"Do the work you love"

The realm of necessity/realm of freedom discussion in Hagglund raises the question of whether most people in a capitalist society like ours can ever realistically aspire to do the work they love, when leaving a job they despise is too fraught with the risk of destitution, unemployment, loss of health coverage, and so on. 

And so, in the context of that question a book called Do the Work You Love -- highlighted in an email from Tom Butler-Bowdon I just opened headlined "What to read in a time of loss and panic" -- takes on particular relevance. If "love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness," and our system boxes too many of us us into settling for work we merely tolerate, are we (even those of us who do love our work) really spiritually free?

Labor vs work Marcus Aurelius was an emperor who wrote in his spare moments. Nietzsche was an academic, but proved to be too much of a free thinker for university life; he became an independent intellectual. Darwin was lucky to have private wealth which enabled him to pursue his research, without having to work in the conventional sense. Hannah Arendt made a distinction between 'labor' (the actions that humans must take in order to physically survive) and 'work' (actions we take to create new or artificial worlds with our minds). The idea is in The Human Condition, which I wrote about in 50 Philosophy Classics. Labor is done mainly for ourselves, but work has a public aspect i.e. what we create, we aim to share with the world in some way, and add to it. We strive to create something that will outlast us. Many of us are forced to stay at home right now, away from our usual workplaces. We are "working at home", and so forced to think about what separates our "life" from our "job". Where does work end and life begin? Is your work your life?

I've done plenty of jobs just to earn money. Among them, delivering newspapers (teen years), managing a warehouse (university), being a casual office temp (while transitioning to being a writer). You learn something from every job, but I was keenly aware of the gulf between "labor" jobs (to get money to survive), and what Arendt calls "work" i.e. actions that need me to do them, given my skills or knowledge or view of the world. The "passion economy" that you hear about now is very much about work, not labor. Not only because it's about doing work you love, but because it's about teaching others what you know. For some people, their "passion" is something that's hard to monetize. For others, they're best off making a slow transition from a current job, to work that really expresses who they are. A great new book on this matter is Do The Work You Love by Joe Barnes. Joe provides a realistic but still inspiring roadmap for moving towards genuine work, and away from mere labor. With the Corona backdrop, you may be feeling lucky you still have a job. Or, the enforced isolation or working from home may make you reassess your life priorities. Nothing is more important than your family. But you can express great love through your work. “Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness.” Sigmund Freud