I began my venture into the world of philosophy and, consequently, spirituality, in 2019. At least initially, the proverbial flame of my philosophical interest was lit by a particular curiosity in existentialism and how I might use ideas produced by a bunch of deceased historical figures to understand why I was so damn unhappy all the time. This fire then spread onto ethics via the gateway of eudaimonia and virtue, and then next thing I knew it was 2020.
As the world around us shut down and we were all given a unique set of trials, I began expanding my view of eudaimonia and virtue by exploring some parallel methods of thought developed by ancient Indians in the Upanishads, and Indigenous peoples, explicated by Joseph Marshall III in his work on the Lakota Way. The days I spent ending long walks around the city with reading those works on patches of grass were euphoric. Whether it was my attempts to overcome my ego Self or discover my true Self, those works got me through those rough first few months of the pandemic. I even got to practice some of my knowledge by producing some writing on this blog. What a time.
And then 2021 came and my time as an undergrad student came to end. I got a job at some tech start-up, trying to find my own way of putting back some good into the world. Maybe it was some residual capitalism flowing through my veins, or a symptom of burnout from 2020 US presidential election. Regardless, I put my hopes and dreams aside to grind for 40 hours a week. That is, until about a month ago.
After roughly 19 months I quit my job and decided to go back to graduate school. In the meantime I’ve enrolled in a class on Eastern Religion at a local university nearby. In this class we have been going through the Vedas, Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita, with the plan of moving onto Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Shinto by the end of the semester. While I do have prior knowledge on a number of these subjects, what is striking is just how much I’ve forgotten conceptually. It isn’t a matter of forgetting the basic definitions of dharma, the Self, or such matters, but rather, the general lessons and virtues instilled through these works that I’ve all but completely abandoned.
In my year and a half working for the benefit of a CEO with a chip on his shoulder, I had allowed my ego Self to consume me. My ignorance was in full swing, forgetting to practice mindfulness and allowing myself to try healing my bleeding soul with material objects and desires. I was no longer motivated by the intrinsic good of an action, but rather for what the action could do for me down the line. Even after recognizing my faults and practicing daily meditation following some research into Taoism, I found it profoundly difficult to push myself any further than the 7-9 hours of a work each day. It was a constant state of burnout, with loose plans of what I wanted to do but no motivation or hope for a better life. What a miserable fucking existence.
And now I’m here, almost 20 months later, with a newfound perspective on the world. We may often hear the sentiment from the older generation, or entitled intellectuals/academics, that people nowadays don’t think critically–they just consume and do as they’re told. What we don’t hear is that there is a clear reason for that–we are drained. We are drained working 40 hours a week, knowing that the fruits of our labor are going to the top 1%, knowing that we have to sacrifice multiple aspects of ourselves in order to excel at these companies that couldn’t give less of a shit about our wellbeing.
While working, I sacrificed multiple facets of who I was to get a measly promotion that resulted in nothing more than a slight pay bump and double the responsibility. Initially I sacrificed my mental health, then my physical health, and then my spiritual health. You can’t sleep for 8 hours, work for 8 hours, get an hour of exercise, cook your own meals, eat, socialize, get chores done, go to therapy, and find time for hobbies in the span of a day. Especially not when there’s added time in there for commutes, traffic, and random occurrences that come up. The American culture surrounding work asks too much of us.
Imagine doing that for 40-50 years only to retire and have no sort of life outside of work. That transition would be incredibly jarring. And again, a miserable fucking existence.
I do advocate for a four day work week, but I don’t believe that would solve the issue wholly. We’re stuck on this vicious cycle of working during the day and spending our downtime recovering for work. What we need is to completely separate the idea of work and life all together. There is no work life balance (I actually started a post about a year ago about the fallacy of a work/life balance. Maybe I’ll post it eventually). We work, and we have lives separate from our work. There needs to be a cultural shift in which everyone truly internalizes that.
The Verbose Vomiteer 