Have just begun reading Jacques Ellul's The Technological Society, which I found referenced by George Grant in Philosophy in the Mass Age. Ellul is deeply concerned by the molding of humanity to not only mechanization, but to the regulation of all thought and being (inclusive of mechanization) which he calls "technique." In the forward to the book, Robert K. Merton explains Ellul's idea:
Ours is a progressively technical civilization: by this Ellul means that the over-expanding and irreversible rule of technique is extended to all domains of life. It is a civilization committed to the quest for continually improved means to carelessly examined ends. Indeed, technique transforms ends into means.... conversely, technique turns means into ends. "Know-how" takes on an ultimate value. (p. vi)
Ellul considers himself a Christian Anarchist, and reports in his book the benefits of humane inefficiency. Not covered in this book is his idea that Christian ethics makes taking notice of the organization of the state irrelevant. This is not the typical image of the anarchist out to disrupt the state; he is, rather, out to ignore it.
So after exhausting my mind with Ellul, I turned to David Allen's new book, Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and the Business of Life for some lighter reading. And I did burst out laughing when I came across:
The game of work and the business of life are really the same thing, when it comes down to the principles and behaviors and techniques that eliminate distraction and foster beneficial focus. And winning at both work and life is not a matter of crossing some distant finish line. It's about internalizing a set of responses and behaviors that are consistently successful when applied to any aspect of life and work that could be functioning better. (p. 2)
Quelle horreur! I've been tightly following these New Year activities with a friend who observed that for someone so interested in David Allen and organization, I don't seem to follow the method that closely. This is the benefit of my year of rest at home. When I had to process a lifestyle that rushed through more than 200 locations and 400 flights in one year, my organization was at a level that I have gladly left behind. It was necessary-- if I had not done it I would have been something like a lost FedEx package sitting next to a runway somewhere-- but also unsustainable. After five years, I started over by walking for five hours per day for six months- putting one foot in front of the other was all I could manage.
My problem with the life management obsession is that if I need some intensive system to remember everything I ought to be doing, perhaps the real issue is that I ought to be doing less. David Allen would make the argument that organization lets you focus on what you value most. But what about just remembering what you value most and letting the rest go a bit. That makes you more human rather than less.
I am not saying that time is to be frittered away. I got in trouble on several fronts recently for stating that spending 21 hours a week in front of the television (something many people do) is the sign of a pathetic, meaningless life. It is indeed something that makes a person less human- one might as well have been incarnated as a cat or a rabbit if one is taking out the equivalent of a part-time job in TV watching. My rabbits quite happily chew at hay day after day after day and this one entertainment is the singular meaning and purpose of their life. It is, at the very least, unfortunate if a human being makes their life no more meaningful than then life of my bunny rabbit and it is at most dehumanizing.
It's not about time management or life management, it's about leaving room to be human and also about taking the wonderful gift of life to be human. This argument David Allen rejects, stating that even creativity is a matter of method. (p. 23) It is true that I am spending the day making my lists and my plans for the year, but Ellul makes a good point and I'll be reading his theology book later this year. It's written in my plan.
