(Sherburne, NY – May 2013)\u00a0There are two kinds of people in the world, I think:\u00a0 those who set goals and those who seek inspiration.<\/p>\n
Goals are mandates, cold and soul-less, imposed by people or systems that wield a masculine-influenced \u201cpower over\u201d rather than enlisting the feminine values of cooperation and nurturing, which culminate in \u201cpower to.\u201d\u00a0 Goals are instruments of torture, with an inherent threat of failure and thus some form of punishment.<\/p>\n
Inspiration invites participation and promises a journey worth embarking on.\u00a0 It offers the strength to begin and the satisfaction to endure, because each step along the way feeds the original spark until it grows into something complete and permanent.\u00a0 Whatever is accomplished through inspiration remains, becomes a part of who you are.\u00a0 Most of what began as a goal, on the other hand, once accomplished, is typically abandoned, nothing more than a stepping stone to yet another goal.<\/p>\n
When I worked as an administrative assistant to the Dean of the Business School at the University of Virginia, it came time for my second annual review.\u00a0 As the Dean and I began our discussion, he told me that this year\u2019s review was going to be different from how he would review most assistants, because he recognized that I had a completely different approach to work that was more along the lines of how faculty planned their year, and thus he was going to use the same model that he used in reviewing his faculty.\u00a0 He wanted me to set goals for the coming year, which would in turn be used to determine my success and salary at the end of that year.\u00a0 I was, needless to say, quite flattered.<\/p>\n
But that was then, and I\u2019ve learned a lot in the interim.\u00a0 The world of work and employment has changed tremendously since then, and I see such relationships very differently now.<\/p>\n
There is virtually no guarantee of continued employment anywhere; most employees are \u201cat will\u201d and can be dismissed without cause, and frequently are.\u00a0 Employees are more than ever just another piece of machinery expected to perform towards a certain end for a set amount of time.\u00a0 They are not truly perceived as people with families and outside responsibilities and the complicated multi-faceted interactions that make us both human and unique, all of which is to be left at the door, never to interfere with the \u201cbusiness\u201d of work.\u00a0 You are there to perform, to accomplish whatever the employer\u2019s goals are.\u00a0 And if you can\u2019t do that consistently, you can expect to be ousted sooner rather than later, as a new, unsuspecting recruit eagerly takes your place, naive in believing he or she can make a difference, can outlast the relentless and constantly changing demands of the workplace, and that such an environment will not exact its hidden cost.<\/p>\n
That cost is indeed precious, for it leeches from your very being all trace of humanity and individuality, all in the name \u2013 the \u201cgoal\u201d \u2013 of success and reward.<\/p>\n
Work used to be directly intertwined with survival, with the land and food and providing a product or service that was necessary for the community to flourish.\u00a0 Much work now has no such relationship to reality, and what people toil at day to day for a paycheck every two weeks is more often than not completely removed from anything that holds any meaning to the individuals performing the repetitive, mind-numbing tasks demanded by employers.\u00a0 As a country, we now produce virtually nothing compared to the last two centuries.\u00a0 Much of what we work at is ephemeral, with nothing but paper and data and annual cycles of reports and tasks to show for it in the end.<\/p>\n
Inspiration in such an environment finds scant nourishment or footing, and without inspiration we are doomed.\u00a0 Without inspiration, the world would never have known Michelangelo or Darwin or Dylan.\u00a0 Without inspiration, we exist in a downward spiral of encroaching emptiness that saps both spiritual and physical energy, leaving us with nothing more than simply going through the motions day in and day out.<\/p>\n
Goals imprison us.\u00a0 Inspiration sets us free, and it is that freedom that allows us to soar above the mundane and feel the touch of the divine.\u00a0 And the divine is findable, in everything, from washing dishes to creating a masterpiece.\u00a0 Whatever we work at, whether for pay or necessity, the only worthy goal is to find such inspiration, and then follow its path. Chris Hoffman lives in the village of Sherburne in her 150+ year-old house where she caters to the demands of her four cats, attempts to grow heirloom tomatoes and herbs and reads voraciously. She passionately pursues various avenues with like-minded friends to preserve and protect a sustainable rural lifestyle for everyone in Central New York.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Think Local By Chris Hoffman (Sherburne, NY – May 2013)\u00a0There are two kinds of people in the world, I think:\u00a0 those who set goals and those who seek inspiration. Goals are mandates, cold and soul-less, imposed by people or systems that wield a masculine-influenced \u201cpower over\u201d rather than enlisting the feminine values of cooperation and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46412\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Hoffman\"](\"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Hoffman-e1356564447858.jpg\")
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