Monthly Archives: October 2009

The vanity of knowledge

Ecclesiastes 2:14

I have seen everything that is done under the sun;and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

2:17

And I applied my mind to wisdom and to know madness and folly, and I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.
For in wisdom there is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

2:15

Then I said to myself “what befalls the fool will befall me also; why for most  I been so very wise?”. And I said to myself this also is vanity.  For of the wise man as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise man dies just like the fool! So I hated life, because what is done under the sun is grievous to me; for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life

Confucius gave his career advice more than 2500 years ago, but truer words of wisdom have never been spoken. How many of us began our careers, not because of passion we felt for the vocation, but through the well-intended advice of parents, teachers, a college counselor, or just because the job was available when we needed it? We may have through at the start, “This first job is just a start, something temporary until I figure out what I really want to do…” Then, before you know it, 5 (or more) years have passed, you’re making pretty good money, and the thought of changing careers is a distant memory. How many of us are truly passionate about what we do for a living? What does your temperament have to do with it? Are Idealists happier than, say, Rationals when it comes to career choice? What makes Idealists satisfied with their careers, and conversely, if they’re not currently satisified, what would help?