Are we losing our passion for work?

Great philosophers and thinkers have expressed divergent views on many matters affecting life. However, all of them agree on one point i.e., wise people never seek fame or worldly success. For them, success is an edifice that might crumble at any time.

Although philosophers say that success in life is immaterial, it raises more questions than answers. The average man wants to be rich and famous. If he thinks that success in life is not worth pursuing, the whole social system might crash. Does it mean that philosophers are wrong in their assertions?

Power and wealth are sure to elevate anybody to a higher position, making him famous. However, philosophers see this elevation as an illusion. They say that it is a kind of “Ozymandias Syndrome.” Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), in his short but immortal poem,describes how a dictator’s efforts to be remembered for ever have been beaten by time and nature.

Ozymandias

“ I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert... Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed,
And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

(Ozymandias was another name for the Egyptian pharaoh Rameses II who built a huge tomb in the shape of a sphinx.)

Delusions of grandeur

Ozymandias or Rameses is an extreme case to illustrate the delusions of grandeur entertained by men in various spheres of life. In an age people are driven by positive thinking and Napoleon Hill’s “Laws of success”, everybody is trying to achieve success and fame. Whatever the philosophers say, the rat race will never end.

Napoleon Hill and others of his ilk advise people to look in the mirror every day and say, “I am going to succeed.”

Such an auto-suggestion may help us to harness our will to do something better. However, some people who followed such psychological advice have not reached their goals. Maybe auto-suggestion does not produce the expected results all the time.

On the other hand, what is success? It is not the same as reaching the zenith of your career. Some people achieve their career targets but miserably lose their family and friends. In such situations, we wonder whether the rat race is worth the trouble. Maybe, the price you have to pay for success is very high.

Contemplation

The great Greek philosopher Aristotle believed that people should use their natural capacities to the full. This should not be misconstrued. What he meant was that we must lead a life of thought and contemplation. According to Greek philosophy, people have different ‘excellences’. If we can find what we are good at, we can pursue it without seeking success or fame.

When you enjoy what you do without expecting high rewards, that is something desirable. Those who achieve success and fame in their respective fields are not necessarily the best. For instance, those who advertise that they are the best teachers of various subjects can achieve financial success and fame in a short time. However, eminent teachers know that ‘Good wine needs no bush.’

On the other hand, modern psychologists want us to be well-balanced people.

It means that we cannot afford to be perfectionists. Nor can we become nincompoops. It is surprising but true that most of the great men who lived on this planet have never been balanced people. They were eccentric - away from the centre!

The most successful people are not those who hold high positions in the social ladder. They are those who do their job with a passion. Even an ordinary gardener can be a successful man if he does his job passionately. Such people never seek success or fame.

The world needs people who do their jobs passionately, but it is a tragedy that today’s employees have lost their passion for work. From the day man started worshipping the God of Mammon, he is asking for more without doing his job conscientiously.