Empty Consumption

“Work is the only thing that gives substance to life” – Albert Einstein*

I recently heard US Senator, Ben Sasse, discuss the dangers of viewing consumption over production as a desired goal. He communicates the innate desire created within human beings to produce value and highlights the dysfunction that comes when individuals lose that balance between production and consumption and become primarily a consumer.

Consumption often leads to a very empty state of being. I see this every day in my work. Just as an example, our society has an errant view of “retirement” as a chance to turn off one’s creative efforts, sit back, coast and enjoy leisure. While this can certainly be part of one’s goal, and financial freedom should create more flexibility to have that precious down time, severe problems arise when “not working” becomes the overarching life goal and an end in and of itself. We see this in micro form in people who are always trudging from Monday through Friday, just to make it to the weekend. Again, not working becomes an end goal. It’s as if our culture is working to quit.

If we were to view “retirement” not as a cessation of production, but as the flexibility to produce and create in an even more meaningful and impactful way, I wonder how that would change our outlook and journey along the way. What would your life look like if you weren’t working to quit, but working towards finding even more meaning and fulfillment in your tasks? What if deep, meaningful work was not a just a means to an end, but an end goal itself?

*Good ol’ Al was fairly intelligent dude, perhaps he was on to something here. I can’t think of anything truly valuable in my life that isn’t wrapped in effort and hard work.

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