My Greatest Work of Art + more examination of jobs

Was thinking recently my sacking from work was my greatest work of art yet... as good as anything that "my muse" inspired ... a dance performed by many people some conscious and some unconscious of the art work ... layered and ironic.

Talking to my uncle today who used to manage the maintenance of nuclear submarines it became clear where my disagreements lie (tell the truth?). People are paid according to their skill. Thus if someone from a highly skilled guild stands in for a lower skilled worker, they still get the higher wage.

Now compare this with the free market. I have discussed the distribution of wealth many times and how their is no real connection between work and pay. The best foundation of the link lies in the free market. Jobs which are easily filled have a low wage, and the converse is true. Certain trades then have to form cartels (doctors, accountants, solicitors, chartered ... etc) so that they can maintain supply and fix wages at the same time. Other types of unions achieve the same purpose. However if everyone fixed wages above the free market level the system would not work so governments are traditionally heavy handed with nurses, teachers, etc.

So there are two systems at work. There is the free market (supply/demand) determination of wage and there is the Traditional. Now to my mind only the former has any meaning. Why? Well, it is true that society has a long history and the appeal of certain jobs goes beyond what they actually do - the meaning of certain jobs like soldier is quite different from what it actually is (killing... and yes soldiers do other things but kill... but if a carpenter has a saw as his tool, what does a man with a gun as his tool do?). So in a "fictional" way there is meaning to jobs. But as is clear from the direction this blog has taken I am not interested in fictions here, only truth.

The truth is seems is that a job exists for what it does. If it makes nothing that can be sold then it cannot be paid. If it makes something that is saleable then it gets paid. That is the Law (truth). It has been obscured by history and injustice, but this is where money comes from - it does not grow on trees as the Capitalists secretly believe. What is made need not be physical obviously: a book can be sold, and idea, a lie even!

Now this is not the way things are. Jobs have become a complex cocktail of life's unexamined issues - most importantly the question of "what to do?". When we are working this problem seems solved.. but it isn't. Working is just an avoidance... unless we are working because of what we do, not doing what the job requires.

So the point of view that has become very clear recently links a whole lot from this blog. Being "in a job", and being "out of a job" are meaningless ideas. Does our life stop when we don't have a job? Does it start when we do? It might seem like this if we have no clue what our life is about, in which case a "job" is just avoidance. If we have a meaning to our life, and our actions have meaning then it makes no difference what packaging we have. The only difference is that we may be poor, or rich as a result. But if we are true then surely it follows that our actions will have value, and therefore must be saleable, or at least support us? This is the faith that we must have to be free, otherwise we live in fear and become dressed by our expectations rather than by what we do and what is meaningful.

It follows that if I have any meaning of life myself it should be present in the authenticity and truth of what I say here. The two are interestingly connected!

So its obvious really but we become a doctor because we want to help people to be free from disease. We do not become a doctor to please our parents, or have lots of money, or belong to the highly qualified class etc ... this is obvious right? It is just that the world has become very deluded over the centuries.

So put the Plays back on the stage and find our true lives seems to be the calling.