career

I had an interesting discussion with a friend last night.  We talked about “living in the moment” which is, of course, a theme in Buddhism.  And we talked about living your live with integrity. This is the theme of my blog entry today. I try to live with integrity and honesty and honour. This is possible to an extent in my private life. In my dealings with people in my professional life it is more difficult. In fact, this seems to be quite general. I see many people who are “wage-slaves” going to work just to earn the money for their lives outside of work. I see many more who are obsessed, or at the very least preoccupied, with their career. They fight and backstab and tread on colleagues at work, putting aside the rules of social behaviour and the Social Contract to get one step further up the ladder. As they climb higher and higher they do not become more satisfied, instead they become more obsessed. It is a white elephant syndrome where the amount of effort and badness that they have invested to move up the career ladder convinces them that it really is worthwhile and they are then forced to carry on the same way instead of questioning the worth of how they have been living and the immorality of how they got where they are today. Maybe in middle age they start to question their own lives and values but more often than not, the answers are hollow. Is this a depressive view of many people’s lives or is it just realistic ? I am not sure, but I do think that the workmen digging holes in the street usually are happier and are better people than the suited businessmen who hurry past them as they work. Perhaps, Jenny Holzer was right when her art shouted out “anyone who doesn’t work with their hands is a parasite”.