Enjoying what you do

Much of our lives is spent serving others. The comforts of a society which we gain from others' service to us requires our (or at least the majorities') own servitude for its continuation. We start as iron enriched by years of education and then are pounded into capital to begin creating and providing all the goods and services which we graciously accept. However it is rarely perceived as a public service to those who toil; the hierarchies established rather put the masses in servitude to individuals, individuals of which they cannot see different from themselves, and thus resent them and their demands as unfair, inegalitarian. They hate to obey and therefore justify their doing so as not something voluntary but as something they must do, something they are forced to do, whether this be forced by money or expectations or herd or whatever other imaginary demons they see. Whether this hierarchy is unfair or if society could be structured in a better way is a question which can be pondered by politicians and revolutionaries, I rather focus on what I can control, this hatred of what I do.

To start off, there is one simple solution to all this, one which relinquishes oneself from their servitude. It's to quit! Participation in society is not mandatory. If one does not participate they cannot expect society's gifts, easy food and shelter and the like, not to even begin on non-essentials, but it is still not forced. One can just run off into the forest and live there, most likely dying at 25 but that is just the price of freedom. One could just never leave the bed, lay there forever, unconcerned with the affairs of the world. A great example of this refusal is the common K in The Trial—even though his actions have no effect upon his circumstance, he still remains in resistance even in his final moments and thus dies not as an indentured citizen but as one who has reunited with freedom, "like a dog." Unfortunately though, many, I included, would prefer not to give up all of society's pomp which we have become accustomed to.

So then, if we ought to continue doing what we "must," should we enjoy it? Should one enjoy toiling away day after day? There is a case against it, a case already made, the case of injustice which stemmed this distaste in the first place. If there were no case against it people would be happy to toil, or at least not be opposed to it. This opposition would be fine if there was change to be made, if the opposer was to quit or to resist, to ignite a revolution or enact policy, but very few among us will ever do such things. Selfish as it is, if we are unable to help us all, we ought to at least help ourselves and thus ought to evaluate if this opposition is of any benefit to us, if we ought not to just throw it off. While there are no "unalienable truths," all arguments presuppose some values, and so I will give mine: one should live. There are many ways one may die: some completely uncontrollable, like a car crash or a terrorist attack or etc; some somewhat controllable, like health and the situations we are in; but only one cause is fully controllable: suicide. Thus in our avoidance of death it is important that we give adequate concern to that cause, and avoid its causes respectively. A large one of these causes being disliking life and thus seeking its antonym. Disliking life often stems from disliking what one does in life, so to enjoy what one does can therefore be considered a sensible goal, at least to my fellow lovers of life.

But if our situation is already that we hate what we do, how are we to change this? Our solution is the same as that of the revolutionaries: to remedy the cause. Rather than working for the man, to work for ourselves. To us who have not the ability to redistribute the means of production, this instead means to change how we perceive our actions. To recognize that we are not "forced" to do anything but instead that we do it because it benefits us. Because we want to do it. Because we see this as our best option, and that the situation we live in is the best situation we have available. To be glad this gives us food. To be glad this gives us comfort. To recognize that even in its fruits being plundered our labor benefits us all. To free ourselves from thinking that we do this because of... at all and to just find joy in the act of doing. To be proud of a task well done. To rejoice in the fact that we are doing and that to not do would be so much worse. That we have the ability to do. This solution is, of course, distasteful. We do not change anything in the "real world." But to all of us will never enact "real" change, this is the most we can do. One by one, we can ease the collective suffering.