The Smart Passers

It is unfortunate that some of the smartest persons are not the most admired persons by a cross section of people. We know that the smart people are those who have a fairly high intelligence (we may say they have a good IQ), endowed with a lot of qualities which make them enviable persons; on the other side of the spectrum, we may find that these are people who have low on emotional quotient (EQ) and that may cause their downfall. Therefore being smart has its own share of disadvantages, especially when it comes to inter-personal relationships. Today let us reflect about such people, what makes them tick, and what makes them some of the most abominable characters on earth.

He is highly talented, gifted for languages, excellent organizer (who even while remaining inside his room, could organize a mammoth crowd, with perfect and calculated order and discipline), charming person, especially to the members of the opposite sex, shrewd and calculative to the core. He is quite popular among the people, but not among the people he lives with. There is one difference: the people who live with him know him thoroughly, while those others know him from only what they see and hear. People of this category are like sugar-coated pills, they may get their work done by hook or by crook, and dump the people who helped them until they would need their help.

While some of us youngsters were living in a Jesuit community some years ago, we have a companion, who loved to hold too many portfolios, though his ill-health restricted his movement, but he was more than happy to be in full control over the place. There were two young men who had come for a year's experience in that place, and were in a sense computer savvy. So whenever this companion wanted some work to be done by these two youngsters, in the morning, during breakfast he would be seen wishing the two companions good morning, and enquire from them how they were. Soon these two friends found out that whenever he came to wish them good morning, there was a work to be done. So it happened so that in the morning if they found him coming to the dining room, they would run away from the place.

The so-called smart people have many trump cards to play with. One of their excellent cards is the ease with which they would be able to pass their responsibilities on to others, most often the gullible and the vulnerable. They are ace passers of bugs. You would find them always busy, though if you try to probe what they were busy with, you would be disappointed to find that they were not preoccupied with any work, but they only pretend to be busy. Their sweet words would melt even the mighty stones; you may never hear any harsh word from them. While they talk sweetly to you, they may not be all that charitable about others, and you can be sure that when they talk to others, you may be one of the favorite subjects!

I consider people of this sort as venom, slowly poisoning the society we live in. While they get all their work done by any means possible, they themselves may not do any thing, not even their own responsibilities. Alas for those who associate with these men and women, for they may be too soon enticed by gifts of all sorts, and will find themselves hooked to their gentle orders. If you are able to see through their trickery and keep a safe distance, you may fall into their bad books, and may fall out of their favor too. But that would only save your skin, besides your strength and energy. Beware of these people, for you do not know when they may entice you and make you do their bidding!

When Work is Worship…

Someone had said, work is worship, and I would add another word at the end of this much used-abused adage : sometimes. That is, work is worship sometimes; but it would be quite erroneous to think that all the time, work can be considered something holy and sacred. After going through three marathon sessions of meetings, each time lasting for about three and half hours, I feel such “work” if I may say so, is far from worship. To put it in other words, what is reasonable and normal, may become something sacred, provided it is carried out with a proper framework of mind. In fact, no work can automatically become holy and sacred unless the “worker” makes a conscious and conscientious effort to make it so. Maybe someone may think that if he/she is a non-believer, how the work can become something holy, since he/she does not believe in the very concept of the sacred. Here we have to expand the meaning of holiness or sacredness that we are used to, in order to include certain amount of authenticity and genuineness to the work being accomplished.

But there are works which are killing and sucking the life energy of people. Generally it is understood that the manual labor is very tiring, slowly draining all the energy of the workers, but we should also realize that sometimes mental works can also be equally killing. We also often hear about the dignity of labor and May first is celebrated all over the world with aplomb, especially by the Marxists, in order to uphold the philosophy that the world belongs to the laborers. Work in order to earn a living is not sufficient in order to make it holy and sacred; we need to go beyond the mere subsistence providing labor. Work can become noble and sacred only when we begin to enjoy the labor, irrespective of the fruits it may produce. It is in other words an art, which comes so very naturally to us.

I would be a laughing stock if I were to suggest this to a villager, who has to work all the daylong in order to earn his daily bread. If he does not work on a particular day, he may starve, or may go to bed with half-stomach. Is it ever possible that this person one day begins to enjoy the work he does, just like an artist is immersed in the painting he/she does, or the singer lost in the world of music? Unfortunately we are involved in so many kinds of works, where drawing enjoyment is a remote possibility. A man exposed to the hot sun throughout the day, cannot enjoy his work; all that he might enjoy is the shade of a tree and a mug of rice soaked in water.

While a good majority of the population may never begin to enjoy their work, a small per centage of the people would take great pleasure in the work they are involved with, even if it is manual labor, and involving a lot of painstaking physical work. For such people, the fruits of the work or the consequence is only secondary; what they are interested in is the sheer joy of getting immersed in the work. Even if the manager were to say that there was not enough money to give his wages, he would still offer his services, because there is a pleasure he might draw from the work, which he cannot get from anything else, not even a peg of beer, or a mug of country liquor.

I would not hesitate to equate the real joy that we may be able to draw from the work we may be involved in, with ananda, the sheer bliss; the formless, nameless joy. It is very much possible for us to enter into such a state of bliss, even if it is for a moment. In fact, it would be hard to sustain such joy and bliss for a long stretch of time; however the joy that we may gain out of the job or work may be able to sustain us for a long time, even after we have shifted gears to some other work, or chores. Therefore today I pause for a moment, in the middle of the work I am busy with… and ask myself how do I feel as I mechanically do this job! Am I cursing my fate for doing such a job, or am I happy to do this? I am happy to do this job, is it because I have to do it, or because I enjoy doing it? Those who enjoy doing their job may not look at their watches five times in fifteen minutes, and they often would realize that the time has passed away too soon. That is the true mark of making our work holy and sacred. If I have a tendency to check the clock too often, to see how soon I would get out of this place, then I need to realize that my work is far from being holy and sacred. And the more I feel the work as a burden, it will keep increasing, until I become too tired of it, and look for alternatives. If I enjoy the work, then there is nothing I should want!