Note: It may be helpful to read my introduction to this series in order to have some context and understand my disclaimers. You can find that post here.
Rowe took time in this video to share multiple stories of rejection he experienced on the path to his own calling. While I’m not a major fan of the phrase “pursuit of happiness,” I really did appreciate his overall point. But I would like to add something I don’t feel he touched on.
Throughout his story, the obtrusive question I kept thinking about was, “Why did he keep going down this path?” I do not ask that question with an assumption of the negative (“He should have tried something else!”), but rather an assumption of the positive (“Why was he driven to persevere?”). The fact of the matter is that Rowe would have never learned this great life lesson to share with the rest of us if he had not kept going back, again and again. But because he did, he learned a very important lesson about rejection.
I believe some people have an internal awareness of the thing they are made to do. There is this inner voice that tells them they exist to be a part of some idea or create a certain experience. Because of this, they keep getting up and walking down the same road. I do not want to give the impression that I understand the psychology behind this reality; certainly, insecurity rears its ugly head in many different ways for so many of us.
I do know what I have experienced with my students, though. Many of them are very quick to question what we are doing and who we are becoming. Many of us see obstacles and frustrations as signs that we’re not made to do “this” and we change our track. I often feel like every time we do this, we begin to suffer an increasing lack of resilience and rising levels of doubt about ourselves.
This is not to say that obstacles and pushback are not powerful tools to help us make decisions and find the best fit in life, but I want to recognize that there is a tacit awareness, a resonance of the soul, a leading of the Spirit, that wants to guide us to who we are becoming. When we find that thing, we need to run down that path with a resilient commitment to the calling. We need to trust that calling and learn from our mistakes — which is another thing I feel like Rowe didn’t address. He probably learned a great many things from those experiences of rejection. Still, we push on, knowing that if we keep pushing toward the good, we will experience hardship and rejection. And yet, through it all, the relentless pursuit of our calling might just lead us to a place better than we could ever hope or imagine.
Hey Marty!
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say thank you for your blog! I've loved reading into the context of the earlier blogs on scripture and thoughts behind your current writing. These recent posts with Mike Rowe's SWEAT Pledge are particularly inspiring!
I had a thought that doesn't particularly pertain to this specific post, but what you had said about "not [being] a major fan of the phrase 'pursuit of happiness,'"... As I grew up, I constantly viewed this phrase as an ending and not a means. I always read it in the Declaration of Independence along with "life" and "liberty" as the right to be alive, the right to have freedom, and the right to one day (if I work hard enough) be happy.
Now I'm realizing it's not the right to one day be happy, but to be happy in my work. Here's a quote from a book I go back to a lot called "Everyman's Talmud":
"'A man only dies through idleness'...Indeed, work is the very foundation of man's existence. ''Therefore choose life'' (Deut. xxx. 19), i.e. a handicraft' (p. Peah i5c), is a terse and forceful expression of the idea. 'A blessing only alights upon the work of a man's hands' (Tosifta Ber. vii. 8) is another utterance indicating that labour is the path to happiness."* (Cohen, A., and Jacob Neusner, p.192 - 193)
I had just read that today, after reading your post this morning, and it struck me that the phrase "A blessing only alights upon the work of a man's hands...is another utterance indicating that labour is the path to happiness" really defines what pursuit of happiness can mean. Not pursuit in hopes of getting somewhere, but the "pursuit of happiness" comes from the labor we do. It's the pursuit (synonym: activity or work) that provides the happiness.
I love what you said referring to your students' experiences... "Many of them are very quick to question what we are doing and who we are becoming. Many of us see obstacles and frustrations as signs that we’re not made to do “this” and we change our track. I often feel like every time we do this, we begin to suffer an increasing lack of resilience and rising levels of doubt about ourselves."
Maybe every time "we change our track", we are just escaping the pursuit of happiness to settle with what is keeping us idle...or in other words, what is killing us. If we kept the persistence to pursue happiness (labor) in what we do no matter what the obstacles, like you state in your last paragraph, we'd discovery our identity and live in joy and peace.
"The happy medium advocated for the ordinary person was: 'If a man learns two paragraphs of the law in the morning and two in the evening and is engaged in his work all the day, it is ascribed to him as though he had fulfilled the Torah in its entirety'."*
I apologize for the long comment... However, I am thankful for your blog, and inspired by your writing!
Shalom,
Russ
*Cohen, A., and Jacob Neusner. Everyman's Talmud: the Major Teachings of the Rabbinic Sages. Schocken Books, 1995.
Hey Russ!
DeleteGreat thoughts here! And I love "Everyman's Talmud," one of the first books I began reading on my journey. Thanks for sharing and I really think you have some great points here!