Burnout And The Struggle For ContemplationAmerican capitalism makes it difficult for workers to enjoy the self-emptying ecstasy and profound relaxation characteristic of a deep spiritual life.
MAY 27, 2022
JONATHAN CULBREATH
In The Burnout Society, Korean-German philosopher Byung-Chul Han gives philosophical expression to an issue rooted in the lived experience of the inhabitants of the developed world. Burnout, in Han’s analysis, is the psychic effect of a culture of achievement, in which the individual is doomed to exploit himself as a laborer for the purpose of his own self-production as a commodity. He is an “entrepreneur of himself,” to whom the life of contemplation is materially and psychologically foreclosed. Closed in upon himself and enslaved to labor by his own self-compulsion, he becomes narcissistic and hyperactive, incapable of enjoying the self-emptying ecstasy and profound relaxation that are characteristic of a deep spiritual life.
Han’s critique is partly inspired by the Aristotelian conception of what makes a person happy. In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle writes that “happiness is thought to depend on leisure; for we are busy that we may have leisure, and make war that we may live in peace.” Busy-ness, or labor, is useful only for the sake of the loftier aim of contemplation, which requires leisure. This ethic stands in contrast with one more familiar to the inhabitants of capitalist society, which treats leisure as no more than a tool for regenerating one’s energy for further labor. For Aristotle, it is more natural to desire leisure for its own sake. From this perspective, one might look upon burnout as a sign of our society’s inverted priorities.
Recent developments in the world of labor indicate that young people may be waking up to this inversion. In a recent collection of essays titled “Future of Work” published at Vox, several pieces touch on burnout, including this story about Generation Z’s refusal of the culture of work. The article cites several young people disillusioned with a “hustle culture” that leaves them burnt out and depressed. Similarly, some are rejecting the culture of ambition and achievement that characterizes the professional world. Instead, they choose a life of leisure and love, of humble ambition and domestic quietude, free from the artificial demands of the workplace meritocracy. As one young person interviewed said, “I simply want to live my life slowly and lay down in a bed of moss with my lover and enjoy the rest of my existence reading books, creating art, and loving myself and the people in my life.”
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This is a shift that conservatives who claim to care about culture ought to welcome with open arms. One reason to preserve the great achievements of Western culture is for those young people who crave such things over meaningless labor and self-centered ambition. Rather than spend their lives doing nothing but work and make money, they desire to enjoy the cultural goods that have, for much of modern history, been reserved to an aristocratic class. This is a noble desire. If there were ever a reason to preserve such goods and extend their enjoyment to all of humanity—if there were ever a reason for a genuinely cultural conservatism to exist—this is it.
This phenomenon contains a lesson on the relationship between culture and economics. The stated motives behind the Great Resignation demonstrate that certain economic preconditions need to be met in order for ordinary people to enjoy the cultural goods that conservatives professedly wish to preserve for posterity. An economy that leads to an epidemic of burnout and fatigue certainly does not meet these preconditions. A life of contemplative leisure in such an economy is, at best, possible only for the privileged or monks. If conservatives have any desire to preserve the cultural achievements of humanity for the enjoyment of the masses, it is imperative that they consider making those economic changes to make it possible. Simply letting the free market run its course will not do.
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Source:
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/burnout-and-the-struggle-for-contemplation/
