When work becomes meaningless
WHEN
WORK BECOMES MEANINGLESS
Mario
D’Couto
To many of us, the end goal of the
work that we do is the paycheck that we receive at the end of the week or at
the end of the month and for the vast majority of us, that is perhaps the only
motivation that makes us get up from our beds and go to work day in and day
out. Take away the paycheck and then what is left? Perhaps, nothing! It is the
feeling of apathy that can make work seem meaningless, causing us to wonder if
there is any point of our existence?
One of the most poignant expressions
of the way human work can feel so profoundly meaningless comes from the book of
Ecclesiastes, which is one of the books of the Bible. Anyone who reads through
Ecclesiastes will be struck by many things that appear to contradict the rest
of the Bible. While the Bible everywhere challenges people to live thoroughly
wise and righteous lives, the book of Ecclesiastes seems to warn about being ‘too
righteous’ or too wicked and comments a middle road, one that is not too
moral or too immoral, not too wise to too foolish (Ecclesiastes 7: 15 – 17).
How do we explain this?
The author of the book of
Ecclesiastes uses the character of ‘the philosopher’ where the quest of the Philosopher is to have a meaningful life based solely on what can be found
within the confines of the material world, be it, achievement, pleasure and
learning and then the author speaks in his own voice again and does an
evaluation in the epilogue (Ecclesiastes 12: 8 – 14). Through this, the author
is using the person of the Philosopher as someone who is the wisest, richest
and most gifted man possible and yet is still not able to find fulfilment in
this life.
Through the book of Ecclesiastes,
the author is using the character of the Philosopher to push the reader toward
an understanding of the transcendent uniqueness and necessity of God. Nothing
within this world is of sufficient basis for a meaningful life here. If we base
our lives on work and achievement, on love and pleasure or on knowledge and
learning, our existence becomes anxious and fragile, because circumstances in
life are always threatening the very foundation of our lives and death
inevitably strips us of everything we hold dear. Ecclesiastes is an argument
that existential dependence on a gracious creator God is a pre-condition for an
unbreakable, purposeful life.
When we work, we want to make an
impact and that can mean getting personal recognition for
our work or making a
difference in our field or doing something to make this world a better place.
Nothing is more satisfying than a sense that through our work we have
accomplished some lasting achievement. But the Philosopher startles us by
arguing that even if you are one of the few people who breaks through and
accomplishes all you hope for, it’s all for nothing, for in the end, there are
no lasting achievements as we find written, “I hated all things I had toiled
for under the sun because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And
who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have
control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and
skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over
all my toilsome labour under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 2: 18 – 20).
Whether quickly or slowly, all the
results of our toil will be wiped away by history. The person who takes the
business after you or who picks up the cause or organization after you, may
undo all you have done. Of course, some history makers have come up with
inventions or innovations that stay with the human race for a long time but
those persons are very rare and of course, eventually even the most famous “will
not be remembered” (Ecclesiastes 2:16) since everything and every
accomplishment under the sun will be ground to dust in the end, maybe, even
civilization itself. All work, even the most historic, will eventually be
forgotten and its impact totally neutralized (Ecclesiastes 1:3-11). In other
words, even if your work is not fruitless, it is ultimately pointless if life ‘under
the sun’ is all there is.
In the midst of this gloom regarding
the pointlessness of work, a couple of gleams shine through as we see, “There
is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work because that is their
lot” (Ecclesiastes 3:22). Yes, work is our inescapable ‘lot’ and so
satisfaction in that realm is essential to a satisfactory life. But how do we
get that satisfaction in light of all that we have against us? The answer is “to
find satisfaction in all their toil – this is the gift of God”
(Ecclesiastes 3:13). How can we secure this gift?
