工作统治一切的世界

By Andrew Taggart

Imagine that work had taken over the world. It would be the centre around which the rest of life turned. Then all else would come to be subservient1 to work. Then slowly， almost imperceptibly， anything else—the games once played， the songs hitherto sung，2 the loves fulfilled， the festivals celebrated—would come to resemble， and ultimately become， work. And then there would come a time， itself largely unobserved， when the many worlds that had once existed before work took over the world would vanish completely from the cultural record， having fallen into oblivion3.

And how， in this world of total work， would people think and sound and act？ Everywhere they looked， they would see the pre-employed， employed， post-employed， underemployed and unemployed， and there would be no one uncounted in this census4. Everywhere they would laud and love work， wishing each other the very best for a productive day， opening their eyes to tasks and closing them only to sleep. Everywhere an ethos of hard work would be championed as the means by which success is to be achieved， laziness being deemed the gravest sin. Everywhere among contentproviders， knowledge-brokers，5 collaboration architects and heads of new divisions would be heard ceaseless chatter about workflows and deltas， about plans and benchmarks， about scaling up， monetisation and growth.

In this world， eating， excreting， resting， exercising， meditating and commuting—closely monitored and ever-optimised—would all be conducive to good health， which would， in turn， be put in the service of being more and more productive. No one would drink too much， some would microdose on psychedelics to enhance their work performance， and everyone would live indefinitely long.

This world， it turns out， is not a work of science fiction； it is unmistakably6 close to our own.

“Total work”， a term coined by the German philosopher Josef Pieper7 just after the Second World War in his book Leisure： The Basis of Culture （1948）， is the process by which human beings are transformed into workers and nothing else. By this means， work will ultimately become total， I argue， when it is the centre around which all of human life turns； when everything else is put in its service； when leisure， festivity and play come to resemble and then become work； when there remains no further dimension to life beyond work； when humans fully believe that we were born only to work； and when other ways of life， existing before total work won out， disappear completely from cultural memory.

We are on the verge8 of total works realisation.

What is so disturbing about total work is not just that it causes needless human suffering but also that it eradicates the forms of playful contemplation concerned with our asking，9 pondering and answering the most basic questions of existence. There is， to begin with， constant tension， an overarching10 sense of pressure associated with the thought that theres something that needs to be done， always something Im supposed to be doing right now. Secondly， one feels guilt whenever he is not as productive as possible.

The burden character of total work， then， is defined by ceaseless， restless， agitated activity， anxiety about the future， a sense of life being overwhelming， nagging thoughts about missed opportunities，11 and guilt connected to the possibility of laziness. In short， total work necessarily causes dukkha12， a Buddhist term referring to the unsatisfactory nature of a life filled with suffering.

In addition to causing dukkha， total work bars13 access to higher levels of reality. For what is lost in the world of total work is arts revelation of the beautiful， religions glimpse of eternity， loves unalloyed joy，14 and philosophys sense of wonderment. All of these require silence， stillness， a wholehearted willingness to simply apprehend. If meaning， understood as the ludic interaction of finitude and infinity， is precisely what transcends， here and now， the ken of our preoccupations and mundane tasks，15 enabling us to have a direct experience with what is greater than ourselves， then what is lost in a world of total work is the very possibility of our experiencing meaning. What is lost is seeking why were here.

設想一下，如果工作统治了世界，生活中其余的事情都要围着工作这个中心转并听命于工作。然后其他的任何事情——曾经玩过的游戏、唱过的歌，曾经得到的爱、庆祝过的节日——都会慢慢地、几乎不被我们察觉地变得与工作相似，并最终被工作同化。随后这样一个时代就会在我们不经意间来到：工作统治世界之前的历史都会完全从文化记录中消失，被我们遗忘。

在这个完全被工作支配的世界里，人们会如何思考、说话和行动呢？凡是人们目光所及，都充满着“就业前”、“就业中”、“退休”、“未充分就业”和“失业”的标签，没有人能跳出这五个分类。凡是人们所及之处，每个人都会赞美和热爱工作，并把“希望你有高产的一天”当做最好的祝福语。人们一睁眼就投入到工作任务当中，闭眼只是为了睡觉。在任何地方，努力工作的精神都将会被奉为实现成功的手段，而懒惰将会被认定为最严重的罪行。无论在何处，不管是内容供应商、知识经纪人，还是合作建筑师、新部门领导，都会不停地在谈论着工作流程、增量、计划、基准、扩大规模、货币化和增长这些事情。

