The Good Life, Revisited

The class: Philosophy Capstone Seminar
The prompt: Expand on your conception of the good life, discuss your career goals, and explain how the second relates to the first.

Elizabeth Ewing
PL462
4 December 2006
Faith, Work, and Music

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
–James 3:13

If, years from now, I recall just one thing from our semester-long exploration the world of work, it will undoubtedly be this: that engaging in meaningful and satisfying work is one of the most basic elements of living a meaningful and satisfying life. This realization has prompted me not only to consider my future career prospects more realistically and earnestly than had been my previous habit, but also to contemplate the source of the interconnectivity between working well and living well. As I pursued the genesis of this connection on the pages of the Bible, I discovered wisdom about the role of work that spoke both to the generality of the human condition and the particulars of my own life.

The first reason that good work is a vital component of my conception of the good life is that, from a biblical perspective, the inclination to work hard (and to enjoy our work) is part of our God-given nature. It is, in essence, woven into our very being. As I struggle to live this out in my own life and work, I must first consider the character of God Himself, in whose image humanity was created. Scripture reveals an exciting truth: God is a worker! The entirety of creation was brought forth ex nihilo by the labor of the Almighty. Genesis 2:2 spells out in no uncertain terms the correlation between God’s creative acts and the idea of work: “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.” The Hebrew word for work used here, mala’kah, means ”occupation, work, business, or workmanship.” This creative occupation of God is found to be a praiseworthy pursuit by the author of Psalm 8, who says, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?[1]”

When I couple this conception of God with the belief that humanity was created in His image, I see how God’s divine work ethic becomes the basis of my own. I, along with the rest of humanity, was created by God’s work in order to do God’s work. This is enumerated in Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”[2]

A second reason that good work is an indispensable part of my conception of the good life is that in order to walk consistently in my faith, any job or career I undertake must be a coherent and active part of my Christian life as a whole. The notion of a sacred / secular distinction – that some aspects of my life might fall under the category of service to Christ while others are simply everyday drudgery – runs counter to everything I understand about wholehearted discipleship. To avoid the compartmentalization of my convictions, I must approach work in such a way that it is always an expression of, and therefore never in competition with, my love for the Lord. Neither should a job be viewed as a necessary evil which pays the bills but ultimately drains time and energy from one’s “true” spiritual activity.

Some might assume that in order to sustain this marriage of work and worship, a career in formal ministry is required. However, I assert that the capacity to honor and serve God exists in almost any career, contingent upon one’s desires and intentions. For me, the definitive passage on this matter, as well as the key to carrying it out successfully, is Colossians 3:23: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” A menial laborer who truly understands this verse will accomplish more for the Kingdom of Heaven than an ordained minister who approaches his work with a secular mindset.

A third point at which good work and good life intersect is through the idea of stewardship. It is my understanding from scripture that God gives us all specific strengths and talents not just for our own enjoyment and blessing, but in order that we might be better equipped to carry out the work He apportions for us. Appropriately, a good career for me will be one in which as many of my abilities as possible are fully engaged. My desire is to make the fullest use of my gifts in order to accomplish more fully the purposes for which they were given. I understand that I have been entrusted with talents as a product of God’s grace rather than my own merit[3]. I also understand that I am expected and required to put these talents to good use in God’s service, and that even the fruits of my labor are not truly mine, but His. The more I meditate on the fact that I can lay no claim either to the means or ends of my labor, the more I am motivated by the awareness that my work is part of something bigger and more important than myself. Jesus’ parables concerning stewardship also indicate that a faithful handling of what has been given to us will not go unrewarded, either in this life or the next[4].

Now that my views concerning the underlying principles of good work have been duly established, it is high time to delve into more specific issues concerning my career goals. The list of career options I have considered at various points in my life is extensive and rather jumbled. My aspirations were first to be an artist (circa age four), then went on to include paleontologist, doctor, lawyer, lexographer, politician, Air Force officer, poet, engineer, and novelist. In the midst of this plethora of alternatives, however, music has always been my most constant passion, and the nearest to my heart.

Unquestionably, music has played and will continue to play a central role in my conception of the good life. The only question is the extent to which that role will be professional as well as personal. One reason why I plan to pursue music on the professional level is to gain access to a musical community. Sharing music with those who understand and appreciate it as much as I do provides an important part of my overall musical experience. The ability to receive critical feedback and instruction, as well as to collaborate with other musicians on individual projects, is important as well. Additionally, my experiences performing as a member of larger ensembles have, in rare moments of musical self-forgetfulness, shown me a picture of unity in purpose and skill that is unmatched by any other discipline.

The creation of music (and creativity in general) is vital to my good life for another very specific reason: it acts as a shadow, a microcosm of sorts, of God’s relationship with His own creation. When I work hard to compose a piece of music, to realize as best I can some melody that insists on running through my head, the finished product awakens in me feelings of affection, approval – even a maternal sort of pride. This happens even in instances when I am well aware that the quality of the music is substandard; the source of my affinity has very little to do with the caliber of the product. Rather, it is seated in the fact that I made it and that it is the fruit of my labor. The late Pope John Paul II expressed this idea in words far more eloquent than my own in his 1999 “Letter to Artists:”

"None can sense more deeply than you artists, ingenious creators of beauty that you are, something of the pathos with which God at the dawn of creation looked upon the work of his hands. A glimmer of that feeling has shone so often in your eyes when—like the artists of every age—captivated by the hidden power of sounds and words, colours and shapes, you have admired the work of your inspiration, sensing in it some echo of the mystery of creation with which God, the sole creator of all things, has wished in some way to associate you."

The creation of music becomes an intensely personal tool of worship when, as I delight in the music I’ve made, I recall how much more intensely and perfectly God must delight in me – not because I am particularly delightful or meriting (far from it), but simply and solely on account of the fact that He made me, and that I am the deliberate and cherished work of divine hands[5].

For me, the exploration of the good life, and the role of good work therein, ultimately takes the form of an exercise in means and ends. Ideally, a talent and passion for music will serve as the basis for good work in this area, and the experience of that good work in turn acts as an important tool for living a good life. However, while many of the philosophers we studied in this course might identify the value of living a good life as an axiom, I believe that the good life is only the penultimate link in the chain. A life well-lived, characterized by love and integrity, godliness and devotion, worship and joy, is a means to an even greater end – indeed the greatest end of all: the manifestation of the glory of God.

My prayer is this: that You, O Lord
(The Muse of all my crafted phrase)
Might sift through these unwieldy words
And glean from them a heart of praise.

Endnotes:
[1] Consider also Psalm 92:4-5: For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD; I sing for joy at the works of your hands. How great are your works, O LORD, how profound your thoughts!
[2] The matter is, of course, complicated greatly by The Fall. What was once intended to be a pure source of delight and fulfillment, when cursed by God, was mingled with strife, frustration, and sorrow. In my mind, the fact that the cursing of work was deemed a just recompense for original sin speaks to its centrality in human existence.
[3] 1 Corinthians 4:7: For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
[4] Matthew 25:23: 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' Luke 16:10: Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
[5] Psalm 139:13-14: For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.