This term refers to the un-thought-out valuing of effort, trying hard, doing your best. I was a little delayed in popping out of bed, enjoying the relaxation of sleeping, then enjoying a relaxed contemplation, but I was a little jolted by a guilt spasm at my lackadaisical behavior. I heard the line from and old superego complex: \u201cBe all you can be!\u201d<\/p>\n
I contemplated how persuasive it seemed. \u201cSeems\u201d is the operative word. It seemed sensible. But I suspected it might be an introject<\/em>, a psycho-analytic bit of jargon referring to an idea or feeling that is accepted as so without much critical analysis. It\u2019s like gulping your food, taking in stuff without sufficient mental \u201cdigestion.\u201d Folks do this, you know, accept as true little clich\u00e9s they\u2019ve picked up from those whom they tend to follow\u2014parents, teachers, higher-status peers, groups. It seems to be so. So this introject I call the \u201cethos of effort,\u201d and it\u2019s one of the relatively unquestioned bits of morality in our culture. Is this part of the Protestant, middle-class culture? (I recently read a book about leisure and ease that questioned this ethos\u2014I\u2019ll try to find it.)<\/p>\n In school, each teacher assigned homework as if we had no other teachers who also assigned homework. No one commented on the work load. It was like Marine Corps basic training: If you couldn\u2019t cut it they cut you. That\u2019s just life, or so we thought. It\u2019s a nasty form of conditioning where the choice of roles to be played is given to the masters, whoever they may seem to be. It\u2019s not thought through.<\/p>\n It turns out I play many roles and I really don\u2019t like pushing myself. Outwardly, I\u2019m viewed as productive, but inwardly I feel on the edge of lazy. Truth is somewhere in-between. There are a number of ways I enjoy doing and don\u2019t feel pushed, and a number of ways that I could, maybe, but I really don\u2019t want to. I wouldn\u2019t enjoy that role or role component. This fine distinction made in the elder years seems to be one that it would behoove people to know about.<\/p>\n It all depends on the number of roles\u2014which include (please note) roles of relaxation, sleeping late, chatting with friends or spouse, leisurely dining, reading books, magazines. I\u2019m not even counting potential time-wasting of television, watching DVDs, sports, other vicarious activities. For some, these, too, belong within the mainstream of chosen life. The point here is that one can hardly excel in all roles\u2014there are too many, each one has a gradient of effort and practice, and talent is not the same as enjoyment! You can be good at something and not like it very much. <\/p>\n Indeed, as tastes develop, and you begin to notice more clearly what you really like and how it differs from what you are supposed to like (because of so-called refined tastes that are actually largely dictated by taste-makers, professors, high-status experts, fashionistas<\/em>, peers, etc.) and what in fact you do like\u2014a process that can take many decades\u2014you find that your preferences don\u2019t always match up to cultural norms. (Also, a cultural norm is a phony construct that, because of its wide acceptance, may even numb people to noticing the immorality of the activity!)<\/p>\n So I am choosing where I want to put my energy, my priorities. Approaching death helps. I enjoy doing a lot of things, I feel the fear of missing out (FOMO) at the many things I choose not to do, things more flashy: I would see and be seen, I would be noticed! And anyway who cares about those other things that are trivial and lazy? I do! <\/p>\n The irony is that I hear the voice of my conscience saying, \u201cBut you don\u2019t know what you want!\u201d There\u2019s just enough truth in this that it gets its foot in the door. Another conscious affirmation that I choose to make\u2014it takes a little more work\u2014is, \u201cWait, I\u2019m established, highly educated, prolifically diploma\u2019d , awarded, and certified; I\u2019m almost 76 years old! If anyone knows, it\u2019s me. Although it\u2019s true that I don\u2019t really really know, but perhaps that degree of confidence is temperamental? This bridges over to a related blog put up today<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This term refers to the un-thought-out valuing of effort, trying hard, doing your best. I was a little delayed in popping out of bed, enjoying the relaxation of sleeping, then enjoying a relaxed contemplation, but I was a little jolted by a guilt spasm at my lackadaisical behavior. I heard the line from and old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,19,11,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autobiographical","category-events","category-literacy","category-whassup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1080"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1080"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1081,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1080\/revisions\/1081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}