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We live in a culture of more or less instant gratification, and it makes us lazy; dumbed down even. Why bother looking through more layers or angles of an issue when someone (or something) else could tell us the answer immediately, or even do the work for us (or suggest expensive remedies)?
In my forthcoming magical autobiography, Meetings with Remarkable Magicians – Life in the Occult Underground, I touch upon this conundrum:
”And there they were in my own life: Crowley, Spare, P-Orridge, LaVey, Anger and a whole other army of poetically minded truth sayers, artists, and magicians; pushing on because they had to, without necessarily needing to understand why. That was exactly what I was striving for. And that’s why contemporary platitudes like ”Work smarter, not harder” have no meaning for me; it simply sounds like a euphemism for cutting corners. In my mind it’s always much better and much more rewarding to work harder.”
My approach has always been seeing the work itself a blessing and as its own reward; a work well performed is a result in itself. ”Work smarter, not harder” is the slogan of the corner-cutters, the cheapskates, those without understanding or appreciation of the merits of labor. Today, we see an entire culture of teen-titans and technocrats, as well as their serfs, all distancing themselves from initiative, mastery, and pride in achievement: great human qualities.
It’s become more cynical than ever these days, too. People actually pay to work less – or at least give the impression they do. Not in the sense of (logically) getting less pay for less work but rather that they actually pay dearly themselves to seem to work less. How many apps and services do you subscribe to that are supposed to make your life ”easier” and more ”efficient”?
It’s in many ways the ultimate cynical triumph of our own distancing from our natural habitat. You don’t see a tree trying hard to get away with being less than a tree. Nor any animal. Even cats, lazy as they can seem, do exactly what they should and never less. They are pleasantly fulfilled by their feline efforts and then go back to dreamland, wondering… Whatever happened to humans?
Western culture is a culture of negligence and avoidance of realizing how thin the veil is; the veil that temporarily covers all aspects and insights of an imminent Ragnarök well-deserved. Repairs and strengthening seem too cumbersome and anxiety-ridden, so let’s do even less about it – or about anything. Riders of the perfect storm, trotting along while counting steps.
Our so-called activists are in actual fact just aggressive passivists. It seems more important to be visibly and audibly caught in the act of activism than to enforce actual potential aspects of change in themselves – as in slow and boring political drudge WORK.
Cutting corners is debilitating. It is life-negating. A good work ethic brings peace of mind. If you’re not happy with with any given situation of course you should try and change it – through work. Not by yapping, not by proxy, not by cutting corners, or by relying on technology or others to solve your own problems for you.
Most of us are still human and very pleased with that. Part of that agreement of and with being human is that we rely on our own initiatives and intelligence to solve problems and improve situations. Improvement is not something that will automatically require less of you. On the contrary, it might even require more of you. But the benefits will not only be a problem solved but also a deep-rooted feeling of existential satisfaction.
When looking at the good, life-affirming things we have and can share today, it’s easy to see that they are all the results of hard experimental work leading to construction, application, and dissemination. On the other hand, a culture that promotes shallow speed potentially digs the deepest graves.
What needs to be done? How do you go about doing it? Watch yourself closely in this process and be honest in admitting what brings you the most satisfaction – no matter how ”uncool” or ”untrendy” it can seem to others. Then you orient yourself from that and onwards.
I suspect I already know your direction because we are, after all, part of the same species. Working hard is an essential – perhaps even quintessential – positive part of the human experience. Let’s work it for as long as we can.
P.S. That said… I am contemporary western so I constantly need to publicly improve my ”brand” and sell something while sharing these free words of wisdom with you. So please buy my autobiography so I don’t seem to be some crazy radical who has ideas of some substantial kind. Whenever the bots listen I’m a good cyber-citizen and whisper gently to them that all I really want for Christmas is to make slightly more money than my fellow man/woman/they-them. The rest, I guess, is byte-sized padding for people who can still read.
Meetings with Remarkable Magicians
P.P.S. The photo was taken by my lovely wife Vanessa as we were visiting the great Tjolöholm Castle on the west coast of Sweden a few years ago; incidentally (?) where Lars von Trier filmed his exquisite Götterdämmerung porn film “Melancholia” in 2011.
"Ett väl utfört arbete ger en inre tillfredställelse och är den grund varpå samhället vilar." I totally agree with you except regarding the activists. I don't think they see themselves as trying to cut corners. They see their work as doing the necessary and dangerous work. I suspect that the same individuals are also the ones doing the slow and boring political drudge work. It is only political careerists that cannot afford to be seen as activists.
Melancholia is a staggering film.