The Battle of Cognitive vs Mechanical work , rewards and effects

Recently I finished reading “Focus”, by Daniel Goleman

With some inputs from the TED talk

There is this big question that any Indian child may ask when asked about the question of career. India has a very simple scenario of life.

Possible options being

1) study, pass exams, get jobs.

2) study, fail, drop out, do errand jobs/ shop assistant, or be an artist.

3) study, fail, drop out, be marked as useless, be a psycho.

and so on.

When the US Americans say that they stay at top of innovation to sustain, there is big population of virtual assistants, labourers, call center operators and coders that keep up that automated work. Industrialisation has given jobs to Asia, made many families to leave better than they were. Money has come in, the boredom is tolerated and life is enjoyed in another dimensions of keeping family together and getting entertainment. That may be one single reason that the entertainers are appreciated and well received in India.

Not to be left out nor at  a lower strata of status, the Indian rich , also all the rich, enjoy the freedom, to let the cognitive mind wander so leisurely, letting the innovations, imaginations, to flow and flourish. The car of driver of such a rich would have to temporarily suspend his own freedom for the time of work. Or better, utilise it for the benefit of work at hand. That is one way the labourers find solace and allow liberated thinking.

Many of my friends have that robotic feel about job. Some yearn for research and development, some want a platform for expression, some are for unleashed creativity, some are sure they want more breathable open spaces. Some switch, some quit, some search for the greener perspectives that other nations advertise,  many stay on. For those who stay on, seldom suffer, the work does not keep one’s mind in boredom. There is some intelligent means to combat boredom. It need not be by rejecting the demanding and repetitive job. An intelligent way to entertainment and freedom, is always found out. Work is just a means to food, a platform for growth, a support for that very entertainment which mind is deprived of. We enjoy the money as it comes in, from foreign investments through multi-national companies. Does it even once occur that we are living a life of burden pushed onto us by helping the rich have their peace of mind, letting their cognitive mind work to maxima, while we accomodate ours in a shoddy minima. Is it morally or ethically or logically or by any humanitarian measures and indices acceptable by respectable/honourable authorities ?

It seems there is a struggle in thoughts for those who suppress cognition. Nevertheless, the way it comes out in what it does best is for the world to see, the people who have come out of that sewer lid. Time and thought is plenty for those are rich. And here, the richness is a virtue which the mind lets us with no intentional bullying. It is the natural cause of action. It is the natural way of life. What D. Goleman mentions as the bottom layer (of mind) is let loose by design.

Moreover, Bhagavat Gita said “Vyavasayaathmikaa Buddhi: ekenah kurunandana” (व्यव्सायात्मिका बुद्धिः एकेन: कुरुनन्दन). very roughly means ” Industrious Intelligence focusses on one”. The decision, however, is for us to make. Grab and Move on , or lose and move on. There is, fundamentally, nothing right nor wrong.