This model of life

How on earth did the present model of life evolve? It appears flawed in not inconsiderable ways. This post will touch upon one of the more popular models; the one based on employment. Employment, job, work, career-call it what you will-is at the core of this model. By that I mean more than 50% of waking hours of those living this model is consumed by the employment factor.

Employment typically takes place in organizations. The goal of an organization is to maximize shareholder wealth. I am not going to examine that goal. Looking at things from an employee perspective, I find that organizations function on mind bogglingly flawed principles.

The goals of each individual employee-the basic unit that constitutes an organization-are widely varied. Most often one employee can attain his goal only at the expense of the other. In short, this is a zero-sum game. How can a zero-sum gum make everyone happy? Should we all not be a part of something that can make everyone satisfied, at least in theory? Not only are the individual employee goals not aligned with each other but there is no goal congruence between an organization and its employees as well. For example, organizations want to cut costs. One way of achieving this end would be to downsize or reduce employee compensation. But, this will make the employee unhappy and there is a direct conflict of interests.

Further, power and decision making, which are very critical to the organization tend to be distributed on an arbitrary basis. Less competent people get to make decisions for no better a reason than because they happened to join the organization before more competent people. Organizations just perpetuate a non meritrocratic hierarchy leading to a frustratingly non optimal use of it’s precious human resources. There are far many more fundamental flaws in this set up and I don’t see how can it can ever be satisfactory.

I am sure that there are plenty of happy and satisfied workers all around the world. However, the average worker is at so many points in his career reduced to a demotivated, complaining, whining malcontent. Nearly everyone I know looks forward to the weekend. If this model was any good, would people not be looking forward to the week?

Yet people continue to be employed because employment is the center of a greater model of life. A model that seems to revolve around the concept that stability is the most desirable thing in life. The underlying assumption that stability is the most desirable thing is highly questionable. But, this model pushes you into believing that safety, stability and security are the bedrock of human existence. Not only this, it thrusts the concept of what is desirable and undesirable upon us without giving us a moment to think about it.

At its worst, this model crushes the spirit, destroys the soul and sucks the joy out of existence and is nothing but a trap. I would go so far as to say that it is a trap that makes people forget the existence of a soul and a spirit and turns them into Microsoft office suite wielding automatons.

It leaves you pursuing things without truly comprehending what attaining these things will do for you. This is a model that fails to impress upon people the diminishing marginal utility of money and material things. I am a huge fan of money and material things. I am as pro MT as the next person. But, the concept of diminishing marginal utility applies. There is only so much of stuff that anyone needs. After a point, it is pointless to chase stuff. But, once you start it is hard to stop.

This model is so cleverly designed to sustain itself through the concept of security, that it has a thousand nay sayers questioning the wisdom of people who have the courage to break out. They will be relentlessly worked upon until they are browbeaten into submission; their spirits are crushed and they are firmly entrapped.

Should life not be about what you really like to do? I am alive to the fact that it is not always possible to do what I like. There is the question of a roof over my head and feeding myself. But, surely this is not the only way to answer these questions.

The basic principle of life should be about exploring one’s potential as a human being and maximizing it (obviously assuming that it is done in a moral and ethical way); about knowing what activities bring joy and pleasure and in working towards maximizing the time spent in these activities. I ask not even for a model where I can act upon my thoughts but merely the freedom to think, the opportunity to look inwards and to find my true self.

This model lets you live ‘a’ life. But, it so often comes in the way of leading ‘the’ life.

**This post is for one of the four loyal readers, the one in Spain; Until I actually write something more substantial, please make do with this.