在这样的世界里，吃饭、排泄、休息、锻炼、沉思以及上下班这些事情都被细致地调控和最优化，使得这些事情的完成能够有助于身体健康，并最终服务于提高工作效率这一目标。人们不能过度饮酒，有些人可以通过使用微量的致幻剂来提高他们的工作业绩，每个人都可以无限期地活下去。

事实上，这样的世界并不是科幻小说，而是真的离我们很近。

“工作就是一切”是德国哲学家约瑟夫·皮珀在他二战后出版的《闲暇——文化的基础》（1948）一书中提出的概念。这个概念描绘的是人类完全被转变成劳动者的过程。以这个概念为出发点，我认为，当人类生活的一切都开始围着工作这个中心转并完全听命于工作的时候，当闲暇、节日和玩耍都变得逐渐与工作相似并被工作同化的时候，当工作之外生活失去了其他维度的时候，当人们完全相信他们生来就只是为了工作的时候，当之前存在过的其他的生活方式完全从文化记忆中消失的时候，工作终将变为一切。

我们已经到了面临“工作就是一切”的时候了。

“工作就是一切”令人不安的地方，并不只是在于它给人类造成了不必要的痛苦，还在于它扼杀了多种多样的、关乎人类生存最根本问题的提出、思考与回答的有趣的沉思。起初，人们会感受到一种持续不断的紧张感，一种支配一切的、来自“有任务需要我去做”、“总有一些事情是需要我现在立即去做”的压力感。随后，当不能在工作中尽可能地做到高效率的时候，人们会感到愧疚。

“工作就是一切”令人感到沉重，源于不停的、无休止的、不安的活动，源于对未来的焦虑和在生活面前的无力感，源于错失良机的懊恼情绪以及懒惰所带来的愧疚。总之，“工作就是一切”会必然带来佛教所说的“苦”——不尽如人意的、充满痛苦的现世之本质。

除了带来苦，“工作就是一切”还阻碍了通向更高层次现实的道路。在工作统治一切的世界中，我们失去的，是艺术对于美的展现，是宗教对于永恒的领悟，是爱所带来纯粹的快乐，是哲学所引发的惊叹之感。所有的这一切，都需要安静、沉静，和一心一意追求领悟的精神状态。如果“意義”——被我们理解为有限和无限之间玩笑似的相互作用——能够超越我们当下关注的领域和平凡的工作，并能够使我们直接体验到比我们更宏大的存在，那么在“工作就是一切”所支配的世界中，我们失去的，正是我们体验到“意义”的可能性。我们失去的，是对“我们为什么存在”这一问题的探寻。

1. subservient： 从属的，附属的。

2. imperceptibly： 察觉不到地；hitherto：迄今。

3. oblivion： 遗忘。

4. census： 人口普查。

5. content-provider： 内容供应商，简称CP，指提供服务内容的供应商，内容可以是文字、图像、音频和视频等各种媒体内容；knowledge-broker： 知识经纪人，指通过维普网平台进行作品发布和传播，从而在知识的拥有方和需求方之间建立联系的组织或个人。

6. unmistakably： 显而易见地，真切地。

7. Josef Pieper： 约瑟夫·皮珀（1904—1997），德国哲学家，曾为明斯特大学哲学和人类学教授。

8. verge： 边缘。

9. eradicate： 根除，消灭；contemplation：沉思。

10. overarching： 首要的，支配一切的。

11. ceaseless： 不停的；agitated： 激动的，焦虑的；overwhelming： 压倒性的，势不可挡的；nagging： 无法摆脱的，令人烦恼不安的。

12. dukkha： 佛教中的一个重要概念，常译作“苦”，指的是因对俗世的不尽如人意、不圆满而产生的痛苦。

13. bar： 阻碍。

14. revelation： 揭露；unalloyed：纯粹的。

15. ludic： 顽皮的，好开玩笑的；finitude：有限；infinity： 无限；transcend： 超越；ken： 视野；preoccupation： 长时间思索、担忧某事的状态；mundane： 世俗的，平凡的。