It is important to understand that tranquillity
( peace) without toil (work) will not bring us satisfaction neither will toil (work)
without tranquillity (peace). There will be both toil and tranquillity. How we
attain such a balanced life is one of the main themes of Scripture. First, it
means recognizing and renouncing our
tendency to make idols of money and power (Ecclesiastes 4:4). Second, it means
putting relationships in their proper place (Ecclesiastes 4:8). But most of
all, it means pursuing something that is beyond the scope of Ecclesiastes to
identify. The New Testament reveals that the ultimate source of the
tranquillity we seek is Jesus Christ who because He has toiled for us on the
cross, can offer us the true rest for our souls (Matthew 16:28-30). Without the
Gospel of Jesus, we will have to toil not for the joy of serving others nor the
satisfaction of a job well done but to make a name for ourselves which is what
we don’t want.
Now this is not to say that we
should start doing our work at the cost of self – neglect or like as though our
inner personalities did not matter. Far from it! Our personalities do matter
for that is what we bring to our work and that is what makes our contribution
to that piece of work unique. However, there is a thin line between
contributing your uniqueness and being overly pre-occupied with yourself. What
this means is to understand that you are a co-creator in God’s grander scheme
of creation. When we work with this mindset, it becomes not so much about us
but we then work for something beyond ourselves and thus our work then takes on
a new meaning. A classic example of this is in the film “Chariots of Fire”
where one man ran in the Olympics literally to justify his existence while
another man had such deep rest in Christ that he could miss a likely gold medal
by not running on Sunday. The first man had to get a medal because he was doing
the work beneath the work while the second man, the devoted Christian, Eric
Liddell, did not care in the same way whether he won Olympic medals or not. He
was at rest. He told his sister that God had simply made him fast and whenever
he runs, he feels His presence. He just ran simply for the joy of running
itself and to delight the One who gave him the gifts to do so.
In the same light, we see something
similar in the life of the American saxophonist and composer, John Williams
Coltrane, who initially thought that he had to prove his self – worth through
his actions as he once said, “If I get really good, if I’m successful, if
people applaud and appreciate me, then I’ll know I’m significant; I’ll know my
life is worth something”, only later in life, by the grace of God, to grow
out of that mindset as he once later said, “During the year 1957, I
experienced by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to
a richer, fuller, more productive life. At that time, in gratitude, I humbly
asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music ……
to inspire them to realize more and more of their capacities for living
meaningful lives. Because there certainly is meaning to life. I feel this has
been granted through His grace. All praise to God.” The irony of this is
that the more one is overtly pre-occupied with standing out so as to make an
impression on others, it is not going to help at all. C.S. Lewis explains this
beautifully in his book, “Mere
Christianity”, in the following words, “You will never make a good
impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression
you are making. Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about
originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply tell the truth
(without caring two pence how often it has been told before), you will, nine
times out of ten, become original without even having noticed it ….. Give up
yourself and you will find your real self” and this is something we see in
Coltrane’s life who eventually stopped making music for his own sake but rather
for music’s sake, the listener’s sake and for God’s sake. This is a good learning
for entrepreneurs too. More often than not, many entrepreneurs are often
pre-occupied with making profits, forgetting that what’s important is adding
value. In fact, we may just say that the profit you intend to make is
directly proportional to the value you add or are able to add. Money is a
by-product. The more value you are able to add, the more the chances you have
of making money.
In the Christian life, the way to
find your calling is to look at the way you were created. Your
gifts have not
emerged by accident but because the Creator gave them to you. But what if
you’re not at the point of running in the Olympics or leading on a world stage?
What if you’re struggling under an unfair boss or a tedious job that doesn’t take
advantage of all your gifts? It’s liberating to know that God is fully aware of
where you are at any moment and that by serving the work you have been given, you
are serving Him. Hence, having said that, you can accept gladly whatever level
of success and accomplishment God gives you in your vocation because He has
called you to it and so in any time and place, you can work with joy,
satisfaction and no regrets and thus like the prophet Simeon, you can say, “Nunc
Dimittis” which translates as “I can die happy now” (Luke 2:
29-32). God love you! Stay blessed!
