RACE TO INFINITY
Approx Reading Time: 7 Minutes
Rat Race: an endless, self-defeating or pointless pursuit. It conjures up the image of the futile efforts of a Lab rat trying to escape while running around a maze or in a wheel. In an analogy to the modern city, many rats in a single maze expend a lot of effort running around, but ultimately achieve nothing meaningful either collectively or individually. The rat race also refers to the fierce competition involved in maintaining or improving one's position in the workplace or on the social ladder. This term presumably alludes to the rat's desperate struggle for survival. Urban planners also use the term 'rat racing' to describe behaviour by motorists who choose to travel to the most direct route by using secondary roads not intended for through traffic.
It's the work intimation of a rat race that's so poignant to me today; The rat race is a term often used to describe work, particularly excessive work; if one works too much, one is in the rat race. This terminology contains implications that work is an endless pursuit with little reward or purpose. No one could possibly feel the contractions of this delivery than I do right now, writing this feels like a mother's pains at birth; like the labours of a pregnancy that I've carried inside and which has finally come to term. It's been a busy 2011, I've been busy 'WORKING' it out. I've lost a lot of ground in my self discovery journey; my morning meditation is as good as forgotten, my concentration is at an all time low, I cannot sit still for five minutes, I've lost the discipline required; I have little control on the desires of the self which has lead to my gaining over 15 kilos, I've lost my youth mentorship program in the church because an absentee leader cannot be a mentor. I have turned into a money driven career minded workaholic. On numerous instances I could not pick my mom's call because I couldn't spare a minute of pleasantries. Every single day I am faced with the possibility of being dumped because no girl can put up with a guy who never responds to text messages. And that's the reality of who I have turned into in the last 12 months. What a memorable 2011 it will be.
Don't get me wrong, I have made noticeable strides career wise; my team has surpassed all known heights and is on a roll and my salary has just about doubled within the same period. I have met some wonderful people; a prayerful boss who has allowed me to excel, and a motivated team eager to surpass even their own expectations. And did I mention that I met someone I might be spending the rest of my life with? I have read numerously about love, I have talked severally about it, even written about it, but I think I finally found it, and nothing ever prepared me for it. Well, that's 2011 come and gone, and I finally had to get myself to slow down. So I took two weeks leave of absence to pause and reflect. And this self evaluation reminded me of a story I had heard sometime back:
A tourist was visiting a remote village for its scenic virgin woodlands. He was told that there was only one inn in the village. He was a bit skeptical about the inn, and was considering camping in the woodlands instead. But his local porter threw in quite a good word for the inn keeper. But the tourist was still not so convinced. He gave the innkeeper a wad of notes before going up to see the rooms. "That's a weeks worth, if I don't like the rooms I'll take it back" said the tourist. Hardly had the tourist and his porter disappeared up the steps than the inn keeper dashed swiftly out of the door to the butcher and paid his debt for the supply of pork. The butcher then took off hurriedly and paid off the pig farmer. The pig farmer took off in haste and paid off his debt to the feeds supplier. The feeds supplier immediately sent his son to the local transporter to pay off his debt. And the transporter immediately rushed to pay off his balance to the inn keeper for the pick-up truck he had sold to him. As soon as the transporter was out of the door, the tourist and his porter came down the steps. "Nah, don't like them one little bit" said the tourist and took his wad of notes from the exact spot he had left it barely 15 minutes earlier. The tourist is gone, the money is gone too, nobody made a single coin, but there is a village full of renewed hope and optimism, a village that looks into the future with high expectations because everyone is stress free, they have all paid up their debts.
And this story got me thinking – could it be that all there really is to show for a whole year's effort is just HOPE? An optimism for the future? The expectation that YES, I can look forward to another year of giving it another shot. That I am in good health, I am still capable, that I am starting again on a level playing ground – fair play; that I can look forward to another year's worth of hustling it, another year of playing life. And that's just it, you cannot risk falling victim to the illusion of wins and losses. For nobody ever plays life and wins, or losses for that matter. It is easy for the human mind to sell to itself a conception of its perceived benefits or losses; we are happy when we gain, and sad when we loose. We are so prone to evaluating everything on self centered scales. We want to convince ourselves that there are possibilities of amassing benefits to ourselves. All men are intent on gaining the whole world to themselves. It's a never ending race to nowhere. A meaningless rat race with little implications on reality or the way of life. The perceived conception in the above instance is that everybody is better off, the entire town has paid off all its debts, but the reality is something so far off. It is hard, even after a second evaluation, to figure out where the falsehood in this scenario is – after all, hasn't everybody paid off their debts? Then that must inevitably mean that somebody made the money that enabled the paying off of debts.
The general flow of all matter is constant motion; that's the only undisputable constant, that it's a rhythmic cycle. Everything comes and goes cyclically, from the electron in an atom to the galaxies orbiting in the universe. That's the unfolding saga of the universe, of all matter, of you and me. We are in this constant of dynamism, in a play where we cannot, and will not win or loose, we can only play on, aluta continua, the Greeks say, which translate to the struggle continues. The intent of the play is just to keep playing. Should you contemplate suicide, then and only then can we say that you have really lost the game.
FINITE AND INFINITE GAMES; A VISION OF LIFE.
James P. Carse.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play.
The rules of the finite game may not change;
the rules of an infinite game must change.
Finite players play within boundaries,
Infinite players play with boundaries.
The finite player aims for eternal life,
the infinite player aims for eternal birth.
Finite games can be played within an infinite game,
But an infinite game cannot be played within a finite game.
Infinite players regard their wins and losses in whatever finite games they play as but moments in continuing play. Rules are not valid because the senate passed them, or because heroes once played them, or because God pronounced them through Moses or Mohammed,
they are valid only if and when players freely play them.
There are no rules that require us to obey rules,
if there were, there would have to be a rule for those rules, and so on.
Everyone wins something in an infinite game, there are no losers,
But some people win more than others.
As is the norm in this column, the picture I present is not meant to sway your opinions in any way. This portrayed image of work as a "rat race" in modern times is only meant to prompt you to question your own attitudes to work. It's a challenge to seek better alternatives; a more harmonious work-life balance. Its now my believe that long work hours, unpaid overtime, stressful jobs, time spent commuting, less time for family life and/or friends, is the highway to unhappiness, it's a sure way to NOT enjoying the benefits of increased economic prosperity and a higher standard of living, which are the primary reasons for your working so hard. It's the surest way of negating what work was meant to achieve. The rat's desperate run does not get it out of the wheel, and running even faster does not either. And stopping is not an option either, if the rat stops running is it not still a lab rat? And can you imagine what would happen if you stopped working all together? You must keep playing, yours is to create alternate avenues of movement, from an office location to a home location, or from the city to a more rural location. May be what you really need is to move from a high pressure job to a less intense role either at a different company or within the same company at an alternative location or department. It might be changing to a different job that does not involve working 9 to 6 and a long commute. Most people find that becoming financially independent from an employer does it for them, its generally thought that self employed people suffer less mental strain. If you are more like my type then vocations like teaching/motivational speaking give you an adequate escape route. Whatever it is for you start being true to yourself, start doing something about it today. Change the play, but keep playing. ;
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