Let's pretend I did know what each person had "worked on" over the course of a single day. Some people would have done physical labour; others would have done professional services. Some people stay at home to look after others, and some might simply be between jobs and working on home projects, and some might be limited in their ability to work in the conventional sense but nonetheless engaged in some aspect of work even within the home, such as putting away the clothes.
Now some new questions come to mind in this pretend scenario: How do all this "combined work" relate to the wider picture of our society? How do they relate to overall goals? Oh, and what are those overall goals again? Follow me as we're on a journey here.
In this pretend situation, we can claim that "goals" can be defined at different levels. Some goals are defined among a small group of people who share a strong connection to each other, the strongest is typically a family, or otherwise a close group of friends or colleagues at work.
Larger goals might involve more people, such as small to medium sized organisations, or community groups. Really large and broad goals might be defined for the entire country, and may be referred to as the culture of a region. A global organisation with tens of thousands of employee's can have an economic value greater than a small country, and would presumably have an internal complexity to match.
In this pretend journey we can say now that there are lots of goals being defined on many different levels. How does the combined work of an individual contribute to all these multi layered goals? We can now begin to appreciate some of the difficulties in "realistic research" for those in the business of planning for a nation's future, such as water, infrastructure, population, manufacturing, food security …...
Now, I'm not sure if any one person really knows how all of this combined work might contribute or hinder all of the goals. However, all hope is not lost. I think we do stand a chance at assessing how combined work contribute to the goals in our "local area".
In our pretend journey we can at least consider the micro, where we live. First, the size of this "local area of goal awareness" can vary. Some of us like to keep life simple, and focus on our personal "goals", such as keeping within the grocery budget (that's work). Perhaps we live within our own orbit, don't even try to please those around us 100% of the time (now that's work). On the other hand, some of us might like to think of ourselves as being well connected and well informed, tuned in, or otherwise operating on a higher plane of strategic thought, in the world of exploring ideas and ideals.
Although we're on a pretend scenario here, in reality it's looking more and more like what we ponder every day. Regarding how locally we should allow ourselves to think, as usual, I would argue for "a middle" viewpoint. In some situations, in my view, a pragmatic nature is best, to avoid over complication of an otherwise simple issue.
In some situations, a depth of experience, empathy, and far sighted strategic thought is crucial to allow a wide reaching assessment of the likely consequences of our actions and reactions. This is sounding more and more like the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Christians at Galatia (Galatians) with his philosophical approach to a mind-set of having freedom of spirit in Christ.
There seem to be two avenues, one, making judgement calls on the day, and continue to be flexible as events unfold (such as when Paul and Barnabas disputed over whether to take Mark on their second missionary journey so they separated into two separate mission journeys, Acts 15 verse 39). Another is to carefully plan ahead and stick to a course of action, come what may (such as when the Apostle Paul appealed to Caesar, come what may, Acts 25 verse 11).
With these two "every day" not so fanciful scenarios in mind, the fabric all the combined work weaving together, day by day, every day, into the future, with billions of decisions being made every moment of the day, with various kinds of personal and community goals, we're beginning to ascertain there is a greater voice that surrounds us and which will continue into the future.
Psalm 45 verse 17: "I will make thy Name to be remembered in all generations : therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever."
Kurt Pudniks is a civilian engineer (MIEAust CPEng) working for Defence in Canberra.