Tapsearch Com EditorIs God a Panhandler - Action or Contemplation (LINK)
March 2nd 2008 00:03
There has always been a debate about action versus contemplation but in modern times there is also a friction between the two.
It seems Contemplation has been studied more but the practice of it is not that great. And action part is degrading too.
Philosophy in modern times is a train wreck of concepts and never has approached the subject of work as it has other studies. Work seems to be like a stepchild of philosophy waiting to be noticed.
I worked in several factories while attending college and found a vast void between the factory floors and the classrooms. I never felt a match up with any of the philosophy classes I took. English literature was about the same. The business classes never touched what I was doing all day or night at work.
The english literature prof, a Jesuit with degrees from Oxford, had his students come to an extra session to listen to Shakespeare in the afternoons. I had to go to work in the factory and could not attend these extra sessions. One day he told me that perhaps it would be better if I quit college since it was so difficult for me to work and study at the same time. He said that perhaps it was not in God's providence for me to attend college. His statement represented a terrible contradiction as far as I was concerned. And it was a beginning of my own personal quest to balance human dignity in the workday. I tried to find ways of bringing the monastery to the streets. If we can not do this, there will always be conflicts. As I noted in the previous post, I like the saying God is not a hobby you can leave at home when you go to work.
During a summer factory job, I found another thing out about work. I never found another person who was not willing to work. But the work had to be balanced with human dignity. It is senseless for someone like President Bush saying the Mexican workers come to the USA to take jobs Americans will not do when these jobs do not pay economic survival wages in our culture. The Mexican workers turned down the available jobs in Mexico for the same reason before they immigrated. Now many of the jobs are moving out of Mexico to China where workers will work for pennies or few dollars a day.
I found out that making good money doing useless tasks quickly gets on your nerves.
On the job I was caught by the time study people doing a particular task by myself which usually called for two men to do the job. I did this task while my partner went on a break. Only a very few of us could do the job this way. When I was caught by the time study inspector, I was promoted. I was promoted to a task where another person was already on the job. The first thing he said when we met was to get lost. He said there was not enough work to keep two people busy. After walking the vast factory floors for a day or two, I made a deal with him to divide the work. It worked out well until they sent a third person to help the two of us. This is when I found out that no matter how much you make , a person needs to have work that is balanced to his human dignity.
Later on in my work career, I called on major corporate businesses. At that time you could stay downtown for a whole day calling on all the corporate headquarter accounts. I had problems with the many homeless people asking for money as I threaded through the crowds on the street. I tried walking on the curb lane to keep hidden and but evidently I had a look they could not resist in crossing the whole width of the sidewalk to get to me. I usually gave a dollar to all that asked. One day I was backing out onto a very busy street from the parking lot when I noticed one of my friends coming my way. I was unable to get away fast enough and half of my car was in the street.
I was caught in a stalemate with the panhandler. My wallet was in my back pocket and I was sitting on it. My panhandler friend came up to my window and peered at me at very close range. I would have given him a dollar like I usually would but could not get to my wallet. I told him I could not give him anything and said I would pray for him instead, as I tried to get out into the street. The manuevering took a long time and during all this time, my friend the panhandler was shouting over and over again -- that's right you do the praying and I will do the walk. How many of us think we are doing good by praying for those who do the walk instead of us.
You may think this is a funny way to begin a study about Action versus Contemplation but I do not think so. We will continue this subject in a further post. Was my friend the panhandler God or one of His angels?
One of the most biting comments I ever heard about Free Trade is a remark by a successful person. He said, who would want to work in a dirty factory doing a mundane job - I am glad these jobs have gone to other countries.
Of all things, in a spiritual renewal program called the Cursillo I was assigned the action talk.
See Unnetted Journeys - if you do not belong to any network, you do not exist
It seems Contemplation has been studied more but the practice of it is not that great. And action part is degrading too.
Philosophy in modern times is a train wreck of concepts and never has approached the subject of work as it has other studies. Work seems to be like a stepchild of philosophy waiting to be noticed.
I worked in several factories while attending college and found a vast void between the factory floors and the classrooms. I never felt a match up with any of the philosophy classes I took. English literature was about the same. The business classes never touched what I was doing all day or night at work.
The english literature prof, a Jesuit with degrees from Oxford, had his students come to an extra session to listen to Shakespeare in the afternoons. I had to go to work in the factory and could not attend these extra sessions. One day he told me that perhaps it would be better if I quit college since it was so difficult for me to work and study at the same time. He said that perhaps it was not in God's providence for me to attend college. His statement represented a terrible contradiction as far as I was concerned. And it was a beginning of my own personal quest to balance human dignity in the workday. I tried to find ways of bringing the monastery to the streets. If we can not do this, there will always be conflicts. As I noted in the previous post, I like the saying God is not a hobby you can leave at home when you go to work.
During a summer factory job, I found another thing out about work. I never found another person who was not willing to work. But the work had to be balanced with human dignity. It is senseless for someone like President Bush saying the Mexican workers come to the USA to take jobs Americans will not do when these jobs do not pay economic survival wages in our culture. The Mexican workers turned down the available jobs in Mexico for the same reason before they immigrated. Now many of the jobs are moving out of Mexico to China where workers will work for pennies or few dollars a day.
I found out that making good money doing useless tasks quickly gets on your nerves.
On the job I was caught by the time study people doing a particular task by myself which usually called for two men to do the job. I did this task while my partner went on a break. Only a very few of us could do the job this way. When I was caught by the time study inspector, I was promoted. I was promoted to a task where another person was already on the job. The first thing he said when we met was to get lost. He said there was not enough work to keep two people busy. After walking the vast factory floors for a day or two, I made a deal with him to divide the work. It worked out well until they sent a third person to help the two of us. This is when I found out that no matter how much you make , a person needs to have work that is balanced to his human dignity.
Later on in my work career, I called on major corporate businesses. At that time you could stay downtown for a whole day calling on all the corporate headquarter accounts. I had problems with the many homeless people asking for money as I threaded through the crowds on the street. I tried walking on the curb lane to keep hidden and but evidently I had a look they could not resist in crossing the whole width of the sidewalk to get to me. I usually gave a dollar to all that asked. One day I was backing out onto a very busy street from the parking lot when I noticed one of my friends coming my way. I was unable to get away fast enough and half of my car was in the street.
I was caught in a stalemate with the panhandler. My wallet was in my back pocket and I was sitting on it. My panhandler friend came up to my window and peered at me at very close range. I would have given him a dollar like I usually would but could not get to my wallet. I told him I could not give him anything and said I would pray for him instead, as I tried to get out into the street. The manuevering took a long time and during all this time, my friend the panhandler was shouting over and over again -- that's right you do the praying and I will do the walk. How many of us think we are doing good by praying for those who do the walk instead of us.
You may think this is a funny way to begin a study about Action versus Contemplation but I do not think so. We will continue this subject in a further post. Was my friend the panhandler God or one of His angels?
One of the most biting comments I ever heard about Free Trade is a remark by a successful person. He said, who would want to work in a dirty factory doing a mundane job - I am glad these jobs have gone to other countries.
Of all things, in a spiritual renewal program called the Cursillo I was assigned the action talk.
See Unnetted Journeys - if you do not belong to any network, you do not exist
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