Enjoying Work and Leisure

I recall working feverishly at home engrossed with a few urgent deadlines. Suddenly my internet hub connection stopped working. It simply conked out. There was no electrical power or juice, though the points were live and my computer was steaming ahead.

I panicked as I needed to be online. For quite some time I felt as if the whole world had crashed around me. I even panicked more when the support service of the provider informed me that a replacement will arrive only by the following Tuesday. My sons who were busy revising for their exams could not understand my panic. They even pointed out to me the inconsistency given my usual perception that they are the ones hooked on the wired world of the internet. They were right. I have become too dependent, through work and my own research pursuits on the internet.

Luckily, the world around me did not fold up, nor did the unfinished tasks around me mean the end of my life. In fact I spent the few days contemplating on a book I read two summers ago titled Going Slow as part of the “slow movement” and found myself moving around more leisurely and with an unhurried sense of being pressured - lazing around, reading, dozing off and thinking differently.

This episode got me going some serious introspection. Among other things, I reflected on what is means to work faithfully: not aimlessly nor where work becomes a burden; not as a rushed activity – but work as pleasure and full of satisfaction so that when my internet conks out or my computer decides on a sabbath I will not panic.

Perhaps, I need to wrestle hard to discern a connection between what I do and a wider sense of purpose. Or it may be that I need to give more attention to a spirituality or moral center to work. Am I valuing process well as the product? It is the product mentality that caused me into panic. This robs us of the pleasure of savouring our efforts, ourselves and others, flourishing into wholeness. Certainly, I need to rediscover the importance and the place of leisure and rest. Leisure, a condition of the soul is a form of silence that we all need. Yet, this has become an uphill struggle in our wired world where we are accessible every minute, hour and day of the year wherever we maybe.

Leisure does not exist for the sake of work. Like the Sabbath it is not a day off. The precedent to quit doing and simply be - is divine. When I fail to remember this, I hope the technological gadgets around me would fail in order to release and rescue me.

© copyright (September 18 2010)

CCTV, Big Brother and Trust

We are being constantly watched. We have also become enslaved to the idea that we must watch each other. With the number of CCTV cameras and airborne satellite cameras, it feels like our every move is being observed, tracked and recorded. New technology is now available to even watch those watching us to see what they are missing.

We have been led to believe that because of evil people around us, bent on destroying the very core of what it means to be a democratic society, we need to become a more security conscious nation or state. What we are not told, but should quickly discern, is that that we are all suspects and that no one can be trusted. Are there more criminals than honest people around? Is every person a potential evil doer? What kind of lives and society are we cultivating by suspecting each other?

This has become so much of second, if not first nature that we would not be surprised to find that our reality TV shows are heavily viewed. WE just love spying on each other. The other person should be the focus, not me. Privacy, decency and trust are words that have been become homeless.

Trust is no longer a quality to emulate. It is more about being docile, not protesting and being well behaved – in other words- a nation of zombies. Yet, trust is not a possession we can secure for ourselves and to ration out. It is at the core – the living tissue of our relationships [with each other and with God]. It is relational.

Trust embraces leaning, letting go and leaping. When we are unable to trust, the community trusts for us and with us. When we let go, we are held by others and by God in faith, in prayer and hope. When we trust God we are able to let go, despite our pain and fears, and leap into life.

Trust is the release of both mind and heart to the Divine, not to the dictates of fear. And all the world of our CCTV’s, however important some of these may be, will not create safer spaces where we will reclaim the ability to trust and live without fear, in community and for each other.

copyright September 5, 2010