Careers - the obsessive unhealthy religion of the American "matrix"

[WWu777]

Careers - the obsessive unhealthy religion of the American "matrix"

In the US, people attach their self-worth and identity to their careers or line of work. Even Regis Philman on the game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire asks each of his contestants "What do you do?" to establish their identity on the show (not just to generate conversation). That's the mentality of the American "matrix". If you don't like that, then you don't fit in and are alienated, for you go against the entire collective values and beliefs of the industrial imperial culture of America.

This "you are your work" mentality is so strong and deep that it is the obsession of American life, sadly enough. In fact, according to the American train of thought, work/career is so important that one can even sacrifice everything else - friends, social life, fun, love, mental health, physical health, well-being, an inner life, peace, freedom, even happiness itself, etc. but as long as one has a "career" then one is ok, normal, and doing what one is "supposed to do", all in line with the teachings of the industrial culture. Now I don't know about you, but that is just way too extreme, obsessive, unhealthy and one track minded for my taste.

As a matter of fact, each individual American citizen is expected to have a career in any US region where they can get one (even if he/she is not happy in their environment or conditions in general) and slave away 40+ hours a week paying their bills, getting only 2 weeks of vacation time a year, until one is old in their 50's or 60's and can retire, losing the main part of their life to work. Any lifestyle outside this is seen as unfulfilling and wasteful.

Even if one has no fun, love, happiness, good mental health, freedom, inner life, or peace, one is still expected to follow the work til you retire path of life, rather than try to obtain those other facets of life they are missing. To me, that is a messed up set of priorities, but it's the American way and paradigm.

We are conditioned that having a career creates happiness and well-being. That just simply isn't so. Happiness is an inner attitude and state of mind, and if it is dependent on status or possessions, then such happiness is fleeting and temporary, not fulfilling or long lasting. Therefore, it is dubious to assume that having a career automatically brings true happiness. That's not reality, but our industrial culture tries to instill that in people, telling them that they are "supposed" to be happy, even if they aren't, so many just pretend to be happy in front of others, afraid to face their inner emptiness.

I do not see those without a career as being less happy than those who do have one. For instance, I know of those who live in forests meditating, eating mushrooms and boiling herbs in self-contained cooking units, who seem happier and have more inner peace than others who have busy careers and stressful lives with no inner peace. Also, I know of travelers (usually European not American) with little money who hitchhike around the world, having many exciting enriching adventures, working occasionally along the way. Though they are poor, at least they are doing what they want to do, rather than becoming corporate drones. They seem happier and more fulfilled than the average corporate drone in America.

In America, having a career is seen as attaining the ultimate state of well being, the equivalent of nirvana or enlightenment, as though one finally has a purpose in life. In fact, you are conditioned to be UNFULFILLED unless you have a career. That means that if you feel fulfilled but don't have a career, then there is something wrong with you because you are SUPPOSED to feel unfulfilled!? Talk about ridiculous brainwashing! Sheesh.

Now, I am not against having a career. I seek one myself in fact, but not at the expense of all else. I am merely arguing that our country's extreme obsession with career as the top priority at the expense of everything else is too unbalanced, unhealthy, and disharmonious. As for me, I feel that happiness should be a higher priority than career is. I'd rather be without a career and have a rich soul, than have a busy career and an empty soul, and I prefer the company of the former as well.

Attaining a career is like a fanatical religion in America, to the extent that it neglects ones soul, inner peace, inner life, and mental health as being insignificant and of secondary importance, when in reality they are very significant and integral to life. In my view, it's simply NOT worth it to give up one's soul and freedom just to have a career.

