Transforming Work Into Play
7 Important Questions When Considering What To Do
It's always been my experience that there is no perfect job, and it's not a job’s job to make us happy. If we are unhappy and think we will be satisfied in another position, we must examine if we believe our environment is the source of our happiness. Different jobs indeed bring different situations and opportunities for us to use our skills and do what we most love, so we must consider that too.
All jobs have some fundamental characteristics. They should support our need for preservation by paying us enough. They bring us into social contact with others and therefore are an opportunity to share caring and love with others. They hopefully stretch us in some way and are interesting, so we learn new things and allow us to express creativity. Also, in general, they will meet the needs of society. However, all jobs at a certain level are functional.
So the first question is, can I be honest with myself about why I want to make this change? (a sub-question would be when deciding what to do is, am I relying on my environment to give me happiness or am I happy independent of the circumstances?) Are we looking for a job because we do not feel free enough? If so, what is our definition of freedom? Is it purely physical, or is it the freedom to share love, understanding and beauty with the world? If the former, it would be a good idea to review this before making changes; otherwise, we may be disappointed if we move, which could cause much disruption, and we may find ourselves still dissatisfied. For example, many people become self-employed because they seek freedom, but all employment is often restrictive and has its demands. So if it is freedom we desire, it would be better to see this as a quality that comes from the inside and not one that we can structurally engineer on the outside. If, on the other hand, we find ourselves in a situation where we feel sincerely we are sharing love, understanding and beauty, and we wish to explore new ways to expand this, then this would be an intrinsic reason for the change and one more likely to succeed. If we discover that our original reasons for doing our current job were more about social conditioning or emotional problems than anything else, then it's possible we will realise we are entirely in the wrong job as we wake up to this. For example, if we were trying to do what we felt was ''right'' to earn love from our parents or society in some way, we may have chosen a job initially because we thought it would be a way to get love and respect from the world. This is just another example of how we would misuse work to get things from the world we think we lack due to believing we are separate from it.
The second question to review in detail is what do we love to do? Depending on what brings us the most pleasure, it will be helpful to go down that path as you will be doing a lot of it. There are broadly three primary industries in the world that reflect the qualities of underlying indivisible reality that we call universal love, understanding and appreciation of beauty. These qualities are reflected socially in the industry of universal love (health and service), the industry of understanding (science and education) and the industry of beauty (art and creativity). All industries have elements of all three, but each has its particular focus. We all have a particular unique tendency toward a particular quality of universal oneness as we are individual expressions of consciousness.
The third question is, what can I do? This is a question of ability and skill. Usually, most people are far more capable of doing many things than they think. Each of us has unique neurology, which generally contributes to one of these industries, though some can do more than one, it is true. It is also true that specific skills come naturally for some people, and perhaps it would be a good idea to assess those skills for ourselves before making changes. Finding these skills is a question of trial and error. We all have our particular unique abilities and disabilities as we are individual expressions of consciousness.
The previous question cannot be answered objectively with a mind full of self-doubt because we believe we are separate from the world. For example, most people are socially phobic and fear speaking to others because of the belief to be separate from others. Here, it’s helpful to discern what thoughts to pay attention to. We have useful practical thoughts and enthusiastic interesting thoughts. These thoughts are generally impersonal and positive. We also have fear-ridden thinking that is characterised by thoughts that limit the self. We do not need to pay attention to that type of thought. It is false because any thought that tries to define the self can be faced with the truth that we don’t know the self is limited. Therefore the fourth to ask is what sort of thoughts are occurring to me, and am I still believing to be separate?
The fifth question is, what does society need? All jobs are a mutual meeting of needs and exist because society needs their products and services as much as we need to earn a living. This is not to say society always knows what it requires, of course, for society is made up of people who think they know what they need but often do not as we are all influenced by advertising and social conditioning to consume. So there are many jobs in society that are fake. Jobs have arisen because of things people think they need – usually created when people are only concerned about superficial things like making lots of money without concern for anything else. Society tells you it needs these jobs, but they are vacuous, and when you enter their premises as you realise that the underlying motivation for this particular business is extrinsic and superficial, it will become apparent. Now, even these workplaces can be stepping stones for you in certain situations, so it may be better to take the job than refuse it. However, it is helpful to assess the underlying motivation of the place of work you are anticipating joining and how strongly these motivations are part of that organisation's culture. Otherwise, you may find yourself in a culture far removed from the intrinsic motivations of love, understanding and beauty that you are trying to express. Such places will feel miserable; in the long run, such businesses are often failures, so it would be helpful to consider the culture of the business and how much it is motivated intrinsically or extrinsically. This is the sixth question, what is the underlying motivation of the organisation you are joining?
Fundamentally, if we view the world as separate from us, then all jobs are in danger of seeming like an imposition at some level. This is what I call "work". If we consider the world as our body and not separate from us, then all jobs become a creative possibility for us to share love, understanding and beauty, and this is what I call "play". Based on this definition, we need to move from a culture of "work" to a culture of "play". The critical determinant is our understanding of self and that we have no evidence that this self is limited and therefore can be open to it being unlimited and the source of universal love, understanding and appreciation of beauty. So the seventh important question is, am I working or playing?
