Work and Purpose

Most people believe that there is some connection between work and a meaningful life. But it is not straightforward, by any means. There are many different kinds of work, and many factors that contribute to or take away from the meaning they provide. Today, we are going to try to better understand where exactly the value of hard work lies, though it is far more complicated than the scope of this single blog post.

There is no question that work in itself does not make life meaningful; everyone knows the life of a slave is anything but. So why do so many people believe that more jobs and harder work will lead to more meaning in people’s lives?

To explore this question, we have to look at the opposite of slavery, total leisure. When people have all they need, and have the option to do only what they feel like, two things can happen. Either they seek out difficult tasks and projects to do, or they become nihilistic and conclude that life is meaningless. A life without work is certainly better than that of a slave, but it is not much more meaningful.

If the two extremes of work, slavery and total leisure, are equally meaningless, it means there is more to the story. That is no surprise, because truth almost never comes in simple yeses and nos. So let’s take a look at some of the factors that go into work, and see if we can distill a recipe for meaning.

Perhaps a little bit of meaning comes from being paid a living wage. Of course it has to be enough to live according to society’s standards of dignity; a job with too little pay is essentially a lesser form of slavery. However, there are other kinds of work that don’t pay, like housework, raising kids, maintaining relationships, volunteer work, and personal projects, and these are very often more meaningful to people than the jobs they do to pay the bills. So although it is nice to earn money, it contributes only a small percentage to the meaningfulness of the work.

Perhaps one element of the sense of purpose people get from hard labor is an illusion. Once, as I walked the mile home from the grocery store in the humid heat of the summer with a bag of groceries slung over my shoulder, I was exhausted. As I surveyed the long stretch of bicycle trail I had yet to get through, my heart sank. But then I had an idea. Instead of thinking of how much I had left to do, I started thinking of myself as a grocery-carrying machine. My purpose in life was to carry groceries, one step at a time, along the hot, humid bike trail. And wonder of wonders, I started to feel better. And the next thing I knew, I was across the road from my apartment. Convincing myself that I was a labor robot helped me in the moment, but I ultimately knew it was a delusion, and left it behind as soon as I got home. I can’t help but wonder if a good portion of society’s praise of hard work is a result of people unaware that they are continually under this delusion themselves.

However, there are other, more real factors that contribute to the sense of purpose in work. For one, we want to contribute to society’s prosperity. The modern world is full of comforts and conveniences, and we feel guilty if we partake in these without contributing our fair share of support.

Yet another possibility comes to mind from my own experience. As NaNoWriMo approaches, I’m reminded that every year I push myself so hard that I bring myself physical pain every day for a month, in order to complete an entire draft of a book that will never be published, no one will ever read, and I will never get paid for. What could drive me and so many others to voluntarily endure such torment? Well for me, the answer is simple; the experience of NaNoWriMo helps me to become a better writer. I find meaning in work that improves my skills and broadens my abilities to appreciate the variety of experiences that life has to offer. Self-improvement, with a sense of having earned it.

In a discussion about work, we cannot forget camaraderie. Shared struggles bring us together like nothing else. No matter what the job, no matter what the circumstances, having others to collaborate with, to share encouragement with, to move forward together with, makes it so much better than going through it alone.

Hard work by itself does not make life meaningful, nor does its absence. For every person, many different factors contribute different amounts. For some, the meaning in work is found in the reward, in the money earned. For others, the meaning is found in contributing to society, in making one’s community a better place. For others, the meaning is in the friendships forged in the flames of the struggle. For those like myself, the meaning is found in improving oneself, gaining skills and knowledge that lead to a greater enjoyment of everything life has to offer (although I wouldn't mind if you decided to click on the orange button on the sidebar). It’s not simple. There is no one answer. So instead of praising hard work for hard work’s sake, let’s remember that it’s the reasons we work that matter, and that everybody’s reasons are a little different from everybody else’s.