Employment is the Zeitgeist of our Time

Employment is the zeitgeist of our time.

The moment a child is born society starts to mold them to fit neatly inside it. Kids are sent to school and taught obedience; to cede, listen, and emulate authority. Secondary education, college/university, is the expected next step. Social pressure from parents, teachers, peers, and the media enforce the path. The rationale behind all this is so the kid can get a good job, and start their life's career.

Sooner or later the 9-5 job - climb the corporate ladder - 40 hour work week society will be seen as a weird post-industrial revolution phenomenon. Yet from every angle beliefs are hammered in from parents who are products of this system, peers who are inside the system, and authorities whose incentive is to support the system saying this is normal.

Society is the set of collective lies we believe so that we can get along.

We question all our beliefs except the ones we truly believe, those we never think to question.

You are a biological organism, an offshoot of the great apes. The economic systems, religions, ideologies, and narratives around you are myths. They are shared stories and beliefs that foster social cooperation and cohesion by aligning populations (unrelated by blood) with common values.

When people dogmatically tell you to be as society expects filter it through this question “What problem am I solving for?” i.e. where's the destination?

This is the foundation of the direction you choose in life, yet kids choose/accept a direction that maps to what society wants rather than what they want. Play a stupid game, win a stupid prize.

As the cost of a degree rises and the median income of graduates falls it appears more and more as if secondary education is a tax on midwits.

This isn't me suggesting not to get a degree; do what you want. Just be sure your major life decisions aren't predicated on someone else's agenda.

Enjoy the job search monkey.