselves to base, fleeting pleasures; those things which sap our precious and short time on earth? No, those things have their place and purpose; and we can and should celebrate any elevation of self from our effective use of labor and leisure alike.

Leisure at your liberty, you have earned it. However, might I suggest leisure for more liberty, say liberty for yourself and your loved ones? If each of us did so and allowed the same for the rest of the public with whom we exchange trade, first what peace there might be. Is it not in the quiet moments away from labor where we find our greatest inspirations and most profound innovations.

Liberty, which affords us leisure and not just the demand of duty, is the foundation upon which we build the capital of tomorrow. Whether it’s machines and vehicles that extend our reach to the stars, or gardens, fields, and livestock that ensure our sustenance, it’s our understanding of our strengths and how they can serve the world that leads to thriving, not just survival. Even in today’s world, there are wilds to which we must adapt to survive.

By infusing purpose into both our labor and our leisure, we elevate our existence.

We transform from mere consumers of time to active creators of value and meaning.

This balance allows us to honor the efforts of those who came before us while paving the way for future generations to find their purpose.

Thus, in the blending of work and leisure, we discover the true essence of liberty:

Freedom to live fully, to innovate boldly, and to thrive collectively.