Participatory Meaning

A Few Thoughts on Work, and on Having a Job

There are few things which bring me a stronger sense of meaning and purpose than work.

For the past three months, I’ve been manufacturing cabinets at a local business with national reach.

My job is to build frames. I work at a sort of drafter’s table, where I apply glue and insert screws, binding the pieces together and transforming them from a pile of objects into a complete whole.

Which is then sent off to other departments to become an even greater whole.

As I work, I do so alongside seven other people, all participating in a similar way.

This taps me into a sense of collective consciousness, common vision, a shared goal.

And as this happens, I am transformed from one into a participant into a part of a whole.

I get out of my head, and into a shared logic.

My singular emotions, my (obsessive) thoughts, and my particular fancies are all rendered insignificant as I transform my mind into an agent of service.

Whereas once I had a desire to be sedentary, my mind and body are now functioning in a quick-paced, performative communion that works toward aspiration.

All of the smaller goals of turning out X number of frames, which becomes X number of cabinets is subsumed by a larger aspiration, as well.

All of these will be enjoyed by, and bring value to the homes of, those who have purchased the Goods.

They will serve as functional spaces, beautiful embellishments, and they will be a part of a room of a home or business.

These reflections allow me to have a positive impact in doing my work.

There are internecine politics, personal disagreements, some predictable angst and struggle between all of the humans who collaboratively participate in this endeavor.

But they don’t bother me, because I have a vision of the end, the project.

All of these have meaning within the context, the aspiration.

Along with this, I have a project, a livelihood, and a social role within the context, as well.

Every practice of mindful speech and action possess an aura of direct application, which makes them “really real.”

Ethics becomes less of an intellectual practice for intellectual consideration, and more of the practice it’s intended to be.

This brings me a sense of happiness and well being.

It would be a selfish goal if I didn’t realize that all humans are, indeed, social animals for whom status and affiliation are important aspects of self-hood.

To be a better self isn’t selfish — it actually makes the self a better member of the culture at large.

I’m very grateful for this, and am also grateful for the opportunity to sing about it.

Sharing this little bits of my personal experience allows me to feel that my cognition is generative and participatory.

May your day bring many wonders to you. I am also grateful for you. I hope that my writing can be of some assistance to you.

Affectionately, 

Aaron