vol 2: Synopsis
part V: Applied divinity
page 39: Work
Site map
Directory
Search this site
Home
1: About
2: Synopsis
3: Development
Next: page 40: Grace
Previous: page 38: Design
... to restore theology to the mainstream of science
Work
Why do we have to work? The Christian interpretation of Genesis sees work as a result of original sin. Here we disagree, and see work as a natural result of the interaction the relatively finite material aspect of the universe with its infinite spiritual aspect. We must work to maintain our spirit. It is part of our life, not necessarily irksome, since the ability to work gives us to power to ensure our survival. Work moves the world, transforming it into products for human use. As the old Latin tag has it bonum ex integro, malum ex quacumque causa : good comes from the whole, evil from any defect. Good work must be defect free, that is complete.
Work is the realization of a new entity, such as a crop, a washing machine, a computer, a text or a religion. Work is concerned with every little detail that it necessary to bring something into existence. To exist, an object must fit in with the nature of the world and tap sources of energy, material and form. Work connects ideas to reality.
A designer might be somewhat vague about how exactly part a is to be mated to part b, but a worker must find a way to do it, or go back to the designer and point out that the design does not work. We gather from the Bible that self awareness and awareness of the need to work arose together in human history. Genesis, 3.
It seems that all living elements of the universe must work to maintain their existence. Ultimately their fitness is judged by the quality of their work, whether it be in finding food, reproducing or, in the modern world, selling their abilities to a corporate entity. We must work to live. We must fit in and contribute some mite to the functioning of the whole. In general, the better we suit the prevailing conditions, the better we will be rewarded. A corollary of this (at least in a just society) is that the standard of our lives is related to the quality of our work.
Work is not easy, however, since it requires a certain amount of energy and discipline. To maintain a peaceful society, work needs to be shared and rewarded. Ideally we all act as parallel processors dealing with the task of living. Parallel processing, especially in a complex environment, requires good communication. The maintenance of such communication is work in itself. It is particularly the work of religion to show everybody a meaningful place in the whole and to assist them to work well and reap just rewards.
Books
| Davis, Philip J, and David Park (editors), No Way: The Nature of the Impossible, W H Freeman 1987 Introduction: 'Think about the miracles of religion: a virgin gives birth, a man raises the dead and walks on water. Are these possible or are they impossible? Decide. ... what really counts as impossible? ... You can prove logical impossibilities, but do they say anything about the real world? You can assert practical impossibilities, but are they really impossible? Why bother about the question? Because mankind is inspired by the challenge of the impossible ...' [pp xiv, xvi] Amazon back |
| Ehrenreich, Barbara, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Owl Books 2002 Amazon Editorial Review:'Essayist and cultural critic Barbara Ehrenreich has always specialized in turning received wisdom on its head with intelligence, clarity, and verve. With some 12 million women being pushed into the labor market by welfare reform, she decided to do some good old-fashioned journalism and find out just how they were going to survive on the wages of the unskilled--at $6 to $7 an hour, only half of what is considered a living wage. So she did what millions of Americans do, she looked for a job and a place to live, worked that job, and tried to make ends meet. As a waitress in Florida, where her name is suddenly transposed to "girl," trailer trash becomes a demographic category to aspire to with rent at $675 per month. In Maine, where she ends up working as both a cleaning woman and a nursing home assistant, she must first fill out endless pre-employment tests with trick questions such as "Some people work better when they're a little bit high." In Minnesota, she works at Wal-Mart under the repressive surveillance of men and women whose job it is to monitor her behavior for signs of sloth, theft, drug abuse, or worse. She even gets to experience the humiliation of the urine test. So, do the poor have survival strategies unknown to the middle class? And did Ehrenreich feel the "bracing psychological effects of getting out of the house, as promised by the wonks who brought us welfare reform?" Nah. Even in her best-case scenario, with all the advantages of education, health, a car, and money for first month's rent, she has to work two jobs, seven days a week, and still almost winds up in a shelter. As Ehrenreich points out with her potent combination of humor and outrage, the laws of supply and demand have been reversed. Rental prices skyrocket, but wages never rise. Rather, jobs are so cheap as measured by the pay that workers are encouraged to take as many as they can. Behind those trademark Wal-Mart vests, it turns out, are the borderline homeless. With her characteristic wry wit and her unabashedly liberal bent, Ehrenreich brings the invisible poor out of hiding and, in the process, the world they inhabit--where civil liberties are often ignored and hard work fails to live up to its reputation as the ticket out of poverty.' --Lesley Reed Amazon back |
| Escher, Maurits Cornelius, and John E. Brigham (translator), The Graphic Work: Introduced and explained by the artist, Taco 1989 Introduction: '... then there came a moment when it seemed as though scales fell from my eyes. I discovered that technical mastery was no longer my sole aim, for I became gripped by another desire ... Ideas came into my mind quite unrelated to graphic art, notions which so fascinated me that I longed to communicate them to other people. ... The ideas that are basic to [my prints] often bear witness to my amazement and wonder at the laws of nature which operate in the world around us. ... and here is yet another reason for my astonishment - no matter how objective or how impersonal the majority of my subjects appear to me, so far as I have been able to discover, few, if any, of my fellow-men seem to react in the same way to all that they see around them.' pp 5-6 Amazon back |
| Genesis, and Alexander Jones (editor), in The Jerusalem Bible, Darton Longman and Todd 1966 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, and God's spirit hovered over the water.' (I, 1-2) Amazon back |
| Margretta, Joan, and Nan Stone (collaborator), What Management Is: How it works and why its everyone's business, Free Press 'A rare animal - a management book that is lucid, interesting and honest. It will helpo managers see the wood as well as the trees in their everyday work, and help them to explore the wider management literature, with guidance on which of it is codswallop (a comfotable majority) and where lie the nuggests of wisdom. Economistback |
| Monk, Ray, Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius, Vintage ex Jonathan Cape 1990 1990 Review: 'With a subject who demands passionate partisanship, whose words are so powerful but whose actions speak louder, it must have been hard to write this definitive, perceptive and lucid biography. Out goes Norman Malcolm's saintly Wittgenstein, Bartley's tortured, impossibly promiscuous Wittgenstein, and Brian McGuinness's bloodless, almost bodiless Wittgenstein. This Wittgenstein is the real human being: wholly balanced and happily eccentric ... ' The Times Amazon back |
| Prigogine, Ilya , From Being to Becoming: Time and Complexity in the Physical Sciences, Freeman 1980 Jacket: 'How has order emerged from chaos? In this book, intended for the general reader with some background in physical chemistry and thermodynamics, Ilya Prigogine shows how systems far from equilibrium evolve elaborate structures: patterns of circulation in the atmosphere, formation and propagation of chemical waves, the aggregation of single-celled animals. In an effort to understand these phenomena, he explores the philosophical implications of the work that won him the 1977 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.' Amazon back |
| Toynbee, Polly, Hard Work: Life in Low Pay Britain, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 2003 Amazon customer review: Poverty Bites:' Hard Work is the British version of Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed. Journalist Polly Toynbee does justice to the genre. She works mind-numbing jobs that pay just enough to keep her in poverty. She packages pastries and cleans hotel rooms, she lives in a squalid flat she can barely afford, and she tries to make ends meet on minimum wage. It is very depressing. Toynbee finds that being one of the working poor is to be defeated at every turn. When she gets her dark, damp, unfurnished flat, she has to borrow money from the Housing Authority to furnish it because she won't get paid until she has been working for at least two weeks. She can't make an appointment to see the doctor because her job doesn't allow any paid time off. She can't try to get a better job because all the employers want to schedule interviews during her work hours (and she can't afford to take time off) or they want her to devote the day to waiting for an interview. She can't even make her views as a voter known, because to get to the voting station would mean unpaid time off from work, or an hour on the bus and in line waiting to vote after a 10-hour shift on her feet. Life is a constant Catch-22 and she finally admits defeat when she has to move out of her apartment because the building's front door doesn't lock, there are drug dealers in the lobby, and she can't afford a phone. In between descriptions of her alternate life in the slum, she splices discussions of the politics behind the policies regarding wages and poverty in Great Britain. Even for someone who isn't familiar with British government, it is very clear. It is also obvious that we in America have a lot in common with Britain.' H. Cota "takingadayoff" (Las Vegas, Nevada) Amazon back |
Click on an "Amazon" link in the booklist at the foot of the page to buy the book, see more details or search for similar items
Related sites:
Concordat Watch
Revealing Vatican attempts to propagate its religion by international treaty
