Yesterday, Lucy posted a wonderful story about one man’s passion for his subject. She posed the question “What makes you come alive, what is your passion”.
Her question made me feel strangely uneasy. I’ve realised it was partly to do with the word passion. It is one of many words whose meaning has been devalued. I wrote here briefly about the use of the word passion in a business context. It is no longer allowed just to enjoy a job, and do it well and honestly. We must feel passionate about it.
So if I work as a filing clerk, for example, I must be passionate about my filing. Now in a perfect world we would all bring our best gifts to what we spend our days doing, and someone who is a perfectionist may well be truly passionate about filing, and that would be a wonderful thing. (I’m not being trite.) What I object to is corporate sponsorship of passion, which forces people to pretend feelings they don’t have in order to keep their jobs, and reduces the concept of passion to yet another way of making more profits.
The other thing that made me uneasy about Lucy’s post was that I suddenly felt I didn’t have any passions. I don’t have the depth of knowledge about a particular subject that, as she so beautifully describes, makes me “glow like a kid at the circus”. I know a fair amount about a lot of things but I am not an expert in anything.
But then I looked back at what activity makes me really light up with life and it clicked. It’s the actual process of learning. It almost doesn’t matter what I’m learning, that feeling of ‘flow’, of brain and spirit and body all working together to gain a new skill or make sense of a new piece of knowledge. To me, learning is itself a form of creativity and it makes me wonderfully happy.
Phew, I thought I didn’t have any passions (well I am a bit of a tree-hugger) but it turns out I do. Thanks Lucy.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
you’re welcome, tess. whew, i have to admit i held my breath a bit through this reading hoping i had not run you off as a reader. i certainly do not want to fall into the masses and make passion something commercial or trite AND i have had the privilege of watching people do things that bring out the best in them (that is what i call passion) and it is amazing to behold.
your love of learning shows in your blog. for me, it is often best evidenced in your sunday week in review. i am blessed by your study and learning and willingness to share with us, your readers.
thank you!
I have similar feelings about the corporate co-optation (I’m not sure that’s actually a word) of “mission.”
Also, I have a similar passion for learning…
Lucy, you would have to do something pretty dreadful to get rid of me as a reader!
Towanda, I’d forgotten about the misuse of “mission”. You’re absolutely right.
We must start a campaign to take back mission and passion and keep them where they really mean something!