What is the work I should be doing in the world? And is it enough? Am I doing what I should to live an ethical life?
These are big questions for me.
I’ve long wondered what my work to do in life might be. I’ve dabbled in this and that. I’ve done work that is clearly not what I should be doing. I’ve also done work that has contributed positively to the world.
But what can I do that will be enough – enough that I am not falling short of what my ethics and heart require?
Perhaps especially at this time in the world’s history, there is much that needs to be done. There are endless needs in the human community and even more endless needs in the larger life community of the earth.
It is hard for me to accept, but it is that case that even if I am doing wonderful, beautiful, important, nurturing work – meanwhile, species are being driven to extinction by human violence. Meanwhile, forests are being killed.
The work I have begun this year with children feels important and needed and good. But while I do it, I am not doing other work. I am not saving the water from being poisoned by fracking. I am not slowing the destruction of bee communities. I am not preventing other children from starving.
So, have I chosen the right work? Can my work be right when it doesn’t address the peril that so many other parts of the earth’s community are in peril? Is there work that could be truly best given the massive, urgent needs of the world?
If not, what does this mean? Does this mean what I am doing is enough? Is it OK (ethical, loving, acceptable) to focus on this one thing and be satisfied, even while my heart mourns all that I cannot do?
These are some of the big questions in my life.
I do not expect to hear the answer or expect that your answer will also be mine, but I do love to hear thoughtful discussion of these questions.
I hear you talking about what is “enough,” but not what is “too much.” When you try to take on too much, you spread yourself too thin, and either the quality of your work declines or you get completely immobilized altogether. So while I understand wanting to feel like you are doing “enough,” it might be that with so much going on in the world you are setting an impossibly high standard for yourself. And if setting an impossibly high standard leads to you taking on too much, sacrificing quality for quantity, completely burning yourself out, or suffering from feelings of guilt, then it sounds like that standard you’re setting is problematic.
So by all means … try to figure out what positive things you can do in this world, but consider that thinking of it in terms of “enoughness” might not be helpful. After all, when you list out every single thing in this world that needs to be addressed, it is clear that one person cannot even come close to addressing those things. And in that sense, nothing you do will ever be “enough.” But if you reframe it as “optimizing your personal resources” (or something like that), you can think of your contribution to the world in a more realistic context. After all, if you’re spreading yourself too thin you’re not acting optimally. You know what I mean?
I do know what you mean and I think this is an important point. I’m pretty new to the idea of seriously considering focusing on one field of work and it’s really challenging to wrap my head around. You’re right that there is such a thing as “too much,” too.
Part of accepting that I can only do so much is what makes question is what I am doing is big enough or the right thing…
Thanks for your comment!
I found your blog today and I found this quote yesterday, and I think I need to put the two together: “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.” – Talmud (via Marianne Elliott’s zenpeacekeeper facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/zenpeacekeeper )
Thank you for sharing that, Lucy!