Inherent Self-Worth: potential for freedom to find it

By Jessie Shier.

Inherent Self-Worth: potential for freedom to find it

Recently, a newspaper supplement ran an article called ‘Here come the robots’ (Sept.2017), discussing the impacts of automation on employment and therefore individual lives.
The article stated that surveys have revealed that more than half of respondents would stay at work after winning a fortune: to quote – ‘people hate their jobs, but are more miserable doing nothing’. The article asked; ‘what would motivate people to get up in the morning? How do they find meaning?’

The answer is this – leave people alone to find their meaning themselves. People are not helpless things that need to be given meaning from outside. The fact that they ‘hate their jobs’ suggest that being given meaning, a reason to get up in the morning, from outside does not provide what humans really want – it doesn’t make them happy because it doesn’t correlate with what’s inside.

Once people have the basics for living, they then have the space and time to find their own meaning in life. The article discusses a universal income in the future and it is certainly interesting to think of ways that the basics for living can be there, while humans are freed from the need to engage for so much of their time in work for money. These possibilities exist and who knows what sort of incredibles humans can come up with if given this freedom? It will take some time, and some people will struggle, but eventually there will be more self-understanding and therefore more honesty, and greater potential for creativity.

In answer to the article’s questions, we don’t need governments or agencies to consider what might give us meaning. We need governments to maintain stability and services. And then leave us alone.
The scarcity thinking mentality is defunct here. Because humans are not robots who need to be given their life meaning. We already have our life meaning – we just need the space to find it, and we will find it ourselves!

This article discusses automation’s impacts on the employment sector. In reality, one of those impacts is that human beings are freed from tasks that take attention and time, allowing them to look deeper and find recourses within themselves that lead them to greater fulfillment than simply getting by. The article suggests that satisfaction from work could be replaced by self-improvement, education and volunteering. This is true, but the most important thing is not to side-step into the same mistake as before, with people looking outside themselves for their validation. Self-improvement and education are key, but the most important key is in allowing people the time and personal freedom to get to know themselves and find their own honesty and meaning. And making sure not to place any judgement on what each individual finds as their own personal meaning.

It is necessary for people to make a connection to their own deeper selves. Then to get to know themselves at this deeper level, being honest about their feelings all the way, and eventually coming to understand what does give them meaning. The ability to be honest about this requires non-interference from outside.

Flexibility, open-mindedness and a willingness to work with change are necessary on all levels. Ultimately, governments and all else will discover that human beings are very capable, with great substance and meaning inherent within themselves. Self-worth is not defined by what you do. And failure is often the beginning of a new phase.