This makes me think of the word ‘work’. It has been around my mind, softly and quietly, for some time, an equation I learned in school. Work done = force x distance. So, in other words: 'When a force causes a body to move, work is being done on the object by the force. Work is the measure of energy transfer when a force moves an object through a distance. So when work is done, energy has been transferred from one energy store to another*’. Knowledge work seems to involve almost exclusively the mind sense. I wonder about work that involves our other senses and our bodies being so satisfying in ways that, at times, knowledge work isn’t. Maybe this is why talking while acting is so powerful as a way to be together.
Returning to the backroads of Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance these past weeks after over 20 years, I came across page 315. Which includes the advice to ‘just stare at the machine… Live with it for a while’. I laughed out loud realising that this page and these words were a beginning for me and a big part of the reason our home still stands upright!
My father grew up on a farm and always had me and my brother working hard most weekends year round to do work in the garden and in the house, so I learned a lot about how to do things and fix things.
When Cayman was devastated by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, most “Knowledge Workers” were helpless when fixing things with their hands was the only relevant skill and money was no use when everyone was maxed out fixing stuff for themselves and others. I gave thanks to my Dad for having learned so much.
These days I have a very simple life, and I find your thoughts resonant. I too make sure to get out and do things, to move, to fix things.
This morning I polished my father’s silver and wood decanter holder. Wonderful and focussed work. Now I’m going out for a long walk.
The older we get the more moving matters, and your thought help me recognise that this is not only physical but also mental and even spiritual.
Thanks Rob, this one spoke to me. I’ve often felt the pressure to treat knowledge as something to store up and deploy when needed, but keeping it in the abstract helps no one. Not me, anyway. Only when I engage with people in their lived situations and challenges am I forced to apply that ‘knowledge’, ask better questions of it, and go on a journey with it to a new understanding. I want to grow in that. Thanks for naming it so clearly.
Thanks Tim.
Thanks Gavin. Lovely reflections.
Ah!
This makes me think of the word ‘work’. It has been around my mind, softly and quietly, for some time, an equation I learned in school. Work done = force x distance. So, in other words: 'When a force causes a body to move, work is being done on the object by the force. Work is the measure of energy transfer when a force moves an object through a distance. So when work is done, energy has been transferred from one energy store to another*’. Knowledge work seems to involve almost exclusively the mind sense. I wonder about work that involves our other senses and our bodies being so satisfying in ways that, at times, knowledge work isn’t. Maybe this is why talking while acting is so powerful as a way to be together.
Returning to the backroads of Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance these past weeks after over 20 years, I came across page 315. Which includes the advice to ‘just stare at the machine… Live with it for a while’. I laughed out loud realising that this page and these words were a beginning for me and a big part of the reason our home still stands upright!
I long to work with my body.
*BBC Bitesize GCSE Revision Guide. :)
Love this, Rob.
My father grew up on a farm and always had me and my brother working hard most weekends year round to do work in the garden and in the house, so I learned a lot about how to do things and fix things.
When Cayman was devastated by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, most “Knowledge Workers” were helpless when fixing things with their hands was the only relevant skill and money was no use when everyone was maxed out fixing stuff for themselves and others. I gave thanks to my Dad for having learned so much.
These days I have a very simple life, and I find your thoughts resonant. I too make sure to get out and do things, to move, to fix things.
This morning I polished my father’s silver and wood decanter holder. Wonderful and focussed work. Now I’m going out for a long walk.
The older we get the more moving matters, and your thought help me recognise that this is not only physical but also mental and even spiritual.
Thanks Rob, this one spoke to me. I’ve often felt the pressure to treat knowledge as something to store up and deploy when needed, but keeping it in the abstract helps no one. Not me, anyway. Only when I engage with people in their lived situations and challenges am I forced to apply that ‘knowledge’, ask better questions of it, and go on a journey with it to a new understanding. I want to grow in that. Thanks for naming it so clearly.