Love of Learning, the "Sine Qua Non" of Human Existence

Dr. Zena Hitz's "Lost in Thought" celebrates the Love of Learning as the essentially human condition. She traces the Christian Love of Learning to Mary, Mother of God. Mary was deeply learned in the Hebrew scriptures, studied the law & daily meditated on the prophets. So she understood the angel's message that she would bear a son as part of  God's plan for salvation.

Next Dr. Hitz writes about William Herschel & his sister Caroline, amateur astronomers of the eighteenth century. William was working as a music teacher in Bath, England. He developed a passion for star-gazing & building telescopes. After five years, he brought over his sister Caroline from Germany to housekeep & assist him. She had acquired some education against the wishes of her family. She took to astronomy like a fish to water. The siblings, after hard work, built a telescope from scratch & discovered Uranus in 1781.

She also cites Jonathan Rose's "The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes", where numerous cases of the effect of reading on people living in poverty are listed. A shoemaker's daughter, Mary Smith (b.1822) says, "I could follow Shakespeare, Dryden & Goldsmith fully & with delight."

In India also, the former President Abdul Kalam envisioned a "Knowledge Society." But we have become a "Start-Up" society to get rich quick!

Science, Law & Religion - Commonality

In Science, an empirical view is adopted based only on sensory observation & logic. In Law also, only eye-witness & other evidence is allowed, disregarding heresy & opinions.

Thomas Paine, in his "The Age of Reason" also argued that much of the Bible is believed based on heresy & hence (legally) not acceptable. He extended it to all organised religions. Swami Vivekananda also argued that the same criteria used in science should be applied to religion to test & accept it. Whenever his guru, Sri Ramakrishna told any thing, Swami Vivekananda (then known as Naren), would ask "Where is the evidence?" & accept his teachings only after satisfying himself of their rationality.

So even in matters of religion, if one is lucky to be contemporary of an enlightened soul & has access to him/her, it is better to examine them first hand & then accept their teachings only if they meet the criteria of Science & Law, rather than blindly believe in the Scriptures & Rituals. The phrase "Unbeliever", instead of being a derogatory term, can be viewed as a desirable term for any progress in the spiritual path.

Work Ethics - A Pragmatic View

It may be sacrilegious to mention at the outset, (in these times!) that work is NOT a necessity of life like food, clothing & shelter. If sufficient money is available, most would not contemplate  employment or even education for that matter. In a novel set in Regency England, Jane Austen's "Persuasion", Sir Walter Elliot considered any man who had to work for a living as practically a beggar.

Most manual work is hard & unpleasant. Most people tend to avoid it or do as little of it as possible. The only reason for doing it is to earn money to keep body & soul together. Even intellectual labour is avoided by most as famously quoted by the famous Dr.Samuel Johnson "No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money."

It should also NEVER be forgotten that in the early days of the industrial revolution, poor men, women & even children were made to work as much as 18 hours a day. George Bernard Shaw writes in his "The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism, Capitalism, Sovietism & Fascism" that the factory employers were using up nine generations of workers in one generation, due to premature deaths of workers.

Probably anticipating this brutal exploitation of the poor workers by the idle rich capitalistic employers, St.Paul had said "If any one does not work, let him not eat." (2 Thessalonians 3:10.) Later, the Protestant reformer, Martin Luther had prioritised a Work Ethic, as exemplified in Max Weber's work on the subject, linking it to Capitalism. The 12th Century social reformer & religious leader, Basaveshwara of pKarnataka also emphasised that "Work is worship."

But the 19th Century Welsh visionary industrialist Robert Owen first espoused the 8 hour workday, with "8 HOURS WORK, 8 HOURS RECREATION & 8 HOURS REST each day." Here 8 hours of RECREATION/ DAY is to engage in active sports & cultural activities, which are BASIC HUMAN NEEDS. This 8 hour day was implemented  by the auto manufacturer Henry Ford, who found it increased productivity.

It may be noted that the "serial" entrepreneur Capt. Gopinath, in his memoirs, recollects one of his Generals exhorting his men to "Work hard, play harder & party hardest!" All the Europeans are gradually decreasing their work week, without reducing their productivity. Denmark, the home of Larsen & Toubro, has a 37 hours work week. France has a 35 hour work week.

Despite this earlier emphasis on work, Karl Marx & Freidrich Engels primarily espoused the cause of the workers by saying "Workers of the World, Unite", in their "The Communist Manifesto" (1848), following which even the known hard-working modern Communist state of China has a legal 8 hour day, 40 hour week.

Bertrand Russell wrote an essay "In Praise of Idleness" where he propagated a 4 hour workday. Josef Pieper, appalled at the workaholic post-war Germany, wrote "Leisure, the basis of Culture." Bernard Shaw's contemporary & fellow Fabian, the noted designer William Morris wrote an Utopian novel "News from Nowhere" where he imagined a place where work is done purely for pleasure.

It is ironic that while the "coloured" slavery of USA & economic slavery of UK (in the early days of industrialisation) have been abolished & International Labour Laws prohibit more than 8 hours/day, some Indian captains of Industry are blithely advocating a return to the dark ages of exploitation of workers for 14 hours & more, as if it is a patriotic duty.

In view of the aforesaid arguments, the utmost that pragmatism can expect from young patriotic Indians is that they stay to  work (as per ILO guidelines) in India & not emigrate to the developed West. Working inhuman hours to "build the Nation" can safely be left to the politicians & captains of industry, whose catchword it is, instead of hoisting it on to the poor shoulders of blue collar & white collar workers, who work only to get a living.

To conclude, exceeding ILO mandate of maximum 48 hours/week IS NOT AN OPTION.

Bibliography:

1. Austen, Jane: Persuasion
2. Basaveshwara: Vachanas
3. Boswell, James:  Life of Dr.Johnson
4. Ford, Henry: Moving Forward.
5. Luther, Martin: Ninety-five Theses
6. Marx, Karl: The Communist Manifesto.
7. Morris, William: News from Nowhere
8. Owen, Robert: A New View of Society.
9. Pieper, Josef: Leisure, The Basis of Culture
10. Russel, Bertrand: In Praise of Idleness
11. Shaw, George Bernard: The Intelligent  Woman's Guide to Socialism, Capitalism, Sovietism & Fascism."
12. St.Paul: 2 Thessalonians 3:10
13. Weber, Max: The Protestant Ethic & The Spirit of Capitalism.