"Do Whatever You Have To Do To Sell Yourself"

This is the lesson that I learned during my orientation at the unemployment career center.  We tend to act so smug because we believe we have moved beyond the archaic traditions of dowries and servitude.  "Sell yourself" is an expression to denote prostitution, which our culture demeans.  When it comes to jobs/careers though, it is perfectly "normal."  It appeared that no one even noticed how dehumanizing this was in the room of seven people who were learning to say "I'm in career transition" instead of "I'm unemployed."

Most of the one-hour orientation was a pep talk for the group not to feel so depressed about their lack of employment.  We were supposed to feel good that, in spite of all the stormy weather outside, we had the resolve to attend this class to help us pursue the lofty goal of getting someone to hire us!  The instructor went further to say that we were actually "working;" we were working to market ourselves.  How much time and resources are spent on finding people jobs, I wondered.  It would be so much more worthwhile if these resources were used to find people the right work for them, as whole individuals, but with the way things are, society is focused on just finding people anything that provides them an income.

Despite the overwhelming evidence of our interdependency as a species, we still hold high the values of rugged individualism.  One person, all alone, can succeed and amass great power and wealth through sheer determination and competency.  It is very shortsighted of us to see life this way.  Our society is constantly disintegrating because of this illusion, and the result is a renewal of the stream of suffering.  We cannot wall ourselves off from sorrow without hurting ourselves.  To see this interdependency is to awaken to a sense of responsibility.  If your hand is injured, it's best to soothe and repair it.  If you are too late in responding to its injuries, you will have to cut it off, but then you have lost something special.  The hand does not have to "sell itself" to us for us to nourish it.  We instinctively understand its importance.  Will the time come when we understand the importance of each one of us, not as an abstract concept, but in our guts?  Then, people won't have to treat themselves and others as commodities.

If it's free, what's in it for me?

The misunderstanding that humans only do things because they provide some kind of financial reward is a frequent point of debate around the Zeitgeist Movement.  I cannot remember the source, but I remember reading a few months back about a study that demonstrated that financial rewards do not inspire greater creativity in a person's work. In fact, a financial incentive was only efficacious in its effect of increasing productivity in jobs that require a lot of repetitive behaviors (which are usually the lowest paid jobs).

So, I was wondering about the people around me. What kinds of things do they not only do for free, but they may also do them at their own financial loss?  (To protect their privacy, I will refer to them generally.)

Whether investing in photography equipment, rock and gem instruments, or culinary supplies, these people do so at their own loss.  One person spends several hundred dollars to create a piece of art even when there is no intention of making some future profit.  This art is created and mounted for the pure pleasure of its expression.  A feast is prepared and shared for the fulfillment of sharing.  The rocks and gems are inspected and measured for the enrichment of learning.  Pictures are taken with utmost care for the honor of immortalizing nature's beauty.  Information is shared in the hopes that such information will mobilize people to change a condition that is causing suffering.  Some people don't have a loss of their own physical resources, but they offer their time and energy to help make people feel better.

The internet is full of contributions from people who have no monetary reward.  I was playing a video game recently and I had some trouble progressing. I went looking online for a solution and there wasn't just one......there were dozens of discussions, video posts, written posts and other recommendations about just one problem! I wondered, "why would anyone spend the time to do all this work for nothing?"  Because they like to.  While it is possible to get a bit of fame and ride that wave to some financial reward from a contribution to the internet, the probability is very low.

What's really surprising is that even in an environment of wage slavery and "time is money," we still have people who produce, create, share, and just plain do for the simple fact that they want to do it.  It's even more surprising that people do these things at their own financial peril.  After all, they could be saving all that money and investing in something that will earn them more money!

As I see it, the monetary system, which creates financial reward in a context of scarcity, is really an oppressing force.  In reading some comments/blogs from people who are unemployed, I am surprised to read how many people come to the point of "I might as well use my time for something I've always wanted to do, but never had the time to do it."  They may not get paid, but many of them are contributing in a healthy way to create a healthier society.  If people weren't stuck in jobs that were either 1. meaningless outside of a monetary paradigm or  2. not in line with their actual interests and talents, we would have an outpouring of contributions from individuals who've been oppressed for so long under the Monetary Regime.

Please share your comments of people you know who engage in activities without the reward of money.