Epictetus, Discourses 1.10.3

And yet how can their business be compared in importance with ours? If you attend to what they are doing you will see the difference. 

 

They do nothing all day long except vote, dispute, deliberate about a handful of corn or an acre of land, and petty profits of this sort. 

 

Is there any resemblance between receiving and reading a petition such as this: “I beg you to let me export a little corn”, and a petition such as, “I beg you to inquire from Chrysippus how the Universe is governed and what position the rational creature holds in it; inquire too who you are and what is good for you, and what is evil?”

 

What have these petitions in common? Do both demand the same attention? Is it equally shameful to neglect one and to neglect the other?

 

There is surely a great contrast between crunching the numbers on a balance sheet and estimating the good in the soul, insofar as the one is completely pointless without a reference to the other. Some people get busy with the trappings of living, and other people get busy with the actual living. We have our priorities backwards when we say that the banker is being so useful to society, and then go on to say that the sage is of no use at all. 

 

Yes, the objects of concern are different, as the lesser is distinct from the greater, or what is on the surface is distinct from what is in the depths, and yet there must also be a difference in method, where what is purely technical is treated in another manner than what is profoundly sacred. 

 

If you don’t believe me, observe how you can find accountants who still keep the measure of human dignity in mind, and, conversely, intellectuals who seem to forget that all their research and writings ought to be in the service of the virtues. A small-minded technocrat is only a nuisance, while a petty scholar is a wretched curse unto his people. Don’t just attend to the best things, learn to attend to the best things rightly. 

 

When I was first dragged, kicking and screaming, into the world of administration, I assumed I was just too lazy to do all of the dreary paperwork. Now there are many things wrong with me, but it turns out that sloth isn’t one of them, as I am always at my best when I know that I am doing something helpful. 

 

Was it, perhaps, that I was being too proud, thinking that such efforts were below me? No, it didn’t seem to be that either, since I often find great satisfaction in taking on the tedious work that no one else will touch. 

 

What was it, then? Why was I so miserable writing reports about learning outcomes, which, as it turns out, are not at all the same as learning objectives, something the Higher Learning Commission is quick to remind you of when they send you back the forms? 

 

It was because there was no context, none at all, of the true, the good, and the beautiful to any of it. It was a way to earn a paycheck, a means for a promotion, and an opportunity to feel important while making a PowerPoint presentation. If you were lucky, there was a picture of you shaking hands with some bigwig printed in the school bulletin. This supposedly made it all worthwhile. 

 

It makes nothing worthwhile, as is evident from that sucking sound, as our convictions are replaced by conveniences. 

 

Please do throw yourself into the grueling labors, as a miner, or a factory worker, or a trucker must also do, but don’t do any of it without a sense of meaning and purpose. You need not make philosophy your trade, but your trade must be informed by your philosophy. 

Written in 11/2000