In other countries, such as in Europe, life is much more balanced. Though Europeans like to have careers too, unlike Americans, they do not see it as the one dimensional single aspect of life that supercedes everything else including one's soul. Unlike the US mainstream (the Homer Simpson folks so to speak), they place importance on cultivating other areas of their life, such as their inner life, soul, experiences, enrichment, exploration of varied interests, travel, artistic skills, etc. instead of foregoing it all for a busy career so they can work til they drop. They see life as multi-dimensional with many areas to explore and cultivate, rather than as one dimensional as the American paradigm sees it. Unlike Americans, Europeans do not judge their identity or life by their careers, but by the richness of their experiences, a view which I share. (The section of this booklet where I show a letter from a typical European girl exemplifies this well.*)

If anyone in America has a problem with its "career is everything" paradigm, then they are seen as "the problem", and are obligated to change or fix themselves in order to fit in. After all, we are taught that our system is the best in the world that everyone else wants to emulate, and therefore if you aren't happy in it or don't fit with it, then there is something wrong with YOU, rather than the soulless system.

No one is EVER told by conventional mainstream sources in the US that a solution to unhappiness in America could be to relocate abroad or expatriate oneself. No, that is NEVER an option acceptable to our industrial culture and "little box" that we live in. After all, we are conditioned to believe that everyone wants to come here to the US, and that we have the best of everything, so life outside the US must always be much worse or inferior in every way. Therefore, foreign countries are NEVER seen or considered as an alternative to American life, at least not according to the conventional sources that represent the American "matrix".

In reality though, each country has its tradeoff of pros and cons, including the US. That means that though the US has certain advantages over other countries, in other areas it is lacking compared to other nations. (See the chapter on rigid compartmentalizations in America)

There are many examples that could be given (and have already been given in the other chapters of this booklet), but for me, the biggest tradeoff is the one stated in the thesis introduction of this booklet, that though the US is the richest and most economically prosperous country in the world with the best opportunity to make money, it also happens to have the worst social life/scene, dating/love scene, and mental health in the world (the reasons have already been elaborated in other chapters).

In addition, though the US has certain freedoms - e.g. you can say you hate the president or government and not be arrested - it lacks freedoms in other areas that some other nations have - e.g. you can't lie nude on public beaches, you aren't allowed to walk on the street and drink beer, you can only dance in appropriate places, you are only allowed to meet women you don't know at parties and social gatherings otherwise it's inappropriate and out of line, it's considered misconduct to flirt in the workplace, etc.

Therefore, America is not the best of everything, nor is it the ideal epitomy of freedom. Like other nations, it has its tradeoffs of pluses and minuses. But only the well traveled know the pluses and minuses of the US. To the average mainstream citizen who lives within the US "matrix", America is the world and universe, and everything outside of it is either worse or not worthy of consideration/attention. That's totally false of course, but the average citizen simply DOESN'T KNOW and won't know from the conventional sources of the "matrix".

So, they conform and get a career to avoid being unfulfilled, working themselves to death, which often leads to soulless stressful lives in the rat race of the "matrix".

[chinaguy]

then,why are we working so hard everyday?what is the purpose of our lives?isn't it to get in the matrix like USA?or to build one by ourselves and live in it?Living in USA matrix isn't good on everything,but the worst thing is that:if everything we have is the best,why should we keep living and working?so let's get out to kick the others's ass for fun.

[jutka]

Europe is not a country!!

So is everyone supposed to live in the forest foraging for mushrooms? Go ahead Winston, no one is stopping you!!

[Voyager13b]

Originally Posted by jutka

Europe is not a country!!

So is everyone supposed to live in the forest foraging for mushrooms? Go ahead Winston, no one is stopping you!!

Jutka,

Europe is not a country, but Winston IS a dingbat. He has a US address, but it apparently isn't home in his limited mind. He travels the world in an effort to abuse Women on a global basis, yet he is universally rejected by most of his would be victims. If he got some when he visited Europe during 2005, he would have stayed there to see if he could get some more. Since he was rejected by the Euro crowd, he came back to US where he can bite the hand that feeds him without official reprisal (just my opinion).

Voyager

[wanda_agel]

Hello,
I am Canadian and proud of it. My focus is FAMILY FIRST, everything else comes second