Tuesday, 22 May 2012

The notion of work is a myth

A farmer is someone who harvests their crops and lives form the proceeds. The farmer does not sell their labour and so they might be seen as being in an enviable position. It is very close to nature almost as if we are roaming a wild forest picking fruits and berries and living a natural life. But we can think of all forms of labour in a similar way. Someone who is self-employed relies on no one but themselves to earn more income. We can thing of farmers and other people who work for themselves as people who do not really 'work' in the conventional sense. If we do not sell our labour (to someone else) we are not working. But we can think of a large company as being a customer of our personal services... just as a self-employed person would do. In that sense we are all self-employed and all working for ourselves. And to work for ourselves is not to work at all (like the farmer) and so there is no real work.

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