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because my job is totally devoid of meaning There's a self deception. Meaning isn't out there in the world, meaning is in people's heads. There's no meaning bu
by jodrellblank 7y ago
because my job is totally devoid of meaning
There's a self deception. Meaning isn't out there in the world, meaning is in people's heads. There's no meaning but that which we make for ourselves. It isn't your job which is devoid of meaning, but your interpretation of your job compared to your interpretation of other jobs.
That is to say, your suffering doesn't come from the outside, it comes from the inside.
- caconym_ 7y agoWhat do you think I meant, when I said that? Do you think I believe in a font of cosmic meaning that flows out through some human pursuits but not others, and my job is in the latter set? I'll tell you: that's not it.
- jodrellblank 7y agoI think you said exactly that. That some jobs inherently have meaning, that yours doesn't. Stating that you would become a drunk to cope with the lack of meaning in your job says that you don't believe the meaning is in your head and changeable, but that it's in the job and unchangeable. You say "any late career change suggestions for a software engineer who's got some money saved up and is sick of tech?" as if the sickness is in the job, because of the job, and not in you and your reaction to it.
- caconym_ 7y agoI'm sorry, but I don't believe every possible human activity is equally amenable to "finding meaning" in. You're welcome to believe that, but I don't, and your dogged attachment to a particular interpretation of my words that justifies the dispensation of this nugget of sophomoric wisdom isn't interesting. You aren't saying anything that a reasonably intelligent person in my position hasn't already considered a thousand times from a thousand different angles. Sorry.