Editorial

If work is to mean “action” or “deed” or “karma”, then it exists every moment. The body is continuously working, even when at rest or in sleep. The outer actions may seemingly be halted for a period of time, but the internal organs do not rest, including the nervous system and the heart. The waking mind continuously churns out thoughts. Even when the state of no-thought is reached, the very action of experiencing an emptied mind, in being “with it” must also be action, or work, since consciousness is active. It is work that enables the expression of the essence within. It is work that helps us to arrive at self actualization, at forming an identity of the self and revealing it to the self itself. The very act of being must be work.

If what is work is this, and when it is performed every moment of one’s life-span, the next enquiry settles on the nature of how a particular work is done. Work can be a spontaneous act, where it proceeds naturally, as in eating, walking, blink or even sleeping. Work can be pre-planned, with steps and directions drawn up, even mentally, as in learning how to drive for the first time, in operating a machine or device or in drawing a scientific diagram and in cooking. The next enquiry settles on the nature of the state in which a work is done. Is work done with deep involvement, or is it done without much thought given to it, or is it done with disinterestedness, or in a hurry? Is work done with joy, happiness, with love? Or is work done with disgust, anger and bitterness? What is responsible for these states that we experience when doing work? In fact, the experience is different with different works. There is preference for work and this stems from the being’s history of likes and dislikes, from biases, from the law of attraction and repulsion.

What kind of result do we seek from our work? Do we do specific work for specific results? Earning a living through various physical and mental activities is said to be carried out because of the need to survive in today’s society. The work of eating is performed for physical build-up and existence. We may do a particular work for the well-being of someone we love, or for our nation, or for the world. The reasons for which work is done may range from subjective to objective reasons, from very personal to impersonal reasons. Work seems always to proceed from a need or a desire for a specific outcome. How then, about the measure of quality we seek in work?

What kind of works do we carry out and for what end? How do we actually work? In what state do we perform it and with what mark of quality? These must be questions we need to ask if we want to find out more about the works we engage ourselves in, every moment of our lives. As long as work walks in us, with us, lives and breathes in us, its nature is also something one ought to understand.

But why bother to understand something as natural and as common place as work? There is one possible answer. If we do not understand work as it exists with us at present, the course of our future direction cannot be altered. All of human kind strives for some kind of progress, at whatever level. Progress itself is an output of work of some kind that has been aligned towards this progress, its measure inevitably resting on the quality of work. And perhaps, the nature of progress we seek tend also to influence the quality of our work?

Is there perfection in work? Let’s find out. This edition of our Newsletter details out work, through the words of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo, with some insights and reflections on the topic by a few